Last night was my third Wilton class., which is all about the Wilton rose. The Wilton rose is actually pretty easy…once you get someone to demonstrate it to you. Earlier this year I studied YouTube videos and the Wilton course books to learn the rose to put on my parent’s anniversary cake, and it didn’t turn out as well as I had hoped. Oh, and I’m sorry the rose are in white - I know they’re kind of hard to see! I didn’t even think about it until I started to take photos of them. The yellow frosting is leftover from my sister’s Belle cake.

We also learned how to do the shell border, which is the border used on 99% of the cakes out there. It was also very simple - a lot easier than when I tried to do it for Hubby’s penguin cake in January. We learned figure piping, which I don’t have a picture of, but is what you would use to make the clown cake.

And I can’t forget about the drop flowers. These are SO cute and SO, SO easy! I made these for Stacey’s cow cake I made, and they are too adorable!

Next week is the final course.We’ll be learning leaves, stems, sweet peas, and bows. I’ll actually color my roses for next week’s class so y’all can see the detail in them!

There’s this website, thecakeslicebakers.blogspot.com, that I’ve been stalking for months. It’s the home of the Cake Slice Bakers - a group that picks a cookbook and bakes from it once a month for a year. For the past year, they have been baking from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes. When I first discovered it this past spring, there was a note on the sidebar that said that they would not be accepting new bakers until August, since they were already halfway through their book.

I checked their website every single day in August, waiting for an announcement about the next round of baking. Then I did the same in September. Was I missing something? I couldn’t find any contact info anywhere on the site, so finally I found another blogger who was participating and begged her to let me in on the secret! Turns out it IS a secret! I got pointed into the right direction, got registered, and now have access to the super-secret blog that can only be accessed by members. ;)

I’m not sure how long they accept new members for, but if you’re interested in joining, drop me a line and I’ll teach you the secret handshake!

I was SO excited to find out that they are baking from Nancie McDermott’s “Southern Cakes” book this time round. I’ve had the book for a little over a year and have baked the Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake from it and have been eyeballing over the past few months, determined to explore it a little more!

The October Challenge was Nancie’s “Cinnamon-Pecan Coffee Cake”. Now, I have to admit, I’m not that big a fan of coffee cake. It’s ok…kind of. I prefer more sugary cakes. :) I do think this cake would have been very good though, if I hadn’t burnt the raisins. Only a few on the top burned, and they ended up looking like coffee beans, all puffed up and hollow. Not quite sure what happened there - I guess I baked it too long…or maybe it’s time to finally invest in an oven thermometer! Oh, and fair warning, this recipe uses a LOT of bowls…

Anywho, without further ado, I present…

CINNAMON-PECAN COFFEE CAKE

From Nancie McDermott’s “Southern Cakes - Sweet and Irresistible Recipes for Everyday Celebrations“, page 87.

INGREDIENTS:
Cinnamon-Raisin Filling
1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 cups raisins
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) butter, melted

Coffee Cake
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9-by-13 inch pan.

For the filling:
In Bowl #1, combine the light brown sugar, 3 Tbs flour, and cinnamon, mixing with a fork to combine.

In Bowl #2, combine the raisins and pecans, tossing to mix them. Set both of these bowls aside.

For the cake:
In Bowl #3, combine 3 cups flour, baking powder, and salt, whisking to mix them well.

In Bowl #4 (or a small liquid measuring cup), stir the vanilla into the milk.

In Bowl #5 (your big, mixing bowl), combine 1 cup butter and sugar, beating at high speed until it’s pale yellow and fluffy. Add the eggs and beat for about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides, until it’s smooth and light.

Now, gradually add flour mixture (Bowl #3) alternately with milk (Bowl #4) to your big bowl (Bowl #5), beginning with flour mixture. Stir only until each disappears.

Spread half of the batter evenly into the pan. Sprinkle half of the cinnamon mixture (Bowl #1) on top, followed by half of the melted butter. Scatter half of the raisin mixture (Bowl #2) over the top of this. Spread the remaining batter over the top again, and repeat with the cinnamon mixture, melted butter, and raisin mixture, covering the cake as evenly as possible.

Bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden brown. Cool the cake in the pan for 5-10 minutes, then serve right from the pan.

Last night was my second class from Wilton Course 1. This class built on the basics learned in the first class. The “what to bring” section of Class 2 says to bring an “8 in. round cake iced with thin consistency light blue Class Buttercream Icing on a 10 in. Fanci-Foil Wrap-covered cake circle (or on a 10 in. Show ‘N Serve Cake Board). ” Whew!

Remember when I said last week that Sari was laid back? Instead of having to bring an iced cake that meets the specs, she said that we could just frost a cake board, or even the back of the cake pan if we wanted. Thank God. I ended up frosting directly onto a cake board. This made it a LOT easier, especially coming straight from work. It also didn’t help that my cake carrier was out of commission, holding leftover gumpaste swan cake at my parent’s house (more on that cake later!).

In Class 2, we learned how to decorate with the star tip, write with the round tip, and do a piping gel transfer. The piping gel transfer is really easy and I can see it coming in very handy in the future. It really opens up a whole world of cakes that I wouldn’t otherwise even attempt! We turned what we learned into the Rainbow Cake. So cute! Next class we’ll learn flowers and figures, the Wilton rose, shell border, and drop flowers. I can’t wait!

I’ve been interested in taking a formal decorating class for awhile now, but never felt that I had enough time. Now that Hubby is going back to night-school, that leaves me with a couple of free nights every week. After a couple of weeks of watching movies on the couch every Monday and Wednesday evening, I decided to go ahead and dive in head first to the Wilton Method (not that watching movies every Monday and Wednesday is a bad thing, since I get to catch up on all the chick-flicks I’ve been missing out on!).

The Jo-Ann’s near my house was offering the course for only $22.50 (saweeeeet!), so I signed right up and now have plans every Tuesday evening for the month of October. Although, this still doesn’t help with my Monday/Wednesday movie night problem.

Sari with Toba Garrett, Ron Ben-Israel, and Bronwyn Weber

My first class was last night. Our instructor is Sari McIntyre (pictured above) with Sari’s Flair. Sari took up cake decorating and sugarcraft about 6 years ago, and has travelled the country, learning from the likes of Bronwyn Weber (!), Ron Ben-Israel (!!), and even Toba Garrett (!!!!!). I swear, I start drooling every time I open up Toba Garrett’s website. Oh, if only I could afford to take one of her private classes…

Anywho, the first class was interesting. We went over a lot of the basics, although I did learn a few great little tips from Sari (more on those later). I love that Sari isn’t a “Wilton Nazi”, like some other Wilton instructors I’ve read about on other blogs. She’s pretty laid back, encouraging, and is all about having fun and making it your cake. Other Wilton instructors I’ve read about won’t even let you choose different icing colors than what’s in the book! All in all, it should be a great class. Next week we make our first cake - the “Rainbow Cake”. I’ll keep you posted!

The September 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vol-au-Vents based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

I have to admit that I was a little terrified when I saw what Steph had chosen for this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge. I’d been doing fine and dandy with the cookies, cakes, and tarts I’ve tried since I’ve joined, but this looked like a real challenge!

I mean, c’mon…seriously…pastry??? People go to school to become pastry chefs. Doesn’t this require a degree or something? And puff pastry no less! Doesn’t this mean days of slaving away in the kitchen, turning and folding the pastry over and over in order to get those hundreds of tiny layers?? I’ve never made pastry before. Shouldn’t I sign up for a class or something before embarking on this guaranteed disaster at home?

I actually did talk to Hubby about skipping this month’s challenge, with excuses like “there’s so much going on at work this month” and “aren’t all our weekends already filled up with plans?” and even “I can’t do this challenge because we don’t have a food processor!”. He saw through all of my excuses, and reminded me that the reason I joined Daring Bakers was to actually be daring and challenged. Oh. Yeah. About that…

I put it off for as long as I could, and finally decided to bite the bullet. Turned out I had nothing to worry about. The puff pastry was surprisingly easy! Yeah, you read that right, E-A-S-Y. No more excuse for store-bought puff pastry sheets. These little babies put Pillsbury to shame. So rich and buttery, light and flaky. Mmm…I think I’ll go have another…

Puff Pastry Dough: Vol-au-Vents

Adapted from “Baking with Julia” by Dorie Greenspan. Recipe yields 2-1/2 pounds dough.

Ok, first, let me give you some instructions for the instructions.
1) Read through the instructions. Completely.
2) Read through them again because they just didn’t quite make sense the first time.
3) Watch the Julia Child and Michel Richard video demonstrating how to make puff pastry. (Note the verbal ingredients they give out are a little different than the recipe. I used the recipe.)
4) Read through the instructions one more time, this time saying “ohhh” and “ahhh” in an enlightened manner as you now realize what the instructions mean.

Seriously. I think I watched the first few minutes of the video about 6 or 7 times before and during making the puff pastry. They make it look so easy, because IT IS really that easy! The trick, I’ve learned, is all about temperature control. Try to work quickly and remember that your refrigerator is puff pastry’s best friend.

INGREDIENTS:

2-1/2 cups (12.2 oz/ 354 g) unbleached all-purpose flour
1-1/4 cups (5.0 oz/ 142 g) cake flour
1 1/2 tsp. salt (you can increase this to 1 Tbs. if you are using it for a savory dish)
1-1/4 cups (10 fl oz/ 300 ml) ice water
1 pound (16 oz/ 454 g) very cold unsalted butter (I stuck mine in the freezer for about 10 minutes before I started working with it, just to be safe)
extra flour for dusting work surface

DIRECTIONS:

Mixing the Dough - Food Processor Style

Check the capacity of your food processor before you start. If it cannot hold the full quantity of ingredients, make the dough into two batches and combine them.

Put the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt in the work bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade and pulse a couple of times just to mix. Add the water all at once, pulsing until the dough forms a ball on the blade. The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers. (Actually, it will feel like Play-Doh.)

Remove the dough from the machine, form it into a ball, with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Mixing the Dough - Old School Style

In a large bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour, cake flour, and salt to mix. Add the water all at once. Working quickly, use a spatula to try to blend as much of the flour and water together as you can. Use your fingers to try to knead together the rest of the dough (don’t use the palm of your hand, it’ll give off too much heat). The dough will be very moist and pliable and will hold together when squeezed between your fingers.

Roll the dough into a ball, and with a small sharp knife, slash the top in a tic-tac-toe pattern. Wrap the dough in a damp towel and refrigerate for about 5 minutes.

Incorporating the Butter:

This is the fun part. Hubby ran over when I was doing the butter part and yelled over all the noise, “What on earth are you doing??!”
Me: “I’m making puff pastry!! See?! Aren’t you proud of me?!?”
Him: “You’re going to make all the neighbors mad!”
Me: “Well then I’ll give them some puff pastry and they’ll forget all about it…”

While the dough is chillin’ in the fridge (hardy har har), place the butter between 2 sheets of plastic wrap. Beat the snot out of it with a rolling pin until it flattens into a square that’s about 1″ thick. Take care that the butter remains cool and firm: if it has softened or become oily, chill it before continuing.

Unwrap the dough and place it on a work surface dusted with all-purpose flour (a cool piece of marble is the ideal surface for puff pastry) with your rolling pin, press on the dough to flatten it and then roll it into a 10″ square. Keep the top and bottom of the dough well floured to prevent sticking and lift the dough and move it around frequently. Starting from the center of the square, roll out over each corner to create a thick center pad with “ears,” or flaps.

Place the cold butter in the middle of the dough and fold the ears over the butter, stretching them as needed so that they overlap slightly and encase the butter completely. (If you have to stretch the dough, stretch it from all over; don’t just pull the ends) you should now have a package that is 8″ square.

To make great puff pastry, it is important to keep the dough cold at all times. There are specified times for chilling the dough, but if your room is warm, or you work slowly, or you find that for no particular reason the butter starts to ooze out of the pastry, cover the dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate it . You can stop at any point in the process and continue at your convenience or when the dough is properly chilled. Remember, the refrigerator is your friend.

Making the Turns:

Gently but firmly press the rolling pin against the top and bottom edges of the square (this will help keep it square). Then, keeping the work surface and the top of the dough well floured to prevent sticking, roll the dough into a rectangle that is three times as long as the square you started with, about 24″ (don’t worry about the width of the rectangle: if you get the 24″, everything else will work itself out.) With this first roll, it is particularly important that the butter be rolled evenly along the length and width of the rectangle; check when you start rolling that the butter is moving along well, and roll a bit harder or more evenly, if necessary, to get a smooth, even dough-butter sandwich (use your arm-strength!).

With a pastry brush, brush off the excess flour from the top of the dough, and fold the rectangle up from the bottom and down from the top in thirds, like a business letter, brushing off the excess flour. You have completed one turn.

Rotate the dough so that the closed fold is to your left, like the spine of a book. Repeat the rolling and folding process, rolling the dough to a length of 24″ and then folding it in thirds. This is the second turn.

Chilling the Dough:

If the dough is still cool and no butter is oozing out, you can give the dough another two turns now. If the condition of the dough is iffy, wrap it in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes. Each time you refrigerate the dough, mark the number of turns you’ve completed by indenting the dough with your fingertips. It is best to refrigerate the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns.

The total number of turns needed is six. If you prefer, you can give the dough just four turns now, chill it overnight, and do the last two turns the next day. Puff pastry is extremely flexible in this regard. However, no matter how you arrange your schedule, you should plan to chill the dough for at least an hour before cutting or shaping it.

Forming and Baking the Vol-au-Vents

Now, all of the above was just to make the puff pastry dough, which you use to make the vol-au-vents. Vol-au-vent is French for “windblown” or “flight in the wind” to describe its lightness. A vol-au-vent is a small hollow case of puff pastry, which can accommodate various delicious fillings, such as mushrooms, shrimp, fruit, or cheese, but they are almost always savory. I decided to go against the grain and fill mine with sweetened whipped cream and peaches.

Yield: 1/3 of the puff pastry recipe above will yield about 8-10 1.5” vol-au-vents or 4 4” vol-au-vents

You Will Need:
-egg wash (1 egg or yolk beaten with a small amount of water)
-your filling of choice

Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.

Using a knife or metal bench scraper, divided your chilled puff pastry dough into three equal pieces. Work with one piece of the dough, and leave the rest wrapped and chilled. (If you are looking to make more vol-au-vents than the yield stated above, you can roll and cut the remaining two pieces of dough as well…if not, then leave refrigerated for the time being or prepare it for longer-term freezer storage. See the “Tips” section below for more storage info.)

On a lightly floured surface, roll the piece of dough into a rectangle about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick. Transfer it to the baking sheet and refrigerate for about 10 minutes before proceeding with the cutting.

(This assumes you will be using round cutters, but if you do not have them, it is possible to cut square vol-au-vents using a sharp chef’s knife.) For smaller, hors d’oeuvre sized vol-au-vents, use a 1.5” round cutter to cut out 8-10 circles. For larger sized vol-au-vents, fit for a main course or dessert, use a 4” cutter to cut out about 4 circles. Make clean, sharp cuts and try not to twist your cutters back and forth or drag your knife through the dough. Half of these rounds will be for the bases, and the other half will be for the sides. (Save any scrap by stacking—not wadding up—the pieces…they can be re-rolled and used if you need extra dough. If you do need to re-roll scrap to get enough disks, be sure to use any rounds cut from it for the bases, not the ring-shaped sides.)

Using a 3/4-inch cutter for small vol-au-vents, or a 2- to 2.5-inch round cutter for large, cut centers from half of the rounds to make rings. These rings will become the sides of the vol-au-vents, while the solid disks will be the bottoms. You can either save the center cut-outs to bake off as little “caps” for you vol-au-vents, or put them in the scrap pile.

Dock the solid bottom rounds with a fork (prick them lightly, making sure not to go all the way through the pastry) and lightly brush them with egg wash. Place the rings directly on top of the bottom rounds and very lightly press them to adhere. Brush the top rings lightly with egg wash, trying not to drip any down the sides (which may inhibit rise). If you are using the little “caps,” dock and egg wash them as well.

Refrigerate the assembled vol-au-vents on the lined baking sheet while you pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees F. (You could also cover and refrigerate them for a few hours at this point.)

Once the oven is heated, remove the sheet from the refrigerator and place another sheet of parchment over top of the shells. This will help them rise evenly. Bake the shells until they have risen and begin to brown, about 10-15 minutes depending on their size. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and remove the parchment sheet from the top of the vol-au-vents. If the centers have risen up inside the vol-au-vents, you can gently press them down. Continue baking (with no sheet on top) until the layers are golden, about 15-20 minutes more. (If you are baking the center “caps” they will likely be finished well ahead of the shells, so keep an eye on them and remove them from the oven when browned.)

Remove to a rack to cool. Cool to room temperature for cold fillings or to warm for hot fillings.

Fill and serve.

TIPS:

- For additional rise on the larger-sized vol-au-vents, you can stack one or two additional ring layers on top of each other (using egg wash to “glue”). This will give higher sides to larger vol-au-vents, but is not advisable for the smaller ones, whose bases may not be large enough to support the extra weight.

- Although they are at their best filled and eaten soon after baking, baked vol-au-vent shells can be stored airtight for a day.

- Shaped, unbaked vol-au-vents can be wrapped and frozen for up to a month (bake from frozen, egg-washing them first).

- Keep things cool by using the refrigerator as your friend! If you see any butter starting to leak through the dough during the turning process, rub a little flour on the exposed dough and chill straight away. Although you should certainly chill the dough for 30 to 60 minutes between each set of two turns, if you feel the dough getting to soft or hard to work with at any point, pop in the fridge for a rest.

- Not to sound contradictory, but if you chill your dough longer than the recommended time between turns, the butter can firm up too much. If this seems to be the case, I advise letting it sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes to give it a chance to soften before proceeding to roll. You don’t want the hard butter to separate into chunks or break through the dough…you want it to roll evenly, in a continuous layer.

- Roll the puff pastry gently but firmly, and don’t roll your pin over the edges, which will prevent them from rising properly. Don’t roll your puff thinner than about about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick, or you will not get the rise you are looking for.

- Try to keep “neat” edges and corners during the rolling and turning process, so the layers are properly aligned. Give the edges of the dough a scooch with your rolling pin or a bench scraper to keep straight edges and 90-degree corners.

- Brush off excess flour before turning dough and after rolling.

- Make clean cuts. Don’t drag your knife through the puff or twist your cutters too much, which can inhibit rise.

- When egg washing puff pastry, try not to let extra egg wash drip down the cut edges, which can also inhibit rise.

- Extra puff pastry dough freezes beautifully. It’s best to roll it into a sheet about 1/8 to 1/4-inch thick (similar to store-bought puff) and freeze firm on a lined baking sheet. Then you can easily wrap the sheet in plastic, then foil (and if you have a sealable plastic bag big enough, place the wrapped dough inside) and return to the freezer for up to a few months. Defrost in the refrigerator when ready to use.

- You can also freeze well-wrapped, unbaked cut and shaped puff pastry (i.e., unbaked vol-au-vent shells). Bake from frozen, without thawing first.

- Homemade puff pastry is precious stuff, so save any clean scraps. Stack or overlap them, rather than balling them up, to help keep the integrity of the layers. Then give them a singe “turn” and gently re-roll. Scrap puff can be used for applications where a super-high rise is not necessary (such as palmiers, cheese straws, napoleons, or even the bottom bases for your vol-au-vents).

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

When I saw that this month’s Daring Bakers offered TWO challenges, I knew that I was definitely going to try both of them. I couldn’t resist the Mallomars! I’d been wanting to try making homemade marshmallow for awhile now and here was my chance!

And seriously, Mallomars in JULY??!? Hallelujah! Mallomars, made by Nabisco, are typically only available October through April. Apparently the chocolate they use can’t handle the heat of the summer months. Or so they say. But here it is, JULY, and we have Mallomars! And they’re every bit as good, if not better than the Nabisco version!

I have to admit, I was a little nervous about the marshmallow. Ok, so I was really nervous about the marshmallow. The Kraft Jet-Puffed versions seem so delicate and airy and impossible, how could this ever work out at home? I was pleasantly surprised though, as homemade marshmallows are very easy, very quick, and very yummy. The perfectly soft consistency set my brain a’wandering in search of new recipes I could try - Smores Pie, Rocky Road Ice Cream, and Fudge top the list so far.

The original recipe called for 2 ounces of vegetable oil in the chocolate coating. TWO OUNCES! Surely this must be a typo, I thought, It’ll never set - I shouldn’t put any vegetable oil in. I determined that it must have meant 2 tablespoons and thought I”d give it a try. After leaving them out overnight, the chocolate still didn’t set. Next time I’ll follow my gut and not add in any vegetable oil. I’ve tweaked the recipe on here to not include any vegetable oil in the chocolate coating.

MALLOMARS

Adapted from Gale Gand, from Food Network. The recipe claimed that it made 2 dozen cookies, but in reality it made 2 dozen…PLUS 100!! I have Mallomars coming out of my ears! Although that’s not necessarily a bad problem. With the adaptations below, this recipe makes 124 cookies.

STEP 1: THE COOKIES

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/8 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
3 eggs, whisked together

DIRECTIONS:
In a mixer with the paddle attachment, blend the dry ingredients. On low speed, add the butter and mix until sandy. Add the eggs and mix until combine.

Form the dough into a disk, wrap with clingfilm or parchment and refrigerate at least 1 hour and up to 3 days. When ready to bake, grease a cookie sheet or line it with parchment paper or a silicon mat.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll out the dough to 1/8-inch thickness, on a lightly floured surface. Use a 2 inch cookie cutter to cut out small rounds of dough.

Transfer to the prepared pan and bake for 10 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool to room temperature.

STEP 2: THE HOMEMADE MARSHMALLOW

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1 1/2cup sugar
2 tablespoons powdered gelatin
4 tablespoons cold water
4 egg whites , room temperature
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
In a saucepan, combine the water, corn syrup, and sugar, bring to a boil until “soft-ball” stage, or 235 degrees on a candy thermometer.

Sprinkle the gelatin over the cold water and let dissolve. Remove the syrup from the heat, add the gelatin, and mix.

Whip the whites until soft peaks form and pour the syrup into the whites. Add the vanilla and continue whipping until stiff (this took about 6 or 7 minutes). Transfer to a pastry bag.

Pipe a “kiss” of marshmallow onto each cookie. Let set at room temperature for 2 hours.

STEP 3: THE CHOCOLATE GLAZE

INGREDIENTS:
24 ounces semisweet chocolate

DIRECTIONS:
Melt the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over barely simmering water.

One at a time, gently drop the marshmallow-topped cookies into the hot chocolate glaze. Lift out with a fork and let excess chocolate drip back into the bowl.

Place on the prepared pan and let set at room temperature until the coating is firm, about 1 to 2 hours.

Ahh, Milanos. Could there be any sandwich cookie more perfect? Better than Oreos. Even better than Nutter Butters (and I’m peanutbutterholic). Made famous by Pepperidge Farm, they are a rare treat in our household. That is, until it was revealed that Milanos would be this month’s challenge over at Daring Bakers.

The July Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

The Milanos were actually relatively painless. They didn’t use any exotic ingredients that I didn’t already have in my arsenal, and were thrown together pretty quickly. This was my first time to actually pipe cookies though, and it took a little bit of trial and error to try to get the cookies of similar size and shape. I actually found it helpful to try to match up the 2 sides of the cookie before I spread the filling in between, instead of searching for a mate while getting chocolate all over everything.

Final result? Absolutely delicious! I was a little worried about the texture since they were very chewy after coming out of the oven (Hubby likened it to chewing on orange peel) but either the chocolate or the refrigeration afterwards perfected the cookie. Either way, they were absolutely delicious and deceptively simple! Definitely a keeper in the recipe box.

MILANO COOKIES

Recipe adapted from Gale Gand, from Food Network. Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

INGREDIENTS:

COOKIE:
12 tablespoons (170grams/ 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened
2 1/2 cups (312.5 grams/ 11.02 oz) powdered sugar
7/8 cup egg whites (from about 6 eggs)
2 tablespoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons lemon extract
1 1/2 cups (187.5grams/ 6.61 oz) all purpose flour

GANACHE FILLING:
1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
1 orange, zested

DIRECTIONS:

In a mixer with paddle attachment cream the butter and the sugar. Add the egg whites gradually and then mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts. Add the flour and mix until just well mixed.

With a small (1/4-inch - I used Wilton Tip #12) plain tip, pipe 2-inch sections of batter onto a parchment-lined sheet pan, spacing them 2 inches apart as they spread.

Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 10 minutes or until light golden brown around the edges. Let cool on the pan.

While waiting for the cookies to cool, in a small saucepan over medium flame, scald cream. Pour hot cream over chocolate in a bowl, whisk to melt chocolate, add zest and blend well. Set aside to cool (the mixture will thicken as it cools).

Spread a thin amount of the filling onto the flat side of a cookie while the filling is still soft and press the flat side of a second cookie on top.

No, this is not me. And it’s not my car either. What it is, though, is the inspiration for my latest creation - a Piet Mondrian cake. It was a real work of art! Pun intended.

My sister, Vikki, celebrated her 21st birthday recently (actually, in June). She called me in FEBRUARY and left me a voicemail that went something like this: “Hey Stef, I was trying to think of what kind of cake I wanted for my birthday and I was trying to think of something challenging for you but I still wanted to kind of let you come up with something creative and all, so I thought that maybe you could do like a work of art, like the Eiffel Tower or Mona Lisa or something. Or maybe something 3D. But, whatever you want to do, I don’t care, just maybe a work of art.” Work of art. Ok. Gotcha. Um, help anyone?

So I’ve been mulling over works of art for the past 4 months. Eiffel Tower? Yeah, right. Mona Lisa? Maybe if I could do a stick-figure version. It needed to be something simple, but easily recognizable. I briefly considered Van Gogh’s Starry Night, but then remembered a red, blue, and yellow gridded painting that looked so simple, a kindergartener could have made it. Or, at least someone who could color in the lines!

After a little bit of research, I found out that the artist, Piet Mondrian, actually had painted quite a few of these red, yellow, and blue grid paintings. I ended up choosing this one, called “Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow” painted in 1930, not to be confused with his “Composition with Red, Yellow and Blue” from 1927.

I printed out a scaled down version of the painting, then sketched out the painting, labeling each component of the painting. I measured each component and then re-scaled each individual component up to what would be needed to cover an 8-inch square, 4 inch high cake. Yeah, too much, I know.

On another note, how do you like my recipe holders? Got that tip from a cooking magazine. No more stooping down to read a sheet of paper that’s taking up valuable counter-top real estate. Plus they don’t get nearly as dirty this way.

This was my first time working with rolled fondant. Sure, I’d played with it before a couple of times, sculpting penguins and cows like it was Play-Doh. But it was nothing like actually trying to roll the stuff out and cover it. First step was to cover the cake with a buttercream that would act like a glue to keep the fondant sticking to it. Now, this does not need to be pretty (and mine sure isn’t!). I was more concerned with trying to get the square edges as sharp as I could, since the whole premise behind the artwork is sharp, bold lines and squares and rectangles.

Coloring the fondant was the most time-consuming part of the whole fiasco. I eventually recruited Hubby and Stacey (who was staying with us for the weekend), assigned each of them a color and had them have at it.

When presented with the cake, Vikki exclaimed, “Piet Mondrian’s Composition with Red, Blue and Yellow!!!” Mission accomplished.

PIET MONDRIAN CAKE

WHITE CAKE

Adapted from Janet on Allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1/2 cup shortening
3 egg whites, beaten until soft peaks form
1 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
Grease and flour an 8-inch square pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

In clean bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form.

In large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in shortening until fine crumbs are formed.

Add milk and vanilla. Beat at low speed for 1 minute, then high for 2 minutes, scraping the bowl frequently. Fold in egg whites.

Pour batter into greased and floured pan. Bake in preheated 350 degree oven for 35 to 40 minutes.

** I actually poured the entire recipe’s worth of batter into one 8-inch square pan. I made a second recipe’s worth for the second layer and did the same thing.

BUTTERCREAM ICING

Adapted from Wilton’s Buttercream Icing

INGREDIENTS:
1/2 cup Crisco
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted powdered sugar (1 lb)
2 tablespoons milk

DIRECTIONS:
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk one tablespoonful at a time (entire amount may not be needed) and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

ROLLED FONDANT

Ok, so I didn’t make the fondant. I drove to JoAnn’s and bought Wilton’s Ready-To-Use White Rolled Fondant. I’ve read that there’s another readily-available rolled fondant called Satin Ice that tastes better and is easier to use, but that’s another adventure for another time.

I tinted the fondant using Wilton’s Icing Colors, rolled it out to about 1/8″ thick, and cut into my shapes. After I had all of my shapes laid out (and labeled corresponding to my master sheet), I laid them on top of the cake, trimmed, and pressed the 4 corners together. I tinted some of the buttercream black and piped it in between the fondant squares for the lines.

I made these mini cupcakes for a friend’s business function that they were having. I spent half the day working on these little guys. Which, wouldn’t have been so bad, except for that it’s been so stinkin’ hot here in Georgia that the heat actually killed our air conditioner. No kidding. So there I was, trapped in a tiny 90-degree 3rd floor apartment all day in a kitchen that’s had its oven running at 350 degrees for FOUR HOURS STRAIGHT making over 200 tiny cupcakes! It’s a wonder these little babies even made it!

I brought it on myself though. It was my idea. I could have just made a layer cake and been done, but, no, I had grandiose dreams of tiny cupcakes with delicious fillings and delectable frostings. After weeks of deliberating, I finally decided on the flavors for the party - chocolate, strawberry, and lemon. Surely everyone could find a flavor they liked with choices like these!

The strawberry cupcakes had little flecks of strawberry all throughout, and were filled with a strawberry glaze that I made from some leftover strawberry puree. Topped with strawberry frosting, a strawberry slice, and garnished with a mint leaf, these were decidedly the most summery of the bunch.

The lemon cupcakes were my favorite. I used my favorite cake recipe - Greek Lemon Cake - and filled it with fresh lemon curd. The curd was extremely lemony, so a little went a long way. I topped the whole thing off with a lemon cream cheese frosting. A nice, light way to end a delicious meal.

The chocolate cupcakes were a hit. I added just a hint of coffee to the chocolate cupcake to sharpen the chocolate flavor even more. I filled the cupcakes with fresh chocolate whipped cream and piped a cute swirl of chocolate fudge buttercream frosting as the finishing touch.

MINI CUPCAKE TIPS & TRICKS

- Use a cookie scoop to pour batter into the cupcake liners to ensure cupcakes are all the same size. I used Oxo’s Medium Cookie Scoop (holds 1 1/2 tablespoons).

- To fill cupcakes, fill a pastry bag with the desired filling. I used Wilton’s Tip #230 - Bismarck Round Decorating Tip. Just stick the tip straight down into the cupcake, and squeeze, pulling up at the same time. Wipe the extra crumbs from the tip every few cupcakes. It couldn’t be any easier and looks fabulous!

- The quickest, easiest way to frost cupcakes it to pipe a swirl of frosting on top. It’s seriously a lot quicker than the old butterknife or spoon method, is absolutely adorable, and everyone will think you spent days in the kitchen whipping them up. I used Wilton Tip 1M, but any large open-star tip will work.

- Don’t let cupcakes sit in the pan too long. Take them out about a minute or two after they come out of the oven. The longer they stay in there, the more soggy the bottom of the cupcake will become.

MINI STRAWBERRY CUPCAKES

Makes 72 mini cupcakes. Adapted from the recipe on Honeyed Hashette.

- One quantity Strawberry Fields Forever Cake (recipe follows)
- One quantity Strawberry Filling (recipe follows)
- One quantity Strawberry Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)
- Strawberries, halved lengthwise
- Mint leaves

STRAWBERRY FIELDS FOREVER CAKE

INGREDIENTS:
2 3/4 cups sifted cake flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 3-oz. package strawberry Jell-O
2 cups sugar
4 eggs, room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup frozen sweetened strawberries, puréed

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In large bowl, cream together butter, sugar and gelatin until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Combine the flour and baking powder in medium bowl. Add to batter, alternating with milk until flour and milk are incorporated. Blend in vanilla and strawberry purée.

Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons of batter into cupcake liners. Bake for 11-12 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on wire racks.

STRAWBERRY CREAM CHEESE ICING

INGREDIENTS:
2 8-oz. packages of cream cheese, softened
1/2 cup butter, softened
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 cup frozen sweetened strawberries, puréed

DIRECTIONS:
Blend cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy. Add sugar and blend well. Add strawberry purée and blend well. Refrigerate until use.

STRAWBERRY FILLING

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup frozen sweetened strawberries, puréed
1 tablespoon cornstarch

DIRECTIONS:
In small saucepan, bring puréed strawberries to a boil, stirring constantly. Dissolve cornstarch into 1/2 tablespoon warm water and pour into boiling strawberry mixture, stirring until thickened. Add more cornstarch (dissolved) if necessary to thicken more. Cool and refrigerate until use.

MINI LEMON CUPCAKES

Makes 68 mini cupcakes.

- One quantity Greek Lemon Cake (recipe follows)
- One quantity Microwave Lemon Curd (recipe follows)
- One quantity Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting (recipe follows)

GREEK LEMON CAKE

Adapted from Carol on Allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:
3 cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
6 eggs
2 cups white sugar
1 cup butter, softened
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 cup lemon yogurt

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line mini muffin pan with cupcake liners.

Sift the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Set mixture aside.

Separate the eggs (keep the yolks!). In a large bowl beat the egg whites until soft peaks form. Gradually add 1/2 cup of the sugar, beating until stiff glossy peaks form. Set aside.

Cream butter or margarine, 1 1/2 cups sugar, egg yolks, lemon zest, and lemon juice together until fluffy. Add flour mixture alternately with the yogurt to the egg yolk mixture. Gently fold in the egg whites.

Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons batter into each cupcake liner. Bake at 350 degrees for 11-12 minutes. Allow cupcakes to cool completely on wire racks.

MICROWAVE LEMON CURD

Adapted from Catseo on Allrecipes.com. This recipe gives you enough to fill 68 mini cupcakes, with almost 2 cups remaining left over.

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup white sugar
3 eggs
1 cup fresh lemon juice (6-7 lemons)
3 lemons, zested
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted

DIRECTIONS:
In a microwave-safe bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs until smooth. Stir in lemon juice, lemon zest and melted butter.

Cook in the microwave for one minute intervals, whisking after each minute until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon. Let cool until the mixture thickens up. Store up to three weeks in the refrigerator.

LEMON CREAM CHEESE FROSTING

Adapted from Janni on Allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:
1 (8-oz) pkg cream cheese
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup Crisco
2 cups sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract

DIRECTIONS:
In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and Crisco until creamy. Mix in the vanilla and lemon extracts, then gradually stir in the powdered sugar. Store in the refrigerator after use.

MINI CHOCOLATE CUPCAKES

Makes 66 mini cupcakes.

- One quantity Too Much Chocolate Cake (recipe follows)
- One quantity Chocolate Whipped Cream (recipe follows)
- One quantity Chocolate Fudge Buttercream Frosting (recipe follows)

TOO MUCH CHOCOLATE CAKE

Adapted from Denise on Allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:
1 pkg dark chocolate cake mix
1 (5.9 oz) pkg instant chocolate pudding
1 cup sour cream
3/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs, beaten
3/4 cup strong coffee
2 cups semisweet mini chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a mini muffin pan with cupcake liners.

In a large bowl, mix together the cake and pudding mixes, sour cream, oil, beaten eggs, and coffee. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Pour 1 1/2 tablespoons batter into each cupcake liner. Bake for 17-18 minutes or until a toothpick inserted come out clean. Allow cupcakes to cool on wire rack.

CHOCOLATE WHIPPED CREAM

INGREDIENTS:
1 cup heavy whipping cream
Powdered sugar (to taste)
Cocoa powder (to taste)

DIRECTIONS:
Beat heavy whipping cream with electric mixer until soft peaks form. Add in powdered sugar and cocoa powder one tablespoonful at a time (to taste) and mix in. Store in refrigerator.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE BUTTERCREAM FROSTING

Adapted from Debra Steward on Allrecipes.com.

INGREDIENTS:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups powdered sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons milk (more if needed)
1 cup hot fudge topping
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS:
Cream together butter and shortening until fluffy.

Sift together the cocoa and powdered sugar and add to the creamed mixture. Add milk.

Add hot fudge topping and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth and creamy.

The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.

I’d never even heard of a Bakewell Tart before now. Of course, I dived right into the history of it all, figuring out where it came from and how long it’s been around. Apparently, it was invented by accident at the White Horse Inn (now the Rutland Arms Hotel) in the little town of Bakewell. And believe it or not, the hotel’s website only had one quick reference to the tart: “Bakewell is most famous for the Bakewell pudding, which originated here in the kitchens of the Rutland Arms.” That’s it!! This little unassuming tart is so good, it at least deserves it’s own page!

I chose to use strawberry jam in my tart - apparently that’s pretty traditional so I felt I couldn’t go wrong! It was extremely sweet though, so next time I think I’ll try it with lemon or orange curd and cut back on the almond flavoring. The tart did get a tad bit overbaked - the recipe called for 30 minutes of baking at 400 degrees, but it easily could have been done by 22 minutes at least (I took it out at 25 minutes and the top is still pretty dark). You will also need a scale for this recipe - the measurements are given in grams and ounces. I think the only thing that I changed was to use the whole 12-ounce jar of strawberry jam instead of just 8-ounces.

BAKEWELL TART

- One quantity sweet shortcrust pastry (recipe follows)
- 250 ml (1 cup (8 US fl. oz)) jam or curd, warmed for spreadability
- One quantity frangipane (recipe follows)
- One handful blanched, flaked almonds

SWEET SHORTCRUST PASTRY

INGREDIENTS:
225 g (8-ounces) all purpose flour
30 g (1-ounce) sugar
2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) salt
110 g (4-ounces) unsalted butter, cold (frozen is better)
2 (2) egg yolks
2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) almond extract (optional)
15-30 ml (1-2 tablespoons) cold water

DIRECTIONS:
Sift together flour, sugar and salt. Grate butter into the flour mixture, using the large hole-side of a box grater. Using your finger tips only, and working very quickly, rub the fat into the flour until the mixture resembles bread crumbs. Set aside.

Lightly beat the egg yolks with the almond extract (if using) and quickly mix into the flour mixture. Keep mixing while dribbling in the water, only adding enough to form a cohesive and slightly sticky dough.

Form the dough into a disc, wrap in cling and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

FRANGIPANE

INGREDIENTS:
125 g (4.5-ounces) unsalted butter, softened
125 g (4.5-ounces) icing sugar
3 (3) eggs
2.5 ml (1/2 teaspoon) almond extract
125 g (4.5-ounces) ground almonds
30 g (1-ounce) all purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
Cream butter and sugar together for about a minute or until the mixture is primrose in colour and very fluffy. Scrape down the side of the bowl and add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. The batter may appear to curdle. In the words of Douglas Adams: Don’t panic. Really. It’ll be fine. After all three are in, pour in the almond extract and mix for about another 30 seconds and scrape down the sides again. With the beaters on, spoon in the ground nuts and the flour. Mix well. The mixture will be soft, keep its slightly curdled look (mostly from the almonds) and retain its pallid yellow colour.

ASSEMBLY

Place the chilled dough disc on a lightly floured surface. If it’s overly cold, you will need to let it become acclimatised for about 15 minutes before you roll it out. Flour the rolling pin and roll the pastry to 5mm (1/4”) thickness, by rolling in one direction only (start from the centre and roll away from you), and turning the disc a quarter turn after each roll. When the pastry is to the desired size and thickness, transfer it to the tart pan, press in and trim the excess dough. Patch any holes, fissures or tears with trimmed bits. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200C/400F.

Remove shell from freezer, spread as even a layer as you can of jam onto the pastry base. Top with frangipane, spreading to cover the entire surface of the tart. Smooth the top and pop into the oven for 30 minutes. Five minutes before the tart is done, the top will be poofy and brownish. Remove from oven and strew flaked almonds on top and return to the heat for the last five minutes of baking.

The finished tart will have a golden crust and the frangipane will be tanned, poofy and a bit spongy-looking. Remove from the oven and cool on the counter. Serve warm, with crème fraîche, whipped cream or custard sauce if you wish.

When you slice into the tart, the almond paste will be firm, but slightly squidgy and the crust should be crisp but not tough.