Sunday, June 27, 2010

Daring Bakers’ (Yup, I am still a Member) June 2010 Challenge

I have said it before, but it bears repeating--I have not been in the best baking spirits lately. I have not really baked anything new and exciting for months, which undoubtedly means that I have not completed a challenge in a few months. **Hand head low, averting eyes, and hides in shame.**



Well this month all of that has changed and hopefully for good. So, let’s get the required text out of the way: 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.

Until this challenge I had never heard of a Pavlova, but the recipe seemed easy enough and I was willing to give it a try. The results--a crispy, light as air chocolate cloud covered in a decadent mousse.

I had fun piping different shapes with the meringue and decided to take a picture of my work, just in case something happened during the baking processes in the oven.



In the first picture above, I piped the center of the flower with the chocolate mascarpone mousse and drizzled some melted white chocolate ganache over the flower. Note to self: hot ganache + cold mouse = dripping melty mess!



I topped others with a simple pecan half. There is something about pecans and chocolate...



that is even better in bite-size mouth-popable pieces.

All and all it was a good challenge. My only complaint—it was so humid here that the cookies did not stay crisp. In less than 24 hours, they were slightly tacky to the touch and stuck to your teeth when you bit into them, still tasty however. For the challenge recipe please refer to: www.thedaringkitchen.com

This has been a Torts to Tarts production:
(I could not resist :o)

9 comments:

  1. I love your last photo LOL LOL. And your piping skills are amazing. But your pecan nut version is so brilliant. Cheers from Audax in Sydney Australia.

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  2. Great shapes of your mirangues! Your pavlovas look delicious! :)

    SlĂ inte! Anula.

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  3. Hehe i agree the last photo is great, pecans and chocolate do go so well together yummm!!

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  4. Too cute! I love the wee one and the flower! Great job on this challenge!

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  5. Pecans here... hmmmm... delish!
    Lovely designs, very creative!

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  6. I love all your beautiful shapes and your writing! I commend you on being able to pipe and write because when I try to do that it looks like I have a trembling disorder! Beautiful job!

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  7. Hi! I should have known you were a lawyer when I say Torts to Tarts on the forum. Love the name! Love the funky shaped Pavs! (I uh, used a ziplock as a piping bag which did not afford me much control. Ha).

    Also, congrats on your job! It's so crappy out there I'd even be willing to be underemployed these days. I did not sign up for this. Anyway, it's awesome to see another lawyer baking up a storm and blogging about it. I've connected with the women behind Lawyers Love Lunch and French Press Memos, both of whom are also lawyers. If you feel like making a blogger friend, I'm always on twitter/e-mailing (I'm bored. So what?) so hit me up!

    s.

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  8. Your shapes are so cute!!! Welcome back to baking too.

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