TORTS (to tarts): Daring Bakers’ August Challenge

My status as not just a daring baker, but also a soon-to-be-lawyer baker has come full circle. In June, I finally made a tart. Now in August, I finally made a tort. I have made the two desserts that exemplify the name of this blog. So, I am grateful to the Daring Bakers and this months hostesses for choosing this months challenge.

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonful
of Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular Dobos
Torte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: Exquisite
Desserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.
So much for getting the positive out of the way. I was not a huge fan of this recipe. The sponge cake was my favorite part of the recipe. The cake was light and airy, sponge-like, if you will. The sponge by itself was fantastic. In the recipe, I exchange vanilla extract with rum extract to give it a punch of flavor.

What really troubled me about this recipe was the chocolate butter cream. The butter cream would not set to a consistence in which the tort could be served at room temperature. Even refrigerated, the frosting did not hold-up well. To assemble the cake I put butter cream between each layer and then wrapped the cake in parchment paper circle to help it retain its shape while I refrigerated it. Then I frosted the outside of the cake and had to freeze the cake just to get the cake to be halfway presentable for pictures. I was really disappointed with the consistency of the butter cream, though the flavor was okay.

Lastly, the recipe requires the cake to be topped with a toffee/caramel coated sponge layer. I really did not feel like tackling caramel, but in the spirit of the challenge, I wanted to complete all elements. Well, true to form, I burned the first attempt at the caramel. I do this each time I make caramel. So, the second batch came out well and I did a daisy shaped flower topper to my tort.

As always, I am proud to say I completed the challenge regardless of the results :-). The challenge recipe and the other daring bakers’ torts can be accessed from The Daring Kitchen.

Happy Anniversary: Daring Bakers’ July Challenge

Happy Anniversary to me… Happy Anniversary to me… Happy one year as a daring baker… Happy Anniversary to me! Yes, I have been officially daring in my baking for one year. May I also toot my own horn and say that I have not missed a challenge. Come exams, graduation, cross continental moves, and study for the bar, I have not forsaken the promise to be daring at least once a month and challenge myself to bake without fear! Okay… Enough self appreciation, on to this months challenge.
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.

I could have taken the easy road and made the Milan cookies, but I wanted to be daring and without time to make both cookies, I decided to tackle the Marshmallow Cookies. As most people do not know, as it seems, marshmallow contains gelatin, an animal by-product and as a devoted vegetarian, I do not eat the stuff. For years I have been searching for a veggie friendly marshmallow recipe. Most recipes I have seen and tried called for agar agar and they always turned out to be a mess a mess.

I decided to roll up my sleeves and tackle veggie marshmallows again. [Just as a note, the do actually sell veggie and vegan marshmallows, but this time of year they are expensive and hard to ship because of the heat.] I found a veggie (not vegan) marshmallow recipe using Xanthum gum that turned out wonderfully. So, for the first time in nearly ten years I have been able to enjoy a marshmallow. I was and still am overjoyed! The recipe is posed below.

After tackling the marshmallow recipe, the rest of the cookie pretty much came together without problem. Be sure to check out the other daring bakers at http://thedaringkitchen.com/.

Without further adieu, I present to you Caramel (Veggie) Mallow Cookies.

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Marshmallows with Xanthan
by Elizabeth Falkner (Demolition Desserts)

Ingredients:
• 60 mL water
• pinch of cream of tartar
• 255 g sugar, granulated
• 255 g light corn syrup
• ½ vanilla bean
• 85 g egg whites (about 3 egg whites)
• 5 g xanthan (0.76%)
Ground xanthan with a tablespoon of sugar. Set aside. Heat water, cream of tartar, remaining sugar, corn syrup and vanilla to 120ºC. Discard vanilla bean. Whisk egg whites for about 2 min until still soft. Continue whipping egg whites at slow speed while adding syrup slowly. Sprinkle xanthan mix while still whipping. Turn speed up and continue mixing for 2-3 min or until meringue pulls away from sides. Sprinkle a pan or baking sheet generously with cornstarch and spread out the meringue. Sprinkle top with cornstarch, cover with plastic and leave to set for 4 hours in a refrigerator. Cut marshmallows into desired shapes and dip cut surfaces in cornstarch.