Last week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was Chocolate Caramel Chestnut Cake, but due to the relaxed posting schedule this month, I made it this week instead. I had a lot of fun previewing this month’s recipes last week; I can’t wait to try them all. For those who have not baked the chestnut cake yet, this cake is a bit of a Project. A lot of weeks when the recipes involve multiple steps, I will write things like, “there were multiple components, but none of them were difficult” or “you can spread the baking out over two days.” I actually found this cake on the higher end of the difficult and time-consuming side, though I am not above admitting that my inability to read that the eggs were to be separated did not help the process (luckily I realized it before I’d added in the flour and chestnut puree). Neither did forgetting to line the baking pan with parchment paper. The cake was very dense and impossible to remove from the pan. I had baked a half recipe in an 8x8 pan (which it filled quite well) and was planning on cutting it vertically, so I did that while the cake was still in the pan and managed to coax both halves out – luckily it’s a pretty sturdy cake.
This recipe did not specify to make the caramel in a skillet (it said saucepan), but the instructions for Dorie’s Chocolate-Crunched Caramel Tart did, and it worked well for me (in that I didn’t burn the caramel), so I went ahead and used one this time. The sugar did crystallize quite a bit, which was easily resolved with a glug of corn syrup and brushing the pan with water. Overall, another successful caramel attempt – woo! The chocolate ganache called for a mixture of milk chocolate and bittersweet; since I do not like milk chocolate, I split the difference and used semisweet, which tasted great. I refrigerated the ganache overnight, and then left it out for over an hour to spread it on the cake, but it was pretty solid. I eventually ended up whipping it with a little more cream to loosen it up, which worked well and it coated the cake nicely. The final step was the chocolate glaze, which thankfully came together quite easily. The instructions said to wait for the glaze to set until it was “thick but pourable” and mine was after about an hour. And wow, what a nice finish to the cake!
Oh, and as you can probably infer from the pictures, I used hazelnuts rather than chestnuts, which I could not find for less than $11.49 per jar, for the filling and top. I decided I need to start being more judicious in my baking expenditures, particularly when it involves an ingredient I’m not that excited about and there are suitable substitutions in my pantry. I did use vanilla chestnut puree for the actual cake portion, and I’m happy I did, as it gave the cake a lovely sweet nutty flavor. I also burned a chestnut scented candle while I put the cake together. I think the candle was probably more expensive than the actual chestnuts, but it’s lasted a long time.
This recipe rated a 9.5 for Deliciousness and a 5 for Effort, giving it an EDR 1.9. I have to say, that though it was time-consuming, it was also a very satisfying dessert to make. And eat. Many thanks to Katya of Second Dinner for selecting this cake. You can find the recipe here on Katya’s site and visit the TWD blogroll to see what the other bakers made this week. The recipe for the Cran-Apple Crisp, which is this week’s official recipe, is available here on The Repressed Pastry Chef.
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays Treat is Pear Cranberry Muffins with Gingersnap Crumble. There have not been any pears in my kitchen in months. We used to get a CSA (community supported agriculture) produce box delivered to our house every other week and pretty much every delivery last fall/winter contained pears. Neither of us is particularly fond of eating pears plain (I tried), so I consistently turned them into desserts, which we enjoyed, so it was nice baking with them again. (We stopped getting the CSA box because it stressed me out. I enjoyed the nice seasonal produce and the surprises each week, but it was hard to eat everything before it went bad – Josh did not eat any of the fruit – and we have access to plenty of great grocery stores and farmer’s markets, so it wasn’t necessarily a huge convenience having it delivered. I’m happy I can now select fruit we will both eat before it is macerated in sugar, as well as guiltlessly eat broccoli four times a week if I want to and occasionally buy asparagus in the middle of the fall.)
Okay, muffins. I managed to get eleven muffins out of a half recipe, which seems like a lot. The muffin section of the Sweet Melissa book has a base recipe and this was the group’s second attempt at sweet muffins. Last time my batter was very thick, which I fixed by adding a couple extra tablespoons of milk, so I knew to start with a little extra milk this time. The recipe calls for both whole milk and heavy cream, but I just used milk and it seemed to work fine. I also subbed in nonfat yogurt for half of the butter and used just under half whole wheat flour in both the muffins and the crumble topping. I don’t usually experiment with leaveners, but in the Problems & Questions Section of the Sweet Melissa site, Hanaa mentioned she used a combination of baking powder and soda with great results, so I went ahead and tried it; I also took her suggestion of adding a little ginger to the muffins. I also tried a new gingersnap recipe, from Pure Dessert, which was wonderful (I promise to post the recipe soon) and made excellent crumb topping. I loved the gingersnap crumble and am already plotting to make another baked good with it.
I bought these measuring cups at Anthropologie a while back. They’re cute, but not very accurate for measuring most ingredients, as they are a little on the large side (I tested and am showing a picture of the cups containing ingredients pre-measured in my reliable measuring cups, you can see there’s a lot of space on top). But they are perfect for when you want to err on the generous side, like fruit for your muffins or cheese for your lasagna. The recipe called for half a cup of cranberries and for my half recipe I used the large quarter cup, plus some, and next time I think I might add a few more.
Wow, were these muffins were delicious! Cranberries and ginger are two of my favorite baking flavors, and they joined forces beautifully. The muffins were perfectly tender and bursting with flavor, so yummy! They received an 8.5 for Deliciousness and a 2.5 for Effort, giving them an EDR of 3.4. Many thanks to Jennifer of Maple N' Cornbread for choosing these awesome muffins and giving us an excuse to have our breakfast include cookies. You can find the recipe on Jennifer’s site and see what the other bakers thought by visiting the SMS blogroll.
November is a special month for Tuesdays With Dorie: we are permitted to post the recipes any Tuesday we want, as some of the desserts are suitable for Thanksgiving. As evident from my inability to post anything for weeks other than baking group desserts, I need as much structure as possible in my baking/blogging right now, so I thought I would stick with the schedule and post the recipes in the order they were selected, just in case I accidentally forgot about one at the end or something. But then I got busy this weekend and there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to fit in an elaborate layer cake by Tuesday, so I decided to swap the Chestnut Cake scheduled for today, with the less time-consuming Cran-Apple Crisp(s) slated for next Tuesday. (And confession: I was initially hoping to do a double-header this week and also make the one recipe I haven’t completed since I joined Tuesdays With Dorie one year ago. Oh well.)
The cranberries I purchased were much more red and robust than the ones I bought to make sorbet a few weeks ago (I couldn’t resist, I was just so happy to see cranberries) and the apples I sampled were crispy with just a hint of tartness, so I have high hopes for the flavor of this dessert, which is still cooling. Oh, Josh just came up with a huge bowl of crisp smothered in ice cream and it’s yummy. I made a half recipe in a 7-inch pie pan – I find this size pan perfect for half recipes and also portion control, since it’s not small-looking at all – and it baked up nicely in forty minutes. The only thing I did not halve was the coconut in the topping: I quartered that so the flavor wouldn’t dominate too much. I’m not sure about coconut and cranberries together. This crisp rated a 7.5 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 3.75. Many thanks to Em of the Repressed Pastry Chef for selecting this great dessert. The recipe will be on her site next Tuesday, and stop by the Tuesdays With Dorie site to see what everyone else chose to bake this week.
One of the things that kept me busy over the weekend was attending Northern California Weimaraner Rescue’s annual Weim Gala. Josh and I attended last year as prospective dog owners and it was fun, though not as relaxing, to attend it with our own dog this year. Eloise was even in the Parade of Rescued Weims, which is the closest she’ll ever come to being in a dog show (seriously, I’m beginning to see why the Weimaraner owners in “Best in Show” were so snippy – it’s hard to control your frenzied animal at a big event). Anyway, it was a beautiful afternoon in wine country and we managed to refrain from coming back with another dog.
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sunday treat is Sweet Almond Bread Pudding with Raspberry Sauce. If the name of the dessert contains both raspberry and almond, it’s pretty much guaranteed that I’ll enjoy it. In fact, this recipe was on my short list when I first got the book and started baking with the group. However, when it was my turn to choose a recipe, I was anxious to try making jam, and besides, it was July and bread pudding was not very appealing. The recipe recommended stale brioche for the bread, but I decided to buy French bread since I knew we’d enjoy eating the part of the loaf not used for pudding (I scaled the recipe down to one quarter). 
This recipe was quick to put together, and I thought the custard baked up beautifully. I wish I could remember the exact baking time for the three little ramekins I made, but I had a bit of an oven mishap (meaning I accidentally turned it off rather than a burner on my stove when I put the pudding in), so it’s hard to say. It was pretty late by the time I got around to making the raspberry sauce, so I skipped processing and straining it; luckily neither of us minded the sauce being a little seedy and chunky. I thought the contrast of sweet cream, crunchy almonds, and tart raspberries was perfect, a stellar bread pudding recipe.
This bread pudding received a solid 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Candace of Candy Girl for selecting this recipe at just the right time of year – really, it’s excellent Autumn comfort food. You can find the recipe here on Candace’s site and see what the rest of the bakers thought by visiting the SMS blogroll.
This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie Treat is Cherry-Fudge Brownie Torte. The past few TWD recipes have been fairly simple, homey and comforting ones prepared with mostly pantry staples, so it was about time we had a fancy dessert with a long ingredient list. I finally broke down and bought a bottle of Kirsch, which I had put off for a while since it’s kind of pricey. I read this post on David Lebovitz’s blog a while back where he lists it as one of his top five baking essentials and assures his readers that a little goes a long way. This was my second experience flambéing fruit and alcohol, and I’m happy that a package of long-stem matches appeared at my house since the last time, as it made the process a lot less nerve-racking knowing I wasn’t going to burn my hand or drop a match in the pan. I recommend having some in your kitchen (both Kirsch and long-stem matches).
This was a good dessert to divide up over a couple days; nothing is excessively laborious or complicated, but the brownie layer must cool before it is coated with the creamy mousse topping, which needs to set for another four hours. I baked a quarter recipe in two 4.5-inch springform pans, which probably took about 35 minutes to fully bake. The result was a gloriously dense fudgy brownie, laden with chunks of chocolate and tart cherries. The mousse topping was supposedly pourable but mine fell more in the spreadable spectrum of toppings. I don’t know if I overmixed or undermixed.
My boyfriend and had I disparate opinions on two torte-related issues this week. The first was the quantity to make. I told him I planned to make a quarter recipe, and he reminded me that there have been some weeks in the not so distant past where I’ve made small portions and we wanted more. But, aside from the fact I don’t own the proper-size pan for a half-batch, I could tell this one would be insanely rich and we would not need more than a quarter recipe, so that’s what I made. I told Josh if he really needed more dessert I’d make something else (and he’s still working on the torte). The second disagreement was the Deliciousness rating. I initially gave it an 8 and he rated it a 9.5, but then when I tried it the second night I thought it was absolutely divine, so the torte ended up with a 9 for Deliciousness. I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, for an EDR of 2.57.
Many thanks to April of Short + Rose for selecting this great dessert. You can find the recipe HERE on April’s site and see what the rest of the bakers thought by visiting the TWD blogroll.
This week’s Sweet Melissa Sundays treat is Devil’s Food Cake with Peanut Butter Frosting, yum! Josh started a new job a couple months ago and I realized I had yet to send him to work with treats. They seem to be very enthusiastic about Halloween around his office, so I figured this week was the perfect opportunity for him to bring some goodies. I made cupcakes since, obviously, they are easier to share than a big layer cake. This recipe makes a lot of cake! I got twenty-four cupcakes, plus two ramekins (so we could sample today), and a six-inch cake, which I am freezing for later in the week when I don’t have time to bake. I didn’t make any changes to the recipe, with the exception of diluting the coffee a bit with hot water. I remembered when the group made Melissa’s Brooklyn Brownout Cake that the coffee flavor was pretty aggressive, and since not everyone likes coffee, I didn’t want the chocolate to be overpowered. (On a semi-related note, I recently watched an episode of the Barefoot Contessa which featured flavor enhancers; she has people blind sample two versions of several different recipes and one of Ina’s flavor enhancers was coffee for chocolate cupcakes.)
I was happy for an excuse to finally try peanut butter frosting; I’ve seen it on a lot of blogs and it always sounds amazing. I did not use the version in the book, which had six sticks of butter, though. Once again, the Problems and Questions section of the Sweet Melissa site came in handy. Karen of Karen’s Cookies, Cakes, and More had posted an alternative recipe involving more peanut butter and less butter (two sticks). I’ve seen lots of beautiful cupcakes on Karen’s site, so I figured she was a good resource for frosting recipes and it was excellent. I’m embarrassed to admit how much I sampled, probably at least a cupcake’s worth, and I’m looking forward to making it again. The cupcakes were superb, too. 
We rated this recipe a 9.5 for Deliciousness and I gave it a 3.5 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 2.71. Many thanks to Holly of PheMOMenon for selecting this cake and giving me a chance to finally try peanut butter frosting. You can find the recipe HERE on Holly’ site, plus lots of stunning photos and yummy recipes. Also, be sure to stop by the Sweet Melissa blogroll to see how the other bakers liked this cake. And thanks to the bakers last week who gave me tips on filling a pastry bag, this was my best frosting piping experience to date!
This week’s Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Sweet Potato Biscuits. The last time I combined sweet potatoes and flour, to make gnocchi, it was a big, bland mess (I guess that’s what I get for thinking I could make my own recipe), and so there was really nowhere to go but up. And it did! Biscuits have always been a baked good I could take or leave, but with the addition of sweet potato, nutmeg, and a little brown sugar they were fantastic! Not only were the biscuits tasty, they were super-quick and simple to make. I misread the instructions and cut my biscuits a little too thin, so they weren’t as puffy as they could be, but still tender and tasty. I used a fresh sweet potato rather than canned, since baking a sweet potato really isn’t that much work (poke holes, bake uncovered at 400 degrees for about forty-five minutes).
I am not a member of the group Craving Ellie in My Belly, but some of the blogs I read are. Last week I read some positive reviews of a Tuscan Vegetable Soup and decided to make it to eat with these biscuits, which was a great dinner. I’ve resisted joining more than two online food-related groups, but I have not been able to refrain from buying a number of cookbooks associated with the various groups; it’s a good thing at least one of them is full of healthy (and delicious) recipes! I definitely recommend Ellie Krieger’s The Food You Crave: Luscious Recipes for a Healthy Life. You can find the recipe for the soup HERE on the Food Network site.
This recipe rated an 8 for Deliciousness and a 2 for Effort, giving it an EDR of 4. Many thanks to Erin from Prudence Pennywise for selecting these biscuits. You can find the recipe on Erin’s site and see what the other bakers thought by visiting the TWD blogroll.
