Collection 2 Finalists are challenged with making a savory picnic pie with shortcrust pastry and an elaborate design inside…and by this, I guess they mean layers. Since it’s a picnic pie, it needs to be presented out of the tin, so no external support and of course, no soggy bottoms! Maybe a Thanksgiving feast in… Continue reading THE FINALS! Part I
…an Opera Cake! OK, this is yet another thing I’ve never heard of. Layers of sponge and jam and things. Traditionally coffee and chocolate, but of course, we know that I’m not going to do that. Any flavors we want… Layers of Joconde sponge, buttercream, ganache… Contestants made: Lemon cake, white chocolate ganache and lavendar… Continue reading The Fat Lady Bakes…
The next is Charlotte Royale. Not satisfied with just the normal Charlotte Royale that they made in the show, I found a photo of one that looked *amazing*! A CHOCOLATE Charlotte Royale! OMG, I’m drooling already. So you start by making a Swiss Roll, although in this case, it’s chocolate. Prepare the pan: Butter and… Continue reading Chocolate Charlotte
So I was telling my friend, Jean, that I don’t like vegetables in cake; least of all, carrots. She says, “I LOVE carrot cake. LOOOOOOOOVE carrot cake…with cream cheese frosting….YUM!” Fine. I’ll make carrot cake. On Saturday. Found a recipe for “the BEST carrot cake” which, to me, is like the BEST coffee or the… Continue reading Backtrack to Veggie Cake
The last challenge in episode 8 was a vegetable cake with no dairy and no butter. No, thanks. I just don’t care for carrot cake, I don’t like squash (nope, not even pumpkin pie or pumpkin spice everything) and I’ve made a couple of zucchini cakes before, but I just don’t want to. No one… Continue reading On to French Week!
The technical challenge this week is to make a hazelnut mocha dacquoise, but if I did that NO ONE, not even I, would eat it. Kids aren’t crazy about nuts and no one in the house likes coffee. With a lack of volunteers to eat such a thing, I need to find something that people… Continue reading Dacquoise Detour
Moving on quickly to the quarterfinals! …I’ll get back to that mille-feuille eventually… Today’s challenge is “unusual flours”. The contestants, at least half of them, used spelt. I’m not really interested in buying more unusual ingredients right now, but rye is one of the types of flour that was mentioned in the beginning of the… Continue reading Unusual Flours
The Showstopper challenge this week is three types of puff pastry treats: there should be one filled; one iced; and one baker’s choice. 12 of each and it must be FULL puff pastry, not rough puff. There are a bunch of different types that they make, and I’m rather excited about this. I like making… Continue reading Puff Pastry Party
So the next challenge, a technical challenge, is a French dessert called Les Religieuses. It’s choux pastry filled with creme patisserie and topped with chocolate ganache, then stacked and decorated with whipped cream. It’s supposed to look like a little nun. Or a Webble-Wobble. I found the recipe at the BBC page again (of course)… Continue reading Oh, Unholy Mess
Americans, of course, snicker at the name, but I can’t laugh too loudly since my Dad’s name is Dick. Then I just imagine him with a bad rash or something…maybe I’ll change its name to Bespeckled Richard. Getting ready for this recipe has been quite the ordeal. Besides finding the right recipe–which I looked at… Continue reading The Infamous Spotted Dick