Daring Bakers February Challenge: A flourless chocolate cake

Another month, another Daring Baker's instalment:

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef. They have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

What this specimen lacks in the usual aesthetics of a cake, it definately makes up for in character and flavour. While photographing it, I thought it resembled a rather large chocolate Yorkshire pudding, puffed up around the edges and collapsed in the middle. I assure you though, the texture is anything but Yorky-ish. It's more like your favourite dark chocolate mousse but with more body, structure and depth. Perhaps it sounds excessively poetic, but imagine a baked chocolate cloud that completely surrenders to the warmth of your mouth.

A little departure I took from the recipe was the addition of a generous slug of brandy and a half teaspoon of almond extract to the melted chocolate. Also, because I absolutely adore walnuts in dark chocolate, I scattered the base of my baking tin with finely chopped toasted walnuts which added a pleasant textural dimension to the end product. I suspect this will work well with any nut you favour and I might be inclined to try the cake again in future with Brazil nuts and Cointreau liquer.

Although the challenge included making an ice-cream of choice, I absolutely failed to do so for you see, although it was met with much enthusiasm, the emotion dissipated quickly replaced only with irritated disappointment when I discovered a little piece (the integral part) of my ice-cream maker was missing and after much searching, I was too exhausted to even contemplate making the ice-cream manually (although I had this fleeting thought of making a parfait instead). Of course getting some store-bought ice-cream like this and claiming I made it was oh-so-tempting, but that is just cheating, isn't it? Instead. I made do eating generous wedges of the cake with luscious pure cream by Barambah Organics and patted myself on the back for preserving a clear conscience and making a not-so-poor choice with the cream.

So there you have it Daring Baker's February Challenge: Chocolate Valentino hosted by Wendy and Dharm (thanks for hosting!). The recipe and method for preparing this delicious cake and vanilla ice-cream can also be found on their blog.

Short, sweet and simple with Filbert

I will keep this post brief as I am still encountering processing issues with my laptop.

It is that time of the month again where Daring Bakers unite and test our baking skills and patience in the kitchen. This month's host is Chris from Mele Cotte (thank you Chris!) where you will find the entire recipe for the gateaux. Also, check out the various renditions of Filbert on my fellow DB sites.

I did not venture far from the original recipe, I simply scaled everything down by half to yield a smaller cake -- sufficiently satisfying the sweet tooth of six persons. The only problem I encountered was with my genoise, which shrank and sank upon removing from the oven. The texture, however, was moist, slightly dense and nibby with hazelnuts. As I was a little rushed for time, I used praline paste (50g to a total weight of 400g Swiss buttercream) instead of making my own for the buttercream which I know was cheeky and lazy on my behalf but hey, I go to work because somebody has to pay the bills (NB I assembled this cake in 5 minutes before leaving for work this morning - I did leave this challenge until the last minute and I do feel some sense of guilt I have to admit).

For the ganache, I used 100g of 85% cocoa Lindt dark chocolate melted in 180 mls pouring cream, 1 tablespoon glucose and 30g unsalted butter. The result is a super-glossy and thicker than normal ganache made with minimum 55% cocoa dark chocolate.

Although I enjoyed eating every bit of the slice of cake (pictured below), I thought it would be best if I shared it with my new workmates. I hope they enjoy eating it every last bit of it too.

Paws of a bear and a Danish braid

Firstly, I want to sincerely apologise for missing 3 Daring Bakers challenges in a row. But if anyone has noticed, my blog laid dormant for the months of March and April, which explains my absence from 2 of the challenges. As for the month of May, the call to make the Spring-inspired Opera gateaux, well, I was on the road, so that in itself presented a few of its own difficulties (map reading has never been my forte).

So with apologies and reasons for my absence out of the way, I present you this month's DB challenge : "Danish Braid" from Sherry Yard's "The Secrets of Baking", hosted by Kelly and Ben

I have to admit I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of having to make and work with a laminated dough because I envisioned the buttery mess I had to contend with and clean afterwards (and I am most certain, for many Daring Bakers hailing from North America who experienced the heatwave earlier this month and those living in the Tropics, this would have been the case). Let's all face it folks, butter is great in food and not so great on the kitchen counter. Nonetheless, I completed the challenge with an apple-custard Danish braid and 2 pairs of generously-sized bear paws bursting with walnuts and chewy dried figs.

Before I get into technical details, I have included some terminology below:

detrempe : ball of dough

beurrage : butter block

turn : each “fold & roll” of the dough produces a single turn. It is a 3-step process where the dough is folded exactly like a business letter in 3 columns. Each single turn creates 3 layers with this method.

laminated dough : is layering dough (detrempe) with butter (beurrage) by performing turns.

The key to achieving a golden, flaky, soft and deliciously crisp Danish pastry, is in the incorporation of butter into the dough, a process known as lamination. Commercially, pastry margarine is favoured over butter in the production of Danish pastries because it is more malleable and has a higher melting temperature thus making it easier to distribute evenly between layers of dough. However, I find the palate cling in vegetable-based fats very unpleasant and prefer to use butter as prescribed in the recipe for our challenge.

To achieve an even distribution of fat between layers of dough, firstly, ensure the dough has the same temperature and "consistency" as the butter. This is to say, they should both offer a similar resistance when you press down with a finger. I prefer working with a slightly stiffer dough which is more difficult to knead but I find it aids the lamination process greatly. As the dough rests in the fridge, begin to plasticise the butter. This sounds more complex than it actually is and only involves beating a pat of cold (but not stone hard) butter with a rolling pin until the desired thickness is achieved. This is best done on a piece of baking paper or plastic wrap so the butter can be lifted off the work surface easily. It is very important to allow the dough to rest and chill sufficiently before rolling and in between turns in order to maintain a fairly constant temperature and consistency.

With adequate lamination, steam is released by the butter between the layers of dough as the pastry cooks yielding a light and puffy product. If the butter layers between the dough are too thick and few, a greasey and flat pastry will result as butter melts and seeps out of the dough as it bakes. Conversely, if the layers of butter are too thin and many, a dense and bread-like finished product will be obtained. Technically, 27 even layers of butter between the dough which equates to 3 turns, will yield the qualities of a good Danish. But as if modern-day life isn't complicated enough, the laminated dough should not be rolled too thinly (3.5-4.5 mm is ideal) when shaping the braid as this will displace the butter layers causing them to fuse together thus resulting in a brioche braid instead of a Danish one.

Much attention has been placed into the even lamination of butter in the dough up to the stages of proofing and baking, it is therefore critical to ensure the right temperatures are kept at each of these stages to allow the butter to work its magic. I proof my pastries at a low temperature of approximately 22 degrees C until they double in size. This usually takes longer (about 2 hours) than other yeasted doughs I have made in the past but I promise you it is well worth the wait as the layers of butter remain intact albeit soft. I then bake them in a 200 degrees C oven for 7 minutes before turning the temperature down to 180 degrees C for the remaining baking time.

I have not included the recipe for the Danish dough in this post as it can be found on numerous DB's posts but here is how I prepared the apple compote and vanilla custard used in my Danish braid.

apple compote (enough for 1 braid plus a lil extra to enjoy with vanilla yogurt later)

peel 3 medium sized granny smith apples and cut into 2x2cm cubes. heat a saute pan until it is nearly smoking hot drop in a tablespoon of cold butter into the pan followed by the diced apples resist the temptation to stir the apples around as you want them to have a bit of colour and caramelisation add a tablespoon of sugar to the apples and give the pan a toss finish with a splash of rum or calvados and a small handful of raisins.

vanilla custard (enough for 1 braid plus 2 small danish pastries)

chill a medium sized bowl in the freezer beat together 2 yolks, a teaspoon of vanilla extract, 50g sugar and 20g cornflour in a small bowl. heat 250ml of whole milk in a small saucepan 'til just quivering add half the milk to the egg mixture and whisk combine egg mixture with the rest of the milk in the saucepan stir until mixture thickens allow to cook a little longer stirring the whole time remove custard and place in pre-chilled bowl place plastic film directly over the custard to prevent a skin from forming allow to cool completely before using.

Thanking Kelly, Ben and other fellow Daring Bakers again for another great challenge, and the endless support, advice and encouragement on the forums.

Julia Child's French bread(rolls)

This month's Daring Bakers (fondly abbreviated DB by other fellow members) challenge hosted by Mary and Sara involves making French bread following the recipe by Julia Child. Although I have made bread with success in the past, I felt rather dubious undertaking this particular project. I suppose it is partly because I want my first DB entry to be groundbreaking, to be successful and prehaps even triumphant. Alas, this is not the case.

I made 2 attempts at the recipe, the first being a failure I would prefer to forget. However, in the spirit of selflessness (which is quite unfamiliar to me... 'til now) and by sharing a personal flop so others may learn and never have to suffer the same frustration, I have decided to again live through and immortalise the painful mistakes I have made through picture and prose.

In retrospect, I should have saved my Waitrose: Super Strong Unbleached Flour for my very delicious rye n seed loaves. I suspect being a less processsed flour meant that it had a lower starch content to "soak" up the volume of liquid called for in the recipe. I should have picked up on how soft and sticky the dough felt during kneading - or should I say paddling. The dough was reminiscent of the one for the no-knead bread I made previously. Not soupy, but definately difficult to handle and shape. Still, I perservered until the bread were baked. Despite the disappointing outcome, I took photographs so you (my patient reader) can picture what I have been ranting about for the past paragraph.

A more promising outcome came at my second attempt, though still a far cry from the sticks, boules and loaves you get from a French boulangerie. At the risk of sounding like a defeatist, I did resign myself to the fact that I will never achieve a good quality French crust; one that is thin, crisp and crackles as you tear the bread apart, at home. To be fair, I think all of us who decided to embark on this challenge were doing so on a handicap - we were all lacking the right oven! Or perhaps I just didn't try hard enough(?)

I spent a restless night in bed after my failed first attempt (NB you should know by now if you are losing sleep over the failure to make bread, it is likely your obsession is pathological) trying to figure out where I went wrong. I decided then, at a little past 3 in the morning, to get back into the kitchen and to try the recipe yet again but using an all-purpose flour (the colour of all-purpose flour is closer to brilliant white compared to the super-strong variety, the bleaching process leaches some of the grains' protein) and a teaspoon of sugar to help the yeast along during the prolonged fermentation period. I added water gradually to the dry ingredients while mixing and used considerably less water (a total of 290 ml) to achieve what I thought was an adequate consistency ie. soft, slightly tacky and pulling off the sides of the mixing bowl.

I followed the fermentation times inerrantly and was pleased with the results after each of the prescribed rising times. I performed 2 book-turns after the pointage premier temps to develop the gluten further and after the pointage deuxieme temps, I divided my dough into half and from the one half, shaped six petit pains and the other into a batard.

So far so good... but here comes the point where I fell short. Short of patience that is.

So why is it that the final rise takes so long? It felt like an eternity! I was rubbing my hands with anxiety and I finally gave into placing my dough in the oven eventhough I knew they just weren't quite ready to be baked. A price I paid quite dearly as clearly illustrated in the image below.

Yup, no simulated baker's oven was going to save these babies! The crumb of the baked product was tight and dense. Although not unpleasant to eat, I can't say it made me sing or cry out with joy.

All in all, I truly enjoyed this challenge. Furthermore, it has reinforced my belief that we all learn from mistakes and I have learnt mine: patience is required when baking the perfect bread.