Mirror mirror upon the wall,

Who is the fairest of all?

Hmmm … good question. This is the question that all Daring Bakers attempted to answer this month as we tackled our latest challenge: Strawberry Mirror Cake. Our host for the month is the prolific, brilliant and talented Peabody of Culinary Concoctions by Peabody. Not only is Peabody one of my very favourite blog bakers, she’s also a kindred hockey spirit. Being a good Canadian girl, I know I can turn to her whenever I need comfort.

I’m a Leafs fan. Trust me. I need lots of comfort.

Anyway, back to the Strawberry Mirror Cake. Prior to this challenge, I’d never heard of a mirror cake. Some lightweight searching on Google didn’t reveal very much so I decided to just go ahead and jump in and not worry too much about the details.

The one good thing about waiting until the very last minute to complete these challenges is that I get to read about the experiences of other Daring Bakers on our private blog. In particular, Lisa and Helene provided some excellent guidance.

The mirror cake started with a very basic sponge cake made of eggs, flour, vanilla extract, cream of tartar and sugar. The cake was baked in a jelly roll pan. Once done, I cut out two 8-1/4 inch disks of cake and wet them with a simple syrup flavoured with Kirsch. Based on the end result, I suspect I did not wet the cakes enough as they were a bit dry.

Once the cake disks were ready, I began preparing the strawberry Bavarian cream that would be the “filling and frosting” of the cake so-to-speak. The Bavarian cream consisted of unflavoured gelatin, strawberry puree, egg yolks, sugar, milk, lemon juice, red food colouring and heavy cream. It took me awhile to make the cream because I first had to puree strawberries and strain them. Then, I found that it took quite a while for the strawberry base of the cream to thicken. I began to panic a bit so started to add more ice cubes to the bowl of ice water that the cream was sitting in. This backfired on me as all of a sudden, the strawberry cream thickened too much. I proceeded with the recipe and whipped some heavy cream, which I then folded into the strawberry base. But my sense from the recipe, and also from other bloggers, is that the Bavarian cream should have been a bit more “pourable”, whereas mine was like a frosting.

No worries, though. It still tasted good. I placed one cake disk in the bottom of a 10-inch springform pan and covered it with half of the Bavarian cream, making sure to fill in all the gaps in the pan. I topped with a second cake disk and spread the remaining cream over and around the cake disk. I then popped my creation into the refrigerator to sit overnight and set.

The next morning, I had some errands to run so I actually asked my mom to help me out by preparing the strawberry juice for the mirror part of the cake. What are moms for, after all?!

Essentially the strawberry juice involved cooking a heck of a lot of strawberries with water and sugar and then straining the end result. What you end up with is a lovely red juice that smells strongly of … what else … strawberries!

Making the mirror is actually quite easy as you combine the strawberry juice with unflavoured gelatin and place the mixture in a bowl of ice water to cool. Once it attains the thickness of syrup, you pour the mixture over the top of your set cake.

I actually found the mirror-making to be my favourite part of this cake. It was pretty cool to pour it over and then put it back in the refrigerator to set up. And it did look like a mirror!

After a few hours, it was time for the moment of truth and the unmolding of the cake. I followed the instructions very carefully and wrapped a hot towel around the pan for a few minutes. I also used a small knife with a hot blade (I kept running it under hot water) to carefully separate the mirror edge from the edges of the springform pan. When I felt confident, I released the springform and removed the ring. Surprisingly, it was quite easy.

I lifted the cake off the springform bottom (the recipe instructs you to wrap a cardboard round the same size as the pan bottom in foil and then put that on top of the pan bottom to make cake removal easier) and placed it on a cake plate. I didn’t want to overdue the decoration of the cake so I added a border of strawberries and mint and placed a flower in the middle.

So far, the cake looked pretty good.

But now came the taste test. Using a knife with a hot blade (kept running it under hot water), I cut a nice wedge from the cake. Once I cut into it and removed the edge, I must admit that appearance-wise it looked impressive.

So how did it taste?

Meh. It was okay. My cake layers looked pretty, but they were a bit on the dry side. I don’t think I wet them enough with the syrup. The Bavarian cream looked pretty as well, but to be honest, with all the strawberries we had to use, I thought there would have been a stronger berry flavour. I also don’t think it was sweet enough.

For me, the best part of the cake was the mirror. It looked pretty and eating it was certainly a different experience. It had a cool, gel-like texture and it was fun to see your reflection in the top of the cake!

Overall, the cake was enjoyed by all who tried it but not enthusiastically so. In many ways, I found this cake to be like Martha’s crepe cake, an awful lot of work and expense for a so-so result.

Still, though, it was nice to try something different. Thanks so much to Peabody for challenging us this month! Stay tuned to see what untravelled territories the Daring Bakers venture to next month …

Ciao!

For the recipe, you can see it listed on Peabody’s site.

To see what the other Daring Bakers did with this challenge, please visit our official blogroll!

Technorati tags: daring bakers, strawberries, mirror cake

No sooner had I posted a story about baking for Jasmine wherein I had complained that it is often very difficult to find specialized baking ingredients in Toronto, when a number of you contacted me to let me know several places where I could, in fact, buy lavender in Toronto.

There’s nothing quite so humbling as being totally wrong on the Internet! And yes, I was totally wrong.

As it turns out, there are a few places in Toronto where you can buy organic, edible lavender.

I’d like to thank the following people for pointing that out to me:

Lisa in Toronto left a comment for me pointing out that Grassroots Environmental Products has two stores in Toronto that sell natural products.

Angie of of angiemckaig.com pointed out that you can buy organic lavender at Noah’s Natural Foods.

Aliza sent me a note suggesting that I try The Spice Trader, one of my very favourite stores in Toronto. While I’d never thought to look there, I’ll certainly take any excuse to visit such a beautiful store. (And you should too if you come to Toronto!)

And last but not least, Rob of Hungry in Hogtown pointed out that there is a flower vendor in St. Lawrence Market who would likely sell organic lavender, and sure enough, Allegro Flowers does indeed sell organic lavender!

To thank them for pointing out how wrong I was, I decided to try these adorable lavender cupcakes from Susannah Blake’s new cookbook called … you guessed it … Cupcakes. I am a marketer’s dream and my purchase of this book proves it. Strategically place a lovely cookbook anywhere in a bookstore and you can bet my eyes will find out. I’d never even heard of Susannah Blake and yet as soon as I saw this book, I picked it up, looked at the cover and marched straight to the cashier.

I didn’t even flip through it.

Not that I had to, mind you. It’s lovely. One word of warning, the recipes use self-rising flour, which can be difficult to find. I’ve adapted the recipe to use regular flour.

Toronto, these cupcakes are for you!

Ciao!

Lavender Cupcakes
Adapted from Cupcakes by Susannah Blake.

Note: Self-rising flour is white flour that has already had leavening agents mixed in. You can easily make your own self-rising flour by adding 1-1/2 teaspoons of baking powder and 1/2 a teaspoon of salt to every cup of flour you need for the recipe that you’re baking. This recipe yields 12 cupcakes.

For the cupcakes:

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp. dried lavender (flowers only, no stems)
8 tbsp. butter (1 stick), at room temperature
2 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1-1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. milk
1 tsp. frated lemon zest

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a muffin tin with 12 paper liners.

Place the sugar and lavender flowers in a food processor and process for about a minute. The sugar will appear slightly finer.

Place the lavender sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the butter and combine on low speed (with the paddle attachment) until just combined. Increase the speed to medium-high and beat the two together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.

Add the eggs and beat well after each addition. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Sift the flour into the mixture and then add the milk, vanilla extract and lemon zest. Mix until just combined.

Spoon the batter into the paper liners and bake for 15 to 18 minutes. The cupcakes are done when a tester poked into the middle of the cupcakes comes out clean.

Let the cupcakes cool completely before frosting them.

For the frosting:

1-1/2 cups icing sugar, sifted
1 egg white
1 tsp. lemon juice
purple food colouring (optional)
lavender sprigs for garnish (optional)

Place the egg white and lemon juice in a bowl. Slowly add the icing sugar to the egg white, beating constantly (you can do this by hand). Once the icing sugar has been incorpoated and you have a thick frosting, you can think it out a bit if you wish by adding a bit of milk. If you want to give the frosting a bit of colour, add the tiniest pit of purple or violet food colouring.

Put about a tablespoonful of frosting on each cupcake. Spreak it slightly with a spoon. Gently place a sprig of lavender on each cupcake and serve.

Enjoy!

Technorati tags: cupcakes, lavender

As many of you who stop by here regularly know, a few weeks ago I had the pleasure of telling you about Faith Heller Willinger’s newest book, Adventures of an Italian Food Lover.

Part cookbook, part memoir, part travelogue, the book is an homage to all of the friends that Faith has made throughout her years living in Italy. (Note: She’s made a lot of friends!) The recipes are contributions from these friends. They are unique in the way that a special recipe from a special friend is unique.

I was able to take a sneak peek at Faith’s book thanks to Cath of A Blithe Palate who invited me to co-host an event with her based on Faith’s new book.

Rather than a typical book review, Cath and I decided to try something different with this book. We each chose a set of participants and asked them to read the book and choose a recipe they’d like to prepare. After having made the recipe, we asked them to write about it and in particular, to write about who they would share their dish with and why.

The response has been tremendous! While there are still a few more people who have yet to post their adventure with this book, I’d like to present to you a round up of (most of) the participants that I asked to take part.

I will start with the first person that I asked to take part, that being Lis of La Mia Cucina. Lis is a soul sister so it only makes sense that I would ask her first since we are practically related! Lis wrote a very humourous and touching post that explains how her family has a very special meatball recipe that has been passed down for several generations (I think all Italian families have a special meatball recipe … ). Understandably, she would have shared her dish with her beloved dad. Mille grazie, Lis!

As I thought about who else I wanted to invite to take part in this event, I immediately thought of my friends Rob and Rachel of Hungry in Hogtown. Not only are they fellow Torontonians, but they’re avid travellers who have fallen in love with Italy. (I understand Rob speaks some mean Italian …). Their post is about the beauty of real balsamic vinegar and how it transforms what it touches. They went all out by preparing stewed peppers with balsamic vinegar (pictured here), spaghetti with olive oil and parmesan and homemade ricotta with a variety of toppings. They chose to share their dish with a close friend. Mille grazie, Rob and Rachel!

I have often said that I try to visit Ilva’s blog, Lucullian Delights, as often as possible because her enlightening photography is a reminder that beauty is everywhere. I knew that she would bring a very special perspective to this event as Italy is her adopted home, having married and settled there. I thought that we would be able to see Faith’s book from the unique point of view of someone who moved to Italy from somewhere else. I was right! Ilva wrote a beautiful post about preparing gnocco fritto and how she would have loved to share it with her cousin Ulrik, who unfortunately passed away at a very young age. It’s a touching post about how a dish can invoke so many beautiful memories. Mille grazie, Ilva!

From my friend Ilva in Tuscany I moved to my friend Angelika in Austria. Has it already been six months since I spent a wonderful evening in her company? Time flies! Although Austrian through-and-through, Angelika has an Italian heart. I just knew I had to include her in this event. Even though she’s supremely busy with her restaurant endeavour, she took the time to read the book and write about it. On her blog The Flying Apple, Angelika wrote about a very unique spaghetti tart from Willinger’s book. Angelika chose to share her dish with a very special person to her whom she met via her blog - more proof that blogging can often lead to the most special of bonds. Grazie mille, Angelika!

I am constantly amazed by Lydia of The Perfect Pantry. She is so knowledgeable and does such a wonderful job of sharing her food knowledge! We’re lucky to have her in blog world. Happily, she agreed to take part in this event and she choose to prepare a variety of dishes from the book. Lydia, and her dear friend Cindy with whom she shared the dishes, were busy bees as they prepared Brick-Grilled Chicken Breasts, Ricotta-stuffed Zucchin Flowers and Ginger Apricot Biscotti. Lydia’s post exemplifies perfectly the spirit of sharing that is so clearly outlined in Faith’s book. Mille grazie, Lydia!

I have not known Mia of the blog Nosh for very long, but the moment I first set eyes on her blog, I knew a kindred spirit! Mia’s Italian heritage shines through and I just knew I had to ask her to be part of this event. Mia’s post was so touching as she wrote about her sister’s visit and how she decided to share her dish with her sister. After spending time together in Verona, Italy, they returned to Mia’s home where together they prepared the stewed peppers with balsamic vinegar. Mille grazie, Mia!

And now to my sweet Tartelette! That’s right, my dearest Helene was also part of this event and I am so thrilled. It’s funny because I was thinking about asking Helene, and finally did, only to find out that she had already asked Cath to take part. Clearly it was meant to be! Helene chose to prepare a cookie that is very near and dear to my heart: amaretti. Helene has some very interesting thoughts about how Faith’s book represents the sort of emotional bonds people have to dishes. Helene chose to make amaretti after recalling the first time she tried them on a trip to Italy with her family. Mille grazie, Helene!

To put it very simply, I adore Rowena of Rubber Slippers in Italy. She is so funny and sweet, and her blog is one of the very first that I fell in love with. You can always trust Rowena to come up with something very unique. An American married to an Italian, I knew that Rowena would approach Faith’s book from an interesting point of view. Rowena shared her dish with her husband and let him choose it. He chose Risotto with Almonds and Broccoli. My mouth is watering. Mille grazie, Rowena!

Do you love The Cooking Adventures of Chef Paz? I certainly do! And I especially love Chef Paz and her spirit for cooking (also really love her New York Mondays). I wrote to Paz asking if she’d like a chance to take part in this event and she readily agreed. After receiving her copy of the book, Paz decided to try penne with fish sauce. She explained that she would share it with her friend Francine who has been an inspirational force for Paz in the area of cooking. Mille grazie, Paz!

I have been blessed with many wonderful aunts, on both my mother’s and father’s sides of the family. But after reading Tea’s post on her blog Tea and Cookies, I also want an Aunt Angela. Or as we would say in Italian, Zia Angela! While Tea often thrills her readers with her story of how she discovered blogging, the truth is that we discovered her just the same. I have always felt so drawn to the elegance of her writing. I sometimes feel that reading her posts is like reading honey … so smooth and clear. Tea wrote a lovely post about the effect of meeting and spending time with an Italian woman known as Aunt Angela. To honour her, Tea chose to make the walnut cake from Faith’s book. (Don’t miss reading about her beloved lasagna as well!) Mille grazie, Tea!

Thank you to everyone who took part in this incredible event!

Ciao!

Note: I will add a link to Cath’s round up once she has hers up!

Technorati tags: faith heller willinger, adventures of an italian food lover

When I went to Miami in April, I had one of the best mojitos ever. It was perfectly limey, perfectly minty, perfectly rummy, perfectly sweet, perfectly tart and generally perfect.

It was so good that as I lay on the beach I kept thinking how wonderful it would be to capture the taste of that perfect mojito in cake form, or cookie form, or muffin form, or pie form, or custard form, or … cupcake form!

Yes!

Suddenly the idea of a mojito cupcake flitted into my head and I was consumed by it.

Until I had another mojito and went out to partake in Miami’s famous nightlife.

Let’s just say the mojito cupcake was quickly forgotten.

But as often happens in the life of an amateur baker, a baking idea lost in one place will be born again somewhere else. And so it was that the mojito cupcake returned to me when I read that Mary of the elegant and lovely Alpineberry had chosen Tropical Paradise as the theme for the 33rd instalment of Sugar High Friday.

The life of my mojito cupcake began with a cake that I have come to adore, as have many of my family members and friends who regularly make this cake. You may already be familiar with it as it made its rounds in blog world a few years ago. I’m talking about the now famous Rum Butter Cakes from the blog Gastronome.

Rather than making one bundt cake, as I usually do, I made 30 mini cupcakes and one cake in a loaf pan. For the cupcakes, I altered the rum syrup by infusing it with lime zest and mint, as both lime and mint are key components of the mojito.

After letting the syrup soak into the warm cupcakes, I let them cool completely, and then topped them with a frosting made of cream cheese, butter, icing sugar, loads of lime zest and a healthy dash of rum.

I could have stopped there but wanted to add another “tropical” angle so I made a batch of macadamia nut crackle from a recipe from Food & Wine. I topped each with cupcake with a bit of the crackle.

Now my mojito cupcakes were ready to meet the world.

My taste testers were some very discerning people, indeed. Included were Mama Cream Puff (back from Italy!), Uncle S, Uncle N, my little cousin D and my neighbour who is one of the very best home bakers that I know.

The reaction was unanimous: the mojito cupcake was spectacularly successful! While it wasn’t quite as boozy as its liquid counterpart, it did a good job of capturing all the flavours of one of my very favourite summer libations.

I’m so excited about this cupcake, that I’m going to add it to my repertoire of baked goods for my burgeoning business experiment. Hopefully the orders for this cupcake will start rolling in.

Ciao!

Mojito Cupcakes with Macadamia Nut Crackle
Adapted from various sources (see above).

Note: This recipe yielded 30 mini cupcakes and one loaf baked in a 9 x 5-inch pan. You can also bake this in a standard 10- or 12-cup Bundt pan, as the original recipe indicates. Of course you can also adapt it to fit whatever pan or vessel you choose.

The frosted cupcakes should be stored in the refrigerator and will keep for a few days. The unfrosted cupcakes or cake can be stored, well-covered, at room temperature and will stay fresh for a few days.

People often ask me where I find the tiny party cups that I use to make mini cupcakes. I buy mine from my local bulk food store, but you should be able to find them at any well-stocked kitchen store, cake decorating supply store or party supply store.

For the cupcakes:

1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 tbsp. dark rum
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, at room temperature

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place a rack in the centre of the oven. If you’re making the entire recipe as mini cupcakes, put 60 mini party cups on two baking sheets (30 on each one - you will then have to have two racks in your oven to bake both sheets of cupcakes at the same time. Put one if the top third of the oven and one in the bottom third. Rotate the trays halfway through baking). If you’re only making half the recipe as mini cupcakes, then put 30 mini party cups on a baking sheet and then butter and flour a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan to bake the remainder of the batter as a loaf.

Combine the buttermilk, rum and vanilla extract. Set aside.

Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Sift and then set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the butter and sugar. Mix on medium-high speed until light and fluffy (about 4 to 5 minutes).

Reduce the speed to low, and add the eggs one at a time. Scrape down the sides of the bowl after each addition.

With the mixer still on low speed, add 1/3 of the dry ingredients and mix well.

Add half of the buttermilk mixture and mix well, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Mix for a minute or two.

Add another third of the dry ingredients (on low speed) and mix well.

Add the remainder of the buttermilk mixture, once again scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Mix for another minute or two.

Add the remainder of the dry ingredients (on low speed) and mix for a minute or two, until the batter is smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to ensure that all of the flour has been incorporated.

Fill the mini party cupcakes halfway with batter until you’ve used it all up. If you’re only making 30 mini cupcakes, then fill the 30 cups and pour the rest of the batter into the loaf pan.

Bake the mini cupcakes for 25 minutes and then test for doneness by inserting a cake tester into the centre of the cupcakes. If it comes out clean, they’re done. If not, bake for another 5 minutes. In my oven, the mini cupcakes took about 28 minutes.

If you’re also baking the loaf, that will require more time. In my oven, the loaf took about 50 minutes.

Remove the cupcakes from the oven and let cook for 5 minutes before poking holes in them with a skewer or toothpick. Immediately spoon the rum syrup over the warm cupcakes and let them soak it all up. Once they’ve cooled completely, you can ice them with the lime and rum frosting.

For the rum syrup:

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup dark rum
2 or 3 pieces of lime zest
a few sprigs of fresh mint

In a small pot, combine the sugar, water and butter over medium-high heat.

Bring the mixture to a boil, stirring often.

Once the butter has completely melted and the sugar has dissolved, remove from the heat.

Carefully add the rum. The mixture will bubble and spurt so take care not to burn yourself.

Once you’ve mixed in all the rum, add the lime zest and mint and let the syrup infuse for 5 minutes before spooning over the cupcakes.

For the lime and rum frosting (this will frost 30 mini cupcakes - if you’re making 60 then you will have to double the recipe):

1 8-oz. package cream cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup butter (1-1/2 sticks), at room temperature
1 cup icing sugar
2 tbsp. dark rum
zest of 3 limes

In the bowl of a stand mixer, fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the cream cheese and butter at high speed for 5 minutes.

Reduce the speed to low and add the icing sugar. Mix for a minute to incorporate the sugar and then increase the speed to high again and mix for another minute or two. The frosting should be light and fluffy.

Turn off the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the rum and the lime zest and mix at medium speed until well incorporated.

The frosting should be used immediately so make it once your cupcakes have soaked up the syrup and are cool. You can spoon the icing on with an offset spatula or knife, or you can use a piping bag to pipe a pretty design.

For the macadamia nut crackle:

Please follow the directions for this garnish, which is from Food & Wine’s site. The recipe is located here.

Technorati tags: cupcakes, mojito, lime, mint, rum, sugar high friday, shf

The glory of strawberry season is profound, yet so fleeting!

Just as quickly as the lovely red berries make an appearance, they’re gone, leaving behind a deep longing that will last for another year.

Several years ago, I began cultivating a strawberry plant in our backyard garden. Happily, that one plant has now multiplied into at least ten plants that provide us with some luscious berries indeed.

Ontario strawberries are truly delicious and I feel lucky to live in a region that produces so many beautiful strawberries. No matter how many I eat, I always feel like I haven’t eaten enough. And once they’re gone, I inevitably find myself staring disappointedly at those monster strawberries in plastic containers that you find at the grocery store. They may be huge, but they don’t have any of the flavour of a freshly picked strawberry.

Last week, I was fortunate enough to buy a container of the very last of the strawberries from the farmer’s market that I attend every Wednesday during the summer. I knew immediately that I would be making the Strawberry Sunburst Tart from Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Berry Desserts.

The picture of this dessert was one of the reasons why I bought the book!

Imagine, if you will, a giant shortbread cookie shapped like a starburst. On top of this cookie imagine spreading a luscious cream made of raspberry curd and whipped cream. And then imagine dotting the cream with some perfect strawberries.

If you can imagine all of this than you can imagine that you have before you one of the
very best summer desserts I have ever made! I didn’t adapt the recipe at all so I’m not going to share it here. However, I’ve provided some ideas on how you can recreate the dessert if you don’t own the book.

To you I say, enjoy the tart!

To the strawberries I say, until next year!

Ciao!

Strawberry Sunburst Tart

For the crust, you can use the recipe for your favourite shortbread or try the recipe for the shortbread base located here. It’s similar to the recipe in Luscious Berry Desserts.

For the cream base, you can mix a few cups of whipped heavy cream with raspberry curd, or you can puree some fresh strawberries, strain them and mix the puree in with the whipped cream. Spread your cream over the shortbread base (once it’s baked and cooled).

Decorate the cream with 10 to 15 perfect strawberries that have been hulled. Use any leftover cream to pipe a pretty design in between the strawberries.

It’s best to serve this tart immediately.

Technorati tags: strawberries, tarts

… in a sea of blueberries!

And I can’t imagine a better place to be.

I’m off to Montreal for a few days but I leave you with this incredible blueberry tart. I hope it helps get you through the weekend.

Naturally, it’s from Lori Longbotham’s must-have cookbook: Luscious Berry Desserts.

Bon weekend!

Ciao!

Well, it’s still very much hot in the city! I’m itching to try quite a few recipes from Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Berry Desserts (Flavour of the Month for July 2007), but I just can’t stand to turn on the oven.

And when even the Cream Puff won’t turn on the oven … well … that should tell you what the weather is like outside!

Instead, I’m making another withdrawal from my blog bank with a long overdue book review: Gale Gand’s Chocolate & Vanilla. I received this book many months ago and was pleased as I’d had my eye on it for quite awhile. While I’m very familiar with Gale Gand, surprisingly (even for me) I don’t own any of her cookbooks.

Chocolate & Vanilla is divided into two sections, obviously titled Chocolate and Vanilla! The book is filled with beautiful full-colour photos and has a very interesting design. If you open the book to the vanilla section, once you get to the end of that section, you have to flip the book over for the chocolate section. Alternately, if you open the book to the chocolate section, you then have to flip it over for the vanilla section.

At first I was a bit confused by this but once I realized that it was actually the design of the cookbook, I found it quirky and charming. It’s a bit risky, especially since it means that the book has no index. While each section does have a table of contents, the lack of index was probably the only drawback for me. I rely heavily on a cookbook’s index. But to be honest, it’s such a lovely book that I don’t consider it a huge deal.

Both the vanilla and chocolate sections begin with an excellent introduction, including histories of the ingredients and what to look for when buying vanilla and chocolate. The recipes are clearly laid out and they all begin with a very charming headnote. I love it when authors add a little intro to their recipes, whether it be to explain how the recipe was created or where it originates from. All of the recipes include very helpful elements like “do-aheads” and lists of what equipment you’ll need to prepare the recipe.

As for the recipes themselves, well, how do Cherries in Port over Vanilla and Late-Night Vanilla Flan strike your fancy? Anyone up for Chouqettes with Pearl Sugar or Vanilla Charlotte? And for those days when you simply must have chocolate, how about Black and White Cream Cheese Brownies or Mexican Hot Chocolate Fondue? Chocolate Babka? Chocolate Fudge Soccer Cakes?

Okay, I’ll stop now. Needless to say the titles of the recipes are endlessly tempting. But as always, the ultimate test of a cookbook is in the results. So what did I try?

Let’s start with some Chocolate-Amond Upside-Down Cake. The picture does not do it justice. It’s a moist, chocolatey sponge covered in sliced almonds smothered in a goey caramel. Yes. It’s that good.

Just one page later, Gand has a recipe for Chocolate-Praline Cake in a Jar. Intrigued by the idea of baking a cake in a jar, I took a closer look at the recipe and knew I had to try it. While I didn’t bake mine in jars (I used mini muffin cups), this was a true winner! The cake is dense and moist and the praline topping is irresistible.

As I read through the book, I found myself returning over and over to a recipe for Éclairs with Coffee Glaze. I adore éclairs and just couldn’t resist making these. Being a Cream Puff, I enjoyed the opportunity to make my close cousins the éclairs. And the custard filling and coffee glaze were amazing!

With three recipes under my belt, I was enjoying this cookbook more and more. Usually when I’m reviewing a book I’ll try three recipes but I was so intrigued that I had to try a few more.

The éclairs were followed by what has become my most favourite shortbread ever: Deep Chocolate Shortbread. When I tasted the shortbread shortly after baking it, I was a bit disappointed. It seemed to be on the bland side. But as with all good shortbread, it tastes much better when it’s had the chance to sit for a bit. The following day I bit into a shortbread bar and was blown away. The butter and the cocoa had melded perfectly. I’d buy this cookbook for this recipe alone!

Chugging along, I tried the Mini Chocolate Chip Muffins and the Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Strawberry Mash (sorry … no pictures). At this point, if you haven’t figured out that I’ve completely fallen in love with this cookbook, then hopefully the next and last recipe will convince you.

Allow me to introduce Mary’s Butterballs (also pictured at the beginning of this post)!

I will say this about Mary’s Butterballs. Lots of butter. A vanilla sugar coating. Nutella in the middle.

No need to say anything else.

If you’re looking for a great book on vanilla and chocolate, check this one out. If you’re a fan of Gale Gand’s, definitely check this one out! I’m amazed that such a slim cookbook could hold so many treasures, but it’s true.

Now if only it would cool down enough to bake!

Ciao!

Technorati tags: vanilla, chocolate, gale gand

It’s hot in Toronto.

And rainy.

And stormy.

The heat and humidity have come full on and it’s just far too hot to even contemplate turning on the oven and baking. But being closed inside begins to feel a bit like being trapped, so of course I’ve turned to my cookbooks and magazines and am sitting here enjoying them with a coffee.

But just because I can’t bake it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t bake either. I turned to my blog bank (the file of recipes that I’ve tried but haven’t posted yet) and pulled out this little gem.

Asparagus season has been glorious this year and I made these little treats after seeing them in the spring issue of the Donna Hay magazine (Issue #29). These little tarts are very easy to make and would be perfect as an appetizer or even as a main course along side a lovely summer salad.

Basically you’re rolling out some puff pastry, spreading on some ricotta and laying a few asparagus spears over the ricotta. A brief visit to the oven and these babies are ready to go.

If you’re lucky enough to be able to bake today, enjoy! As for me, I’m waiting for the rain to stop so I can hit the lawn chair under the pear tree and suck back a few mojitos!

Ciao!

Asparagus Tarts
From the Donna Hay magazine, Issue #29

puff pastry (enough to roll out to produce at least four rectangles that are roughly 5 x 2 inches at about a 1/4 inch of thickness)
1 cup ricotta
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 cup grated Parmigiano Reggiano
1 tbsp. chopped basil
1 to 2 bunches asparagus (trimmed and washed - how many asparagus bunches you use will depend on how many spears in each bunch)
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Roll out the puff pastry and cut out at least four rectangles that are 5 x 2 inches. The puff pastry should be about a 1/4 inch thick. Place the rectangles on the prepared baking sheet.

In a bowl, combine the ricotta, the salt and pepper, the lemon zest, the Parmigiano Reggiano and the basil. Mix well. If the mixture is too thin, add a bit more Parmigiano. It should be thick almost like a cream cheese.

Spread some of the ricotta mixture over each puff pastry rectangle. Leave a border of about half an inch all the way around. Lay two or three asparagus spears over the ricotta. Sprinkle some salt and pepper on the asparagus and drizzle with a bit of olive oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for 12 minutes and check the tarts. The puff pastry should be golden and the asparagus should be soft when pierced. If not, bake for a few more minutes. (When I made these, I used thick asparagus spears so it took about 16 or 17 minutes to bake.)

Remove from the oven and serve immediately. Enjoy!

Technorati tags: asparagus, puff pastry, donna hay

… the Flavour of the Month for July 2007 … Lori Longbotham’s Luscious Berry Desserts!

Applause! Clap … clap … clap!

First of all, let me wish all of my American friends a very happy Fourth of July!

After a lovely long weekend wherein we Canadians celebrated our country’s 140th birthday on July 1st, it’s high time to get to the business of July. This promises to be another busy month as there’s so much fresh food everywhere!

I have so many ideas and recipes I want to try I feel like there aren’t enough hours in the day or days in the month for that matter!

You can be sure that many of these creations will be originating from Luscious Berry Desserts. When I bought the cookbook last year, I knew immediately that I would be featuring it as a Flavour of the Month as soon as berry season was once again upon us in Ontario.

For those of you that don’t know, Lori Longbotham is a chef and a writer with a number of excellent cookbooks to her credit. While I don’t own all of them, Luscious Lemon Desserts, Lemon Zest and Luscious Chocolate Desserts all grace The Overburdened Bookshelf. I love everything about Lori’s books from the creative recipes to the beautiful photography.

Luscious Berry Desserts is no exception.

So please join me this month as we glory in berries galore!

And to whet your apetites … how about a little Blueberry Lime Cake?!

Ciao!

[Note: will post the recipe in a few days!]