Luckily, I had a few free hours and a well stocked pantry to make the challenge.  I just happened to have all of the ingredients required to make this apple strudel.  Oh other than fresh breadcrumbs… I used panko and don’t think that was the right choice.  Still turned out tasty, however.  I also used almonds, as I always have them on hand. The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

As usual with all of my Daring Bakers challenges, I don’t include the recipe. They are just too darn long and I am too OCD to just copy and paste it into my blog.  It wouldn’t look like the rest of my recipes, and that is sadly upsetting to someone anal retentive like yours truly.  You can find the  full recipe at one of the host’s blogs above.  You can also see all of my past Daring Baker Posts here.  I served it with Creme Anglaise (Vanilla Sauce.)

I managed to get the dough very thin as it was wonderfully easy to work with.  Here the dough is topped with butter toasted bread crumbs and chopped almonds.  I followed the recipe pretty closely.  The only thing I would change in the future would be to double the amount of cinnamon.

Mmmmm… sliced apples with sugar and sexy rum soaked raisins! (Taken with a macro lens)

The rolling process.  Here you can see here how thin the dough was.  Darn that dough was delicate and if you looked at it wrong it would tear, but it resulted in a fabulous light and thin pastry.

I ended up using a slightly different recipe, as I prefer to add sour cream instead of heavy cream to my cheesecake.  Also, I wanted to make the bulls eye design that results from two different colored batters.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take a pic before I cut into it… duh!  But it still looks really cool with the layers.  Lastly, I always bake my cheesecake at a low temperature (325 degrees) in a waterbath. I detest overcooked cheesecake!

Bulls Eye Cheesecake Recipe

32 oz cream cheese
1/4 c sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp salt
4 eggs
2/3 c granulated sugar
2/3 c dark brown sugar, firmly packed
2 tsp instant coffee (powder, not granulated)
3 tsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 c graham cracker crumbs

1. Adjust rack 1/3 up from the bottom of the oven and preheat oven to 325 degrees. Carefully butter an 8 inch springform cheesecake pan all the way up to the rim and including the inside of the rim itself. You will need a larger pan to use as a water bath while baking.  Wrap the bottom of the pan with one large piece of foil.  Make sure the foil comes at least 2 inches up the sides of the pan to avoid water getting into the cheesecake.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cheese until it is soft and smooth, frequently scraping the sides of the bowl (with a rubber spatula) and the beaters themselves to be sure the cheese is uniformly smooth.  Beat in the sour cream, then the vanilla and almond extracts, and the salt, then the eggs, one at a time.  Keep scraping bowl occasionally and beat after each addition until it is incorporated.

3. Remove the bowl from the mixer. You will have about 6 cups of the mixture.  Place half of it (3 cups) in another bowl that is large enough to allow you to stir in it.  Add the granulated sugar to one bowl, and the brown sugar to the other bowl, stirring with a rubber spatula until incorporated and the mixtures have thinned out.

4. Remove about 1/2 c of the brown sugar mixture and add the cocoa and powdered coffee.  Stir well to dissolve the powders.  Add this mixture back to the brown sugar bowl and stir well.

5. Now you will have about 4 c of each mixture.  The two mixtures will be placed alternately in the pan to create the design.  Each segment will be about 1 cup of mixture. I use two 1-cup measuring cups, one for the dark, and one for the light mixture.

6. It doesn’t matter which color goes first. Pour one cup of one mixture into the center of the pan. It will spread by itself to cover the bottom of the pan.  Then pour one cup of the other mixture directly into the middle of the first mixture. (That will spread out too.) Now pour one cup of the first mixture in the center.  Keep continuing until all of the batter is used, four additions of each mixture.

7. Now handle the pan very carefully in order not to disturb the design. Place the cheesecake pan in the larger pan and place in the preheated oven.  Carefully, pour enough hot water in the larger pan to come 1 1/2 inches up the sides of the cheesecake pan.  Bake for 1 1/2 hours.

8. Remove the cake pan from the hot water and set aside to cool at room temperature.  When cooled, cover the pan with plastic wrap and then refrigerate for several hours (the longer the better, at least 8 hours.)  Remove the springform sides and place a flat plate or large plastic cutting board on top of the cheesecake.  Carefully flip the cheesecake and remove the bottom of the springform pan.

9. Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over the bottom of the cake.  This will keep the cake from sticking to the plate.  Cover with your serving plate and flip again, leaving the cake right side up.  Dip your knife in hot water before making each cut.

Makes about 10 servings

This was my first time making pasta at home.  I’ve made it when I was in culinary school, but that was 10 years ago.  I had to use three and a half eggs instead of the two called for in the recipe.  Must have been because I had large eggs, not the jumbo size in the recipe. I definitely realized how much it helps to have a pasta roller. Seriously… I have sore arms as I type this.  I couldn’t get the dough as thin as I would have liked, but it turned out good enough. I let it dry overnight over dish cloth covered chairs. The sheets of pasta were quite brittle the following day when I was ready to cook it. Some broke into pieces as I removed them from the chairs.  However, it wasn’t a big deal because when you layer the pasta sheets in the pan, it doesn’t really matter if the sheets were perfect.

I felt there was not enough bechamel sauce for the recipe.  I had to make another 1/2 recipe to have a nice thin coating on each of the 4 layers of pasta.  Especially since the top was coated with the bechamel.  I altered the ragu recipe a bit.  I really wasn’t digging the pure meat sauce, so instead of adding three roma tomatoes,  added an entire 28 oz can of roma tomatoes with the sauce. I was very happy with the outcome.  I was also very happy that the butcher at Publix made special amounts of the veal and skirt steak… because you just can’t find 8 oz of steak in the meat department.  I did have the perfect amount of ragu sauce.. with just one bite left (that I ate, of course!)

Other than that, I followed the recipes exactly.  I was very happy with the outcome.  The flavors were distinct and the lack of cheese really brought out the ragu flavor.  I now want to invest in a pasta roller so I can make more homemade pasta.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.  We 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.  Check out the other Daring Bakers here and all of my past challenges here.

I’ve made other flourless chocolate cakes, but this one turned out so light and yet so flavorful at the same time.  I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate for my husband… He’s not a big fan of the bittersweet chocolate that I love so much.  The combination was very tasty… not too sweet for me, and not too bitter for him.  Marriage is all about compromise.  This is one of the easiest desserts to make and yet so sophisticated, and I plan to make it again.  Can you believe that only 3 ingredients go into it???  Crazy, eh?  I served it with homemade vanilla ice cream, raspberry sauce and chocolate piped filigrees.

Chocolate Valentino Recipe

16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.

2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling, butter your pan (6″ X 8″ or close to that) or ramekins and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.

3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.  Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).  With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.

4. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.  Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}

5. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C.  Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C. Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.

6. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Makes 6-8 servings

Note: I did half of the recipe and it made 4 small ramekins.  It only took about 15 minutes to get to 140 degrees.

Vanilla Ice Cream Recipe

3/4 c sugar
1 c whole milk
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 c heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract

1. Pour the milk into a saucepan and scald it (bring slowly up to boiling point). While this is heating, whisk the egg yolks and sugar until thick in a small bowl. Pour about 1/2 cup of the scalded milk into the egg yolks and sugar and stir well. Then pour the mixture back into the pan and heat gently, stirring until the custard thickens, about 3-4 minutes. Do not allow to boil, or it will curdle.

2. When you can run you finger over the back of your spoon and the custard leaves a streak, it’s time to remove the saucepan from the heat. Immediately, strain custard in a fine mesh strainer and into a metal or glass bowl. Place the bowl into an ice bath, and stir until it has cooled. Stir in the vanilla and heavy cream. Pour into a container and refrigerate at least 2 hours.

4. Pour the custard into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.

Makes about 2 pints of ice cream.

I made several different shapes; long triangles that I shaped over a (washed) can, spirals that I shaped around a thin wooden spoon handle, spoons that I shaped on (obviously) spoons, and butterflies that I bent in half and set in a baking dish.  I served them with home made raspberry and mango sorbets.

For this plate, I piped a few thin lines of melted chocolate in a crisscross pattern.  After the chocolate set, I filled the center diamond with mango sauce that I slaved over.  By slaving over, I put a spoonful of sorbet into a ramekin, set it on the counter… and let it melt.  Voila… easiest mango sauce, ever.

Butterflies with chocolate tuile piped on wings…

Thin strips of tuile with a stripe of chocolate tuile batter. Shaped by twisting around a wooden spoon handle.

Every restaurant I’ve worked in has had tuiles as garnish on desserts, so I have had plenty of experience making them. One restaurant had a dessert that had not one but two tuile spirals on it.  By the time you finished making a batch of spirals, your fingers would be numb because you have to actually hold the hot cookie around a wooden dowel until it cooled.  Years later and I’m now just getting the feeling back into my fingertips!

I made my templates out of a cake box, which works well for one time use.  One restaurant I worked in would pull down the plastic sheeting that hangs in front of the walk in freezer whenever cutting a new template.  Those who have worked in restaurants know exactly what I’m referring to.  That is the perfect material for a tuile template.  Just the perfect thickness to yield a thin cookie, but not so thin it will be too fragile.  I wonder if the executive chef ever realized why the strips of plastic were dwindling…?  :P

The secret to a good tuile is spreading your batter very thin and evenly.  If they are not spread evenly, the thin spots cook faster than others and it usually gets brittle and you will curse repeatedly… like a sailor… when trying to shape them.  Believe me… been there, done that.  Also, baking them on a Silicone baking sheet (Silpat) makes them virtually fool-proof.

Spoon shapes with random chocolate piping on them.

Tuile Cookie Recipe (
from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink)

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / 1/2 cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

1. Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the baking sheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

3. Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from baking sheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a baking sheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

4. If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….