Daring Bakers- Pizza, Pizza, Pizza it’s a lotza fun!

Apologies to Hi-5 for the vauge plagarism of their song for the title of this post.

This months Daring Bakers is home made pizza.  Recipe from Peter Reinharts most excellent, The Bread Bakers Apprentice.  I made this the first time in the month for Liam’s birthday party.  Perfect party food.

I let everyone top their own pizzas and even had them have a go at (trying) to toss the pizza dough in the air.  Given the hoards of children and general busy-ness of a childrens party I couldn’t get anyone to take a photo of me trying to spin the pizza.  So here are 2 photos of family having a go. The first is my good husband.  Not a great photo but the only time anyone got ‘take off’ and it is definite proof of concept.

Apologies to Sarah (for using this photo) she gave it a red hot go.  I am sure the look on my face was even more concerned!

In the interest of fairness I made the pizza again (for the express purpose of getting photos).  I also added in some slightly underfed sourdough starter.  I decided I wanted the crust a little thicker so I divided the dough into 4 portions this time.  It made it so much easier to work with.

Matt was coming home early.  The dough was prepped.  The kids were excited.  The oven was seriously hot, hot hot.

Matthew was late, the kids were increasingly ratty.  So I made them a pizza.  I tried to get my 5 year old to take an action shot but he wanted to use the camera to take photos of his dinosaur bedspread he got as a birthday present.  I got hungry and made myself a calzone.  Forgot to put cheese inside so sprinkled on top.  Still no action photos.

Matt came home.  The phone rang.  I stepped outside for a well deserved moment of quiet.  Matt was really helpful and made the final two pizzas.  No photos.  Small tantrum from me….  Matt only trying to be helpful.

The best laid plans.

This challenge was lots of fun.  I found the dough got way too thin and ripped in the middle when I tried the toss (especially on the first batch which felt quite wet).  On the second go the individual pizzas developed a bit of a skin sitting on the bench and that made them feel a lot easier to work with.  I got more of a gentle stretch over the knuckles and got a reasonable thickness and shape.  Their was a lovely crumb structure with the slightly thicker base I preferred.  I couldn’t really taste a difference in the sourdough spiked dough and the base recipe.  But I have never been good with less is more on a pizza.

TWD- Chocolate-Chocolate Cupcakes

I must make a confession.  I got disorientated, I remembered we were making a double chocolate cupcake this week and tackled the chocolate- chocolate chunk muffins (on page 19).  The boys wanted cake and my computer was in the other room.  Anyway, I will save that story for another post.  I realised on Monday that Dorie had two double choc recipes and so tackled this today.

It was really interesting reading the comments in the forum of the TWD about some dry cake experiences with this recipe.  I went ahead and made the recipe as directed.  What it did draw my attention to is all of Dories recipes use All Purpose BLEACHED flours.  

Bleached flour is not available in Australia.  I have followed with great interest discussions on Rose Levy Beranbaums site about the importance of using bleached flour when it is called for and a rather intrepid English reader of Rose’s- Kate who followed up and did all sorts of experiments involving micro-waved flour. So I used plain flour (130g) and micro-waved it for a 90 sec burst followed by a stir and a 60 sec burst.  This is what I do when I try to replicate cake flour.

This is a lovely thick batter (so much neater to portion out than the devils food cake cupcakes I made over the weekend).  I set the timer at 15 minutes and then checked at three minute intervals.  They needed 21 minutes in my oven.

I got a fair rise out of these given the scant amount of chemical leavening.  All about the creaming of the butter/sugar/egg.

The glaze came together easily.  I used my immersion blender.  I could feel it trying to seize up but the stick mixer is just so good with chocolate mixtures.

My cupcakes were not dry but they do crumble easily, you can see a fudgey layer just under the crust.  If I had left them in the oven even a couple minutes more I think they would have really dried out.

There was such interesting discussion about this particular weeks bake.  Go check out the TWD blogroll to see not only the pretty cupcakes but the baking science being considered.

TWD- Pumpkin Muffins

For October 21st, Kelly of Sounding My Barbaric Gulp chose,

Pumpkin Muffins on page 13 of Baking From My Home To Yours By Dorie Greenspan.

Canned pumpkin is not a common thing in Australia (as in I don’t think I have ever seen it).  Australians love their pumpkin.  Generally it is served as a savory accompaniment to a roast dinner.   We have very different varities here (Queensland Blue, Jap and Butternut being the 3 most common).  I prefer using the butternut in baking as it is the least prone to ’stringy-ness’ and has a nice flavour.  My hubby struggles with the notion of pumpkin pie to this day.

These were quick and easy to make.  The pumpkin keeps them moist for a day longer than standard muffins.  Dorie was right- these are great toasted (in the sandwich press).  The nuts, pumpkin, sultanas and sunflower seeds make these a fairly guilt free pleasure.

One small concern is I could taste the baking powder in the background.  I may try just a little less and see how that goes.  Now go and check out the TWD blogroll and see all the other yummy muffins.

Happy Birthday Liam

I have mentioned before that my son Liam studies the Women’s Weekly Cake book.  Fot the last few months he has been dead certain that he needed a dinosaur cake to celebrate his 5th birthday.  The T Rex one to be quite clear.

This is a big cake.  You need two  20 x 30 cm cakes.  I chose Nigella Lawsons buttermilk birthday cake (2 recipes) for the vanilla cake.  And since I like a little variety I made Rose Levy Beranbaums All American Perfect Chocolate cake (1 1/2 recipe) for the second cake.  Both of these cakes are butter cakes and fresh from the fridge a dream to carve.

I made RLB’s mouselline buttercream.  It is hot and humid here in Darwin and it really does hold up better than any other icing.  I flavoured it with creme de menthe which gave it a pale hue of green and a lovely mint flavour and then added a touch of green paste for a bit more of visual punch.

I crumb coated the cake and then let it sit in the fridge until just before I was ready to decorate and serve.  Mental note… make sure the assembled cake fits in your fridge.  We made a cake board of ply wood covered with adhesive paper as I had no flat platters even close enough in size.

Another small challenge was getting the baking paper out from underneath.  I had cut it down the middle but as I tried to pull out the left hand side it all started moving around a bit too much for comfort.  I wanted a photos before I trashed it!

So Liam got the cake of his dreams.  Heaven knows what he will choose next year.  (I am deeply concerned he has fallen for the cameleon in Collette Peters “Cakes to Dream On”-at least I have a year to practice).

And what did my darling boy do as soon as he got a knife close to his cake…

Ritual beheading of his dinosaur.  Eat him before he eats you, I suppose.

TWD- Lennox Almond Biscotti

For this weeks Tueday’s With Dorie Gretchen of Canela & Comino chose, Lenox Almond Biscotti on page 141-143 of Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

This is a fairly moist dough.  I worked quickly to create my 2 logs.

After the initial bake these were still quite doughy.  What this did achieve was ease of slicing.

I thought 3/4 an inch thickness was a bit thick for my preferences but I wanted to go with the recipe as much as possible.

It took quite a long time for these to bake through and get crispy (as in double Dories suggestion).  The humidity here is getting out of control again so they probably needed a few more minutes (at a lower temp) on top of that to keep them crispy.

These are intensely almond flavoured and gain extra crunch from the use of polenta.  I will make these again but sliced much thinner.  Now go and check out the TWD blogroll for more coffee dipping goodness.

Somebody Appreciates Me

I got my first blog award a couple of weeks ago from Judy of I Cook- He Cleans.  Life being what it is I felt deeply honored but wasn’t able to really appreciate it myself straight away.

I have been able to post regularly but have not taken the time to smell the roses or check other peoples blogs as much as I would like.  (I had my first day off in 28 running yesterday, and that I spent with my 2 and 4 year old).  Anyway, things are settling down and now I can say ‘Thank You’ to Judy for thinking of me.  So like many things, there are rules, and here they are..

1. When you receive a diamond, make a post about it on your blog.
2. Name the blogger from whom you received it.
3. Award the diamonds to seven other bloggers.
4. Link them.
5. Tell them they received an award.

So my list of 7 are

1. Steph of Whisk and Spoon.  When I first starting reading blogs (only back in November last year). I stumbled across hers.   Steph’s blog was a major factor in me becoming involved with Tuesday’s With Dorie.

2. Zoe of Zoe Bakes.  Zoe is a professional pastry chef, author of a fantastic book and still takes the time to respond to her many, many readers.  I need time management lessons from this woman!

3. Caitlin of Engineer Baker.  Not only does she write a lovely post, she takes the time to write to almost every single Dorie Baker every week.  Caitlin has a trail of good Karma a mile wide!

4. Helen of Tartlette.  Helen fueled my love for macaroons and takes them in directions I didn’t expect.  Pumpkin and Saffron, I can’t wait to try them!

5. Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy.  There aren’t a lot of TWD bloggers on this side of the equator so I tip my antipodean hat to them.  I love to hear what Tammy gets up to on her side of the Tasman.

6. Gretchen Noelle of Canela and Comina.  Another antipodean baker- based in Peru.  And when I wrote about eating kangaroo she responded with “I suppose it’s like having alpaca here”.  How cool is that?

7. Lori of Quirky Cupcake.  TWD was just the right challenge to get me blogging regularly.  Lori started what has become a very large ball rolling.  Well done you.

There is my seven. All of them have touched me in my blogging life.  Thank you all.

Adventures in Fondant- Part 2

So with my cakes baked and ganached, I toddled off to a quiet place to work with my big box of kit.  I really wasn’t certain what I would need so I brought every thing from home I could think of.  I ended up using almost all of it.

I did find some vinyl in a local cooking store which certainly came in handy to roll out on.

I was pleased my fondant did get a couple of shades darker overnight.  I didn’t achieve the Enchanted Night Sky of my imagination but it was a handsome purple.

The fondant began to tear and stick to itself- even with the smaller cake when I tried the fold over the rolling pin trick.  I got a bit cross and then I realised I could use the method of rolling to the correct size and then flipping it on top of the cake, no breath taking rolling pin moments for me!

On reflection, I think I added too much colouring paste for that amount of fondant.  Buying ready to roll fondant in bold colours will be my next experiment.  After I figured out how to get the fondant on the cake smoothing it was fairly straight forward.   I couldn’t find fondant padles in Darwin.  Another thing on my list of things to buy the next time I go down South.

Cake dowels are another thing I couldn’t find in Darwin.  However, we have no shortage of Asian food sellers, with lots of paper wrapped disposable wooden chopsticks given away.  They worked a treat cut to size.

I transported the cake in pieces to assemble on site.  I thought I would have a back room to mess about in but no,  centre stage (the present table in the centre of the hall actually) for me as I tiered my first cake.

Now I know why ribbon or icing goes along the seam lines of fondant cakes.  I didn’t have any and I have learned from my mistake.  I made some fondant stars as decoration and painted them silver with edible paint.

I was happy with the cake as a first effort.  I can see the places I need to improve.  (I start a cake decorating course at uni in a couple of weeks).  It was a lot of fun and I have been asked to do some wedding and birthday cakes from this event.

And I got to give Lisa a one of a kind present.

To wrap up, here is a photo (sadly taken at the end of the night when the kids were ratty and not in the mood to smile for photos) of my wonderful family in our costumes.

TWD- Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake

For this weeks Tuesday With Dorie Sugar Extravaganza, Tammy of Wee Treats by Tammy has made a most excellent choice, Caramel-Peanut-Topped Brownie Cake on pages 264 and 265 of Baking From My Home To Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Dorie suggests a show stopping (and perhaps heart challenging) centre of the table 8 inch affair.  Once the brownie is lovingly covered with caramel and peanuts it need to be eaten fairly promptly.  We are not entertaining this week so it would be just the 4 of us.  I thought baking 4 inch mini cakes, to be adorned just before serving was the perfect middle path.

This decision was probably reinforced by the recent purchase of a Wii Fit board that suggested more exercise less cake!

I was cross to find the spring form mechanism was broken on one of my tins so I just used 3 tins.  Had I read the recipe closely before hand I would have not been so bold with batter filling.  What I did end up with was 6 mini cakes once I torted them

I had some caramel coated peanuts floating in the fridge so I used those in the caramel.  I added some Maldon for the salt kick.

I liked this with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a huge glass of milk.  My dear husband prefered the brownie unadorned.  Less is almost always more for him unless custard is involved.  My boys ate the brownie but left the caramel and nuts.  No accounting for taste!

Now go and check out the Tuesdays With Dorie Blogroll and see the other Brownie Cakes for the week.

Adventures in Fondant- Part 1

My wonderful sister in law Lisa had her 30th birthday back in August.  I had seen a rather special looking cake at Zoe Bakes. Lisa can always find a really thoughtful gift and puts so much effort into our family celebrations.  I wanted to do something a bit special so I offered to make her birthday cake.  I showed her the picture of Claudia’s Cake and she really liked it except, could I make it purple?

Now I didn’t really realise at the time how big Lisa planned her celebrations to be.  She had organised a costume party with the theme of childhood fantasy- for about a hundred guests.

I had happily made cakes for 20 or so before.  However, I had never attempted a tiered cake or had used fondant.  I had just returned from overseas and my 2nd oven had been delivered.  Within a fortnight I would go back to being the frustrated owner of a broken oven.  Only one function of my 10 function oven kind of worked and that was the fan forced from the back of the oven. Perfect for crisping up a roast pork but not much good for baking.

So I had some challenges and despite very good intentions to practice and get things done early, it just wasn’t happening that way.

This photo was me getting an idea of how the cakes would stack up as it were.

I did practice with some fondant on the back of cake tins.  I wanted to try using the styrofoam dummy cake but I just wasn’t having luck carving shapes- and I was spending all my spare time calling the call centre to try and get something done about my oven.

Lisa and I discussed flavours for the cakes.  She really liked the orange cake I made for Patricks birthday cake.  So that was the top 8 inch tier.  And I rather bravely decided to make the Devils Food from Zoe Bakes.  Why brave you may ask?  Well I was using it as my bottom 10 inch tier and I had never, ever tasted it before (my planned trials not taking place due to oven doubling as paperweight).  However, Zoe had never lead me astray and I had faith.   This cake is lovely.  The healthy amount of coffee just makes the chocolate jump out and bump you on the nose.  I also used dark rum which shone through as complex caramel.

After doing a fair amount of reading of using fondant over different cake coverings in humid climes I decided not to use buttercream but ganache.  The ratio I used for the ganache (both dark and white) was 3 parts chocolate to 1 part cream.  I stumbled on to a fantastic discussion board discussing lumpy ganache which allayed some of my post traumatic stress disorder from my white chocolate ganache from the Daring Bakers Opera Cake challenge.  Essentially the trick is to use a stick mixer to blend the ganache.  Complete happiness from me.  Silky smooth results, limited effort- How good is that!

Each cake (2 layers each) came to 4 inches.  I baked them a couple of days before and double wrapped them in plastic wrap and then doubled wrapped them in foil and then froze them.

Once ganached and filled they were just under 4 1/2 inches tall each.  I did fill the devils food with some creme de menthe mouselline buttercream (so good, and brought balance to what was a fairly chocolate intensive cake-not that there’s anything wrong with that).

Liam was very keen to assist with the crumb coat.  Mostly because he has learned from experience by now he gets to finish the crumb infected ganache once he is done!

I ganached the cakes the day before the party and coloured the fondant.  For 2 kilograms of fondant I used and entire half size Wiltons paste colour (Enchanted Night Sky) I also used a fair amount of black paste colour because I just wasn’t getting purple enough.  The only fondant available (non-commercially) in Darwin is 500g packs of white.  I see that there are ready to roll fondants available in bold colours and trust me, it would probably be worth the shipping.  I had some gloves set aside for the mixing in of the colour, however, being Darwin, the heat caramalised the latex and the gloves shredded.

The funny side of this is I had to go to an industry function that night- with seriously purple hands.  They even clashed with my dress.  For the record from left to right Gemma, Katie, Andrea, Lisa and Sarah.

I had read a whole bunch of things about fondant not liking to be chilled.  There is no way I could leave a cake in Darwin to the elements for an length of time.  That meant that even though I had to work until 4 and the party started at 5:30 I had to cover the cake on the day, after work.

For the fondant stage of the cake my good husband suggested that I do it at the display house- no helpful children going nuts because you won’t let them eat the cake.  So I packed up a rather big box of all sorts of things and headed off.

Stay tuned for the next exciting installment on decorating the cakes.

Happy Birthday Patrick

I am an avid reader and collector of cook books.  My son Liam (age 5 very soon) has for the last 3 years picked his birthday cake from The Australian Women’s Weekly Kid’s Cake Book.  He will ask for the book and study the cakes carefully.  This year he chose his brother’s cake months in advance.  He was adament.  I tried to convince him of other options but Liam was certain that to make Patricks second birthday complete he would need a

Humpty Dumpty Cake.  No other options to be entertained.  Now, although I am perfectly capable of baking a mean cake.  I am not quite as gifted in the sewing arts.

Thankfully, my mother in law Wendy was in town and she very very kindly created Humpty for me.  For the record he is made of a Pavolva Magic (powdered egg white) Brand plastic egg.  He has a liquorish strap toupe and ribbons sewn together with love and patience (thanks Wendy) to create his suit. The grass is made from desicated coconut and green food colouring put in a zip lock bag and given to the children to moosh.

I used Dories Perfect Party Cake with a hint of orange zest (chocolate and orange always work well together I feel) in a bar tin.  I torted the layers using my ever so handy Wiltons tool.  I made Dorie’s icing with just a hint of orange as well.

The original recipe called for chocolate covered fruit and nut mix to be used to create the stones of the wall.  However, one of the guests was allergic to nuts so I used Malteasers instead.  I think the fruit and nut mix made for a more attractive wall but I much prefer eating the Malteasers.  Big Thanks to Melanie who carefully arranged all the Malteasers on the wall for me.  (She is not used to food photography so was moving her hands too quickly for a good shot, but I can work past that!)

I was really happy with how it turned out.I accepted some help with the presentation (which is a bit unusual, I do tend to be a solo operator) but that made the whole day very fun.  And what did Master Patrick think of it?

I think he was well pleased!