It's Like Magic

Pudding cakes are, as the name implies, cake and pudding together. But you don't make the cake and the pudding separately and then combine the two. No, you actually make one batter and, through the magic of science, the batter separates as it bakes and you get two distinct layers in one cup: cake on top with pudding on the bottom. It's like a self-saucing cake! I'm not entirely sure how it works but I think it has something to do with the water bath.

And by the way, never bake when you're in a rush. I was in a bit of a rush so I didn't let my cakes get golden on top. They were still done, but just not golden brown done. So they look a bit anemic. Also, my pudding layer ended up being a little bit runnier than a pudding, custard or curd should be. I'm not sure if baking it a couple minutes longer would have firmed up the pudding layer. But even with these minor issues, the pudding cakes still tasted really good.



Lemon Pudding Cakes
(adapted from Donna Hay's Modern Classics Book 2)
(6 servings)

2 tbsp (1 ounce) unsalted butter, softened at room temp.
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1-2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
2 large eggs, separated
3 tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup milk (lowfat or whole)

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly butter 6 (6-8 fluid ounce capacity) ovenproof cups or ramekins.

Using a mixer or a wooden spoon, cream butter and sugar until mixture is light and fluffy. Mix in lemon zest and egg yolks until mixture is smooth. Mix in flour and baking powder. Add lemon juice and milk and mix until mixture is smooth.

In a separate bowl, whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. (Make sure your bowl and whisk are clean or the egg whites may not reach full volume.) Gently fold beaten egg whites into the lemon mixture.

Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins. Place ramekins in a 9x13 inch pan and fill the pan with enough warm water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake at 350F for 23-27 minutes until slightly golden on top. The top should spring back when lightly touched but leave a slight indentation. Carefully remove the ramekins from the water and cool on a wire rack for 30 minutes before serving.

Toffee Almond Bars

People who know me know that I never use boxed cake mix to make cakes. I am definitely a cake from scratch girl. And although I don't use them to make cakes or cupcakes, I do use boxed cake mix to make "crust" for two recipes.

The first recipe is something we like to call "that pumpkin thing". I guess its official name is pecan pumpkin pie. I got that recipe from a restaurant on West Portal Avenue here in the city (and I will probably post the recipe on my blog in the future). And the second recipe is the one you see here for toffee almond bars. The toffee almond bar recipe was adapted from a recipe I found on the side of a yellow cake mix box.

The funny thing is that these are my two most requested recipes. I think maybe there's something in the cake mix that people seem to really like. Cake mix has a very specific and distinctive flavor that is like nothing else. I personally don't like that cake mix flavor, but I admit that I keep a box of yellow cake mix around just in case someone else has a craving for these toffee almond bars. In fact, they have been dubbed the "evil bars" by one of my coworkers since she can't resist them. But she also calls them "little bites of heaven".



Toffee Almond Bars
(makes one 9x13-inch pan)

Crust:
1 - 18 ounce box of Pillsbury yellow cake mix
*(I've also use Betty Crocker brand successfully)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg

Filling:
1 - 14 fluid ounce can of sweetened condensed milk
*(NOT evaporated milk)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
6 ounces toffee bits
*(I've used bits with or without chocolate as well as chopped up Skor or Heath candy bars)
1 cup sliced, slivered or chopped almonds

Instructions:

Mix the yellow cake mix, butter and 1 egg together and press into the bottom of a well-buttered 9x13-inch baking pan. Bake at 350 F degrees for 7 minutes (the crust won't look done).

In the meantime, mix the sweetened condensed milk, vanilla extract, 1 egg, toffee bits and the almonds. Pour over the warm crust and bake at 350 F degrees for 24 to 30 minutes until the top looks slightly golden brown. Cool before cutting.

Cheesecake Lollies

I don't really like cheesecake. There, I said it. I'm just not a fan of cream cheese especially when it's the star of the dish like with cheesecake. But even so, I make cheesecake pretty often since everyone else seems to love cheesecake. Also, cheesecake is one of those easy-to-make-little-effort-big-wow-factor desserts. I'm always a big fan of easy, especially lately as I've been too lazy to bake and totally neglecting my blog. But since cheesecake is so easy and Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell chose cheesecake pops for this month's Daring Baker challenge, I got off my a$$ to join the challenge.

The original recipe for these cheesecake pops from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor makes a whole lot of cheesecake. Too much if you ask me. Of course some would say that you can never have too much cheesecake. I made only 2/5 of the original quantity since I only had 16 ounces of cream cheese. Well, truth be told, I only had 8 ounces of Philly, but I also had 8 ounces of mascarpone which is like cream cheese but creamier and richer and definitely much less tangy than regular cream cheese. Because I was using 50% mascarpone in my 2/5 recipe, I omitted the heavy cream since I was afraid the batter would be too runny and not set up correctly. (Baking tip: Cream cheese plus heavy cream is a decent substitute for mascarpone in some recipes. So I figured that the opposite would be true too which is why I left out the heavy cream.)



I baked my cheesecake in ramekins that were deep enough to scoop out balls of cheesecake. Each ramekin has a 6 fluid ounce capacity and I got 3 walnut sized balls per ramekin. The resulting cheesecake was super creamy and even better when dipped in chocolate. I have to admit that they were pretty good. Maybe I've become a cheesecake convert? Well, I wouldn't go that far. But that's the power of the Daring Bakers. Like I say with every month's DB challenge, step outside of the box and discover or learn something new. I discovered that I like the 50/50 combination of cream cheese and mascarpone for making cheesecakes and I learned that bamboo skewers are not a good substitute for lollipop sticks. No matter how clean the cut is, you'll still get splinters.



FULL RECIPE

Cheesecake Pops
(makes 30 – 40 pops)
(from Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey by Jill O'Connor)

5 8-ounce packages cream cheese, at room temp
2 cups granulated sugar
¼ cup all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream

Boiling water as needed
Thirty to forty 8-inch lollipop sticks

1 pound chocolate, finely chopped
2 tablespoons vegetable shortening

Assorted decorations such as chopped nuts, colored jimmies, crushed peppermints, mini chocolate chips, sanding sugars, dragees) - Optional

Instructions:
Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 325 degrees F. Set some water to boil.

In a large bowl, beat together the cream cheese, sugar, flour, and salt until smooth. If using a mixer, mix on low speed. Add the whole eggs and the egg yolks, one at a time, beating well (but still at low speed) after each addition. Beat in the vanilla and cream.

Grease a 10-inch cake pan (not a springform pan), and pour the batter into the cake pan. Place the pan in a larger roasting pan. Fill the roasting pan with the boiling water until it reaches halfway up the sides of the cake pan. Bake until the cheesecake is firm and slightly golden on top, 35 to 45 minutes.

Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Cover the cheesecake with plastic wrap and refrigerate until very cold, at least 3 hours or up to overnight.

When the cheesecake is cold and very firm, scoop the cheesecake into 2-ounce balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Carefully insert a lollipop stick into each cheesecake ball. Freeze the cheesecake pops, uncovered, until very hard, at least 1 – 2 hours.



When the cheesecake pops are frozen and ready for dipping, prepare the chocolate. In the top of a double boiler, set over simmering water, or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water, heat half the chocolate and half the shortening, stirring often, until chocolate is melted and chocolate and shortening are combined. Stir until completely smooth. Do not heat the chocolate too much or your chocolate will lose its shine after it has dried. Save the rest of the chocolate and shortening for later dipping, or use another type of chocolate for variety.

Alternately, you can microwave the same amount of chocolate coating pieces on high at 30 second intervals, stirring until smooth.

Quickly dip a frozen cheesecake pop in the melted chocolate, swirling quickly to coat it completely. Shake off any excess into the melted chocolate. If you like, you can now roll the pops quickly in optional decorations. You can also drizzle them with a contrasting color of melted chocolate (dark chocolate drizzled over milk chocolate or white chocolate over dark chocolate, etc.) Place the pop on a clean parchment paper-lined baking sheet to set. Repeat with remaining pops, melting more chocolate and shortening as needed.

Refrigerate the pops for up to 24 hours, until ready to serve.

Candy? In Pie?

When my dear husband found out that I was using leftover Easter candy to make something called Snickers pie for tonight's baking session, he asked "Isn't that a bit Sandra Lee"? (For those who haven't heard of Sandra Lee ["SL"], she has a show on the Food Network called "Semi-Homemade Cooking" although I think they use the word "homemade" loosely.) So to someone like me who actually cooks and bakes from scratch, this could be quite insulting. But my husband's comment was mere observation and I took no offense. In fact, with a name like Snickers pie, I could imagine SL mixing together chopped Snickers candy bars, a tub of Cool Whip, a few cups of instant chocolate pudding, plopping the mixture into a store bought frozen pie crust, drizzling some chocolate liquor over it and calling it a Snickers pie. I mean, the lady does have a tendency to use a lot of candy and booze during the show, don't you think?


Yes, it's true that the pie I baked actually has pieces of Snickers candy bars embedded in it, but that's where the resemblance to anything SL does ends. This Snickers pie has a crust, a fudge layer, a Snickers layer, a cheesecake layer and chocolate topping layer. But is my pie any more homemade than the imaginary SL pie I described? I'd like to think so. But then again, I didn't actually make my own graham crackers although I did crush the crackers with my rolling pin, mixed the crumbs with sugar and butter, pressed them into a pan and baked it. I'm not a dairy farmer so I didn't make my own cream cheese or churn my own butter. I don't have my own hens to provide fresh eggs. But I did make a fudge layer from chocolate, butter, eggs and sugar and a cheesecake layer from cream cheese, eggs and sugar. At what point can something be labeled homemade? Maybe the best I can say is that my pie is less not homemade than something coming out of SL's kitchen.

Well, whether you call it homemade, semi-homemade or not homemade at all, this pie was good. A bit over-the-top but good. Although the pie was too sweet for me, all those layers did result in a very rich and complex pie. The Snickers melted a bit blurring the lines between the fudge layer and the creamy cheesecake layer. The recipe yields 12-16 servings, but I suggest cutting the pie slices even smaller. I cut my 9-inch pie into 20 slices. The slices were thin enough to pick up and eat without a fork and plate.




Snickers Pie
(adapted from Mimi Silbert's recipe found in the SF Chronicle)
(makes one 9-inch pie; approximately 12 to 16 servings)

Crust
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons light brown sugar
4 ounces (1 stick/ 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted

Fudge Layer
4 ounces (1 stick/ 8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 ounces of Snickers candy bars, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
(I weighed the Snickers without wrappers)

Cream Cheese Layer
10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg white
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Glaze
2 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 tablespoons heavy cream

(I used a different chocolate glaze recipe to top my pie but I didn't like it my topping recipe. I included the original glaze recipe instead of the one I used. So if you make the pie, your topping might look different from what is shown in my photos.)

For the crust:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 9-inch deep-dish glass pie pan.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Add melted butter, stirring until well incorporated. Press mixture evenly onto the bottom and up the sides of prepared pan. Bake for 5 minutes, until crust is set. Transfer to a rack to cool.

Keep the oven temperature at 350 degrees.

For the fudge layer:
Combine butter and bittersweet chocolate in the top of a double boiler; set over simmering water and stir until melted and smooth. Remove top insert and cool slightly.

Sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt into a mixing bowl. Set aside dry ingredients.

Using an electric mixer, beat together sugar, egg and egg yolk in a large bowl for 1 minute, until slightly thickened. Add vanilla and cooled chocolate mixture and mix until well blended. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Pour into crust.

Bake for about 15 minutes, until a skewer inserted into the center comes out with moist batter still attached. If crust browns too quickly, cover with foil.

Transfer pan to a rack and let cool for 10 minutes. Evenly arrange Snickers bars over the top.

For the cream cheese layer:
Using an electric mixer, beat together cream cheese and sugar in a mixing bowl until smooth. Add egg, egg white and vanilla and beat until smooth. Carefully spread mixture over the Snickers bars. Bake for 15 minutes, or until cream cheese is set. Transfer to a rack to cool.

For the glaze:
Combine chocolate and cream in the top of a double boiler. Set over simmering water and stir until chocolate is just melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Spread or drizzle decoratively over the pie.

Refrigerate until well chilled. Serve cold. The pie may be prepared up to 3 days ahead. Cover loosely with foil and keep refrigerated.

Imperfect

The last couple weeks have been the busiest I've been at work in a very long time. I mean, I'm always fairly busy and I never have enough time or staff to finish everything, but we had a deadline to meet and a product to launch. In addition, our company was in the process of moving from one office building to another. Even though our new office is a million times better than our old office, my commute now has me driving on the parking lot more commonly known as Highway 101 instead of the wide-laned, rolling-hilled Interstate 280. I sound like a total whiner and I know that this month's Daring Baker challenge recipe was fairly straightforward, but I wasn't sure if I had the time.

I'm aware that my situation is not unique. Whether it's your job, commute, children or household chores, there are not enough hours in the day for all that and "personal" time too. But it is exactly during these busy, stressful times when taking a moment for a "breather" is so important. A pleasant distraction (like taking a walk or baking a cake) can de-stress and refresh the mind enough so that it can continue working.



So I took a break from my desk and headed into the kitchen to bake the cake. This month's hostess Morven of Food Art and Random Thoughts chose the "Perfect Party Cake" from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home To Yours. The cake is a white cake flavored with a hint of citrus. The frosting is a Swiss meringue buttercream and the cake can be filled with whatever we like. It sounded, well, perfect.

I was unsuccessful the last time I made a Swiss meringue buttercream (for the Daring Bakers' yule log challenge) and I was not sure if I would be successful this time around either. My buttercream curdled a bit so I added a bit of cream cheese to help smooth it out. Using cream cheese was a much better solution than adding more sugar to bind the frosting (which is what I did for the yule log frosting) and the frosting turned out surprisingly well. But it seemed more like a cream cheese frosting now than a buttercream.

I don't usually have any trouble making cakes and that was pretty much true this time. However, I realized that the flour I purchased was not cake flour but actually pastry flour. Now normally I would just use about 1 tablespoon less of pastry flour than I would per cup of cake flour. (FYI: Pastry flour has a higher protein content than cake flour but still lower than all purpose flour.) But this pastry flour was not the fine textured ivory pastry flour that I usually buy, but a slightly coarser light tan pastry flour. Stupidly, I went ahead a used it for the cake anyway. What I should've done was use all purpose flour. (FYI: One cup minus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour = one cup cake flour.)

My cake looked far from perfect. My cake was not snow white like the cake shown in the cookbook. My cake was beige and I'm sure it was because of my pastry flour. Even though my cake rose in the oven and was fluffy, my cake tasted very "whole grainy". I think that my pastry flour was a whole wheat pastry flour. The package read whole grain pastry flour and I'm not quite sure if that's the same as whole wheat. Generally speaking, I am not opposed to whole wheat, but it's just not appealing when you're expecting a light, delicate and tender white cake.

I did some calculations and determined that the King Arthur pastry flour I usually use has 8 grams protein per 100 grams (8%) and the pastry flour I used for this cake had 11 grams protein per 100 grams (11%). I'm not sure if the label on my pastry flour package is correct since 11% is as high as the content in all purpose flour. (But protein content was not the major issue with my cake. The major issue was the flavor. But it's my fault for using the wrong flour. I'm sure the recipe is a good one. I just messed up.)

I had no time to make the cake again before the posting date so I just continued with the recipe. I cut my cakes horizontally to make 4 layers, and then using a cookie cutter, I cut out 4-inch circles for mini cakes. I filled them with Nutella (chocolate hazelnut spread) and my buttercream, frosted the sides and top and then snapped some quick pictures.

The Nutella and frosting helped to hide some of that whole grainy taste but I felt my cake was beyond salvaging. I wanted to toss the whole thing into the compost and just get back to work. My husband said it was not horrible and I should just bring it to the office and see what my coworkers thought. Some really liked it, some thought it was a bit strange but still good and others felt it was not my best work. My coworker JC did say that my worst is still better than most people's best. Thanks JC -you made my day! And thanks to hostess Morven and all the Daring Bakers. When I have some more time, I will definitely try making this cake again.



My changes to the recipe:
I filled my cake with 2/3 cup of Nutella instead of fruit preserves.
I used orange zest and orange oil instead of lemon zest and lemon extract in the cake.
I use orange juice instead of lemon juice in the frosting.
I added some cream cheese to the frosting (when my buttercream frosting curdled).
I omitted the shredded coconut.
I cut my split cake layers with a 4-inch diameter cookie cutter to make mini layer cakes.

PERFECT PARTY CAKE
(From "Baking from My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan)

Cake Ingredients
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

Buttercream Ingredients
1 cup granulated sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Filling and Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the buttermilk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Feeling Green

A nearby tea shop was having a sale on matcha (green tea powder) so I bought a 100 gram container to try for baking. I figured that if I didn't like baking with it then I would just chalk the whole thing up to experience (it only cost $8). Matcha may not be everybody's cup of tea (yes, pun intended). It could be too bitter for some or too earthy for others. But if you love green tea ice cream, then chances are you'll love matcha in baked goods too.

I've seen the matcha shortbread (aka green tea sweets) that's been making its way around the blogosphere and I had originally planned to use my newly purchased matcha for that purpose. But at the last minute I decided to go a different route for my first foray into matcha territory. I modified a pinwheel cookie recipe from Fine Cooking magazine #68. Instead of dark chocolate I used matcha and white chocolate. I kept the vanilla dough pretty much the same.



The resulting cookie is very much like a typical sugar cookie. It's sweet, buttery and slightly crisp. I would've called it child friendly if not for the green tea (unless your child, like my nephews, actually likes matcha).The white chocolate tempered the bitter edge of the matcha without masking the flavor of the matcha. The vanilla and matcha doughs work very well together both flavorwise as well as aesthetically. The grassy green and creamy yellow reminds me that spring is just around the corner.

As you can see from the pictures my vanilla layer is a bit thicker than my matcha layer. I decided not to stress about it and roll it up anyway. Since the recipe makes 9 dozen cookies, I decided not to do all pinwheels. I also made some randomly blended, quasi-marbled ones and some solid matcha cookies with a bit of coarse sugar on the edges. That way everyone could choose their ideal ratio of vanilla to matcha.



Matcha Sugar Cookies
(makes about 9 dozen cookies)

3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
10 ounces (2 1/2 sticks / 1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, softened at room temp
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 tbsp matcha (green tea powder)
2 tbsp powdered sugar
3 ounces high quality white chocolate, melted and still barely warm

Sift together flour, salt and baking soda. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Add egg and egg yolk and vanilla extract; mix until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary.

Add flour mixture and, on low speed, mix until just combined. Remove 2 cups of the dough and set aside. This is the vanilla dough.

On low speed, add the matcha and powdered sugar to the remaining dough in the stand mixer bowl and mix until just combined. Then mix in the melted white chocolate until well combined.

Divide each flavor of dough into three fairly equal pieces. (You should have 6 pieces: 3 matcha and 3 vanilla.) Wrap each piece in plastic and refrigerate for about 20-30 minutes.

Roll one piece of matcha dough into a 7x7 inch square. Roll one piece of vanilla dough into a 7x7 inch square. Trying to line up the edges as best as you can, place the vanilla dough on top of the matcha dough. Gently roll over the dough to seal the two layers together.

Roll your layered dough into a tight log. After the log is formed, gently roll it back and forth on the counter to slightly elongate and compact it. The log should be about 9 inches long and about 1.5 inches in diameter. Wrap the log in plastic wrap. Repeat with the other pieces of dough. Refrigerate dough logs for 2 hours or freeze up to 2 months.

Preheat oven to 350F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Working with one log at a time, slice the dough into 1/4 inch thick rounds and place rounds on your prepared baking sheets (space them about 1 inch apart). Bake at 350F for 12-14 minutes or until the tops of the cookies look set. Cool on baking sheet for 1-2 minutes then gently transfer cookies to a wire rack.

A Big Bag of Brown Sugar

I've been a member of Costco for a long time now. For those unfamiliar, Costco is a membership warehouse club chain. When I joined in 1990, the company was in the pre-merger days and called Price Club. Although I was not a small business owner, Costco still appealed to me. My college roommates and I would drive from Davis to Sacramento to do some bulk shopping. We could buy toilet paper, giant food service sized cans of fruit cocktail, half gallon tubs of peanut butter and cleaning supplies. I also remember trying to cram a desk we bought into the backseat of an early 80's Toyota and accidentally tearing the cloth covering the back of the passenger side seat. Ooops! Even now, I feel bad about tearing my roommate's seat.

My parents, small business owners until they retired a few years ago, have been Costco members for far longer than I have been. Recently, on their usual monthly shopping trip to Costco, they returned with a 25 pound bag of C&H brown sugar. Our Costco doesn't always have brown sugar and, every once in a while, would have a "manageable" 10 pound bag in stock, but not on this trip. Certain items seem to come and go at Costco. So if you see something you like, buy it, because it might not be there on your next visit.

My mom knows how much I like to bake, so she gave me more than half of their 25 pounds. Since I try to keep my baking pantry pretty well stocked I already had about 6 pounds of brown sugar in my kitchen. Now, with almost 20 pounds of brown sugar to work my way through, I was searching for all kinds of recipes to use up the brown sugar. You would think that brown sugar could be used in place of white granulated sugar in baking recipes. This may be true in many cases, but there are certain situations where the substitution would not work. Brown sugar is more acidic than white sugar so the acid level could be slightly thrown off balance which could possibly affect the finished product. Sometimes I adjust my leavening agents to compensate.

But there was no need to do that since this recipe is written for brown sugar. I found this brown sugar chocolate chip pound cake recipe in the October 2007 issue of Bon Appétit magazine. The brown sugar and maple are well matched flavors and the buttermilk keeps the cake super moist and cuts the sweetness with its tang. My favorite part is the maple espresso glaze drizzled on top. Yummy! My coworkers agreed that this cake is worth making again and again.

By the way, does anyone remember the C&H Sugar Company jingle "C&H, pure cane sugar, from Hawaii, _____ in the sun"? I cannot remember what word comes before "in the sun". So now the jingle is stuck in my head and it's driving me crazy! My internet search has come up with same 3 or 4 words to fill in the blank, but I haven't found a definitive answer. If anyone can help me regain my sanity, I would be eternally grateful.



Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Pound Cake
with Maple-Espresso Glaze
(from Bon Appétit, October 2007)
(makes 12 servings)

Cake:
12 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate (or 12 ounces chocolate chip morsels)
3 cups all purpose flour (plus an additional amount for dusting pan)
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup (8 ounces/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp
1 1/2 cups firmly packed brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp maple extract (I didn't have any so I used 4 tbsp pure maple syrup)
4 large eggs
1 cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
2 tbsp (or more) heavy cream
1 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder

To make the cake:
Preheat oven to 325F. Generously butter a 12-cup Bundt pan then dust pan lightly with flour.

Place your chopped chocolate (or chocolate chips) in medium bowl. From your 3 cups all purpose flour, measure about 2 tablespoons flour and toss those 2 tablespoons in with your chocolate. (Tossing your chopped chocolate with a tiny bit of flour helps keep them evenly suspended in the batter.)

Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream butter and brown sugar until fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Mix in vanilla extract and maple extract (or maple syrup). Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

On low speed, mix in the flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Detach the bowl from the stand mixer and, using a spoon or spatula, fold in the chopped chocolate. Spread your batter evenly in your prepared pan.

Bake at 325F until cake tester comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 60 minutes. Cool cake in pan over a cooling rack for about 30 minutes. Then invert cake onto cooling rack and let it cool completely before glazing.



To make the glaze:
In a medium bowl, whisk powdered sugar, maple syrup, 2 tablespoons cream, and espresso powder until smooth. If the glaze seems too thick to drizzle, add cream by 1/2 teaspoonfuls until the desired consistency. Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Allow the glaze to firm up before serving, about 60 minutes.

I've also used this alternative recipe for the glaze when I didn't have any heavy cream.
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tbsp pure maple syrup
1 to 2 tbsp strong coffee or espresso
1 tsp instant espresso powder (optional)

Just Four Ingredients

...and not a stick of butter or cup of sugar in sight!

I've been a Daring Baker for over a year now. When I first joined we were a group of only 10 bakers and we didn't have an official name. Now there are almost 600 members plus another 100 joining next month. Who are the Daring Bakers? We're a group of food bloggers who, once a month, make the exact same recipe and then blog about our experience on the same day.

The Sour Dough's Mary and I Like to Cook's Sara are the gracious co-hosts for this month's installment of the Daring Baker challenge. I knew that with Mary being one of the hosts the likelihood of the challenge being bread was quite high. She is the "Breadchick" after all! According to Sara and Mary, the French bread recipe from Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking Volume 2" takes up 18 pages in the cookbook! Although that sounds intimidating, the actual recipe is just four simple ingredients: flour, yeast, salt and water. Julia had a great love for le pain Francais and that much love cannot be contained in just a couple pages.

I'm happy to say that since joining last February I haven't missed participating in a challenge yet. I thought I might have to skip this month's challenge because I wasn't sure if I would have the time. Although the active time required for making the French bread was only about 1 - 1.5 hours, the bread dough would require 3 rises. The first rise could be from 3.5 - 5 hours, the second 1.5 - 2 hours and the final about 1.5 - 2.5 hours. It's not like I would need to be chained to my kitchen for 11 hours straight, but I had to find a day where my schedule would allow it. The end of the month was approaching quickly, but I managed to bake my bread last Saturday. That day turned out to be cold, windy and rainy which was great for staying indoors. I was a little worried that the high humidity could wreak some havoc on my dough, but I was worried for nothing.

Like I've done in the past, I used my oven as a proof box. I warmed my oven for couple minutes and then turned it off. When it had cooled to about 80F, it was ready for the dough to sit in there for the rise. Mary and Sara also gave tips for other ways to keep the dough at the optimal rising temperature of 75-80F like using a heating pad or the top of your water heater. I think other Daring Bakers have mentioned using their clean, empty dishwasher still warm from the heating cycle to proof their dough.

I had most of the equipment necessary for making the French bread. I didn't have a pizza stone or unglazed quarry tiles to put in my oven as a baking surface. I decided to take my chances and just use a baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper. I read somewhere that the parchment must be professional grade or it'll char or burn in the oven while the bread is baking. My paper turned pale golden brown but there was no charring or burning. I didn't have stiff board to flip my formed and proofed loaf. I guess I could've gone downstairs and rummaged for a piece of cardboard and then covered it with aluminum foil as a decent substitute, but I just used another baking sheet pan. I turned the pan over so that I could flip my formed and proofed loaf onto the underside of the baking sheet pan. That way I could slide it off without interference from the rim of the sheet pan.

Some of the other bakers mentioned that there was a video of Danielle Forestier making French bread from the Baking with Julia [Child] PBS television series. Although it was not the same recipe we were using, the techniques are the same. Even though the recipe given to us by Mary and Sara was very detailed and included all the information we needed (plus a lot of helpful tips too), the video helped me understand what it means to create the "gluten cloak" or how to "pucker" my loaf. I even learned how to flour my linen towel properly so that my formed loaf wouldn't stick to it. As a novice with yeast and bread baking, that video was invaluable.



Even though my bread didn't turn out to be good looking, it tasted pretty good. It's awesome that four simple ingredients can be transformed into something so amazing with just a little kneading and time. Even though I've only worked with yeast three times before, this French bread challenge absolutely felt like a turning point for me. The bagels, cinnamon buns and potato bread from previous DB challenges helped me to conquer my fear of working with yeast, but this challenge made me feel like I could eventually become a decent bread baker. The concept behind the Daring Bakers is so simple: just follow the recipe chosen by the host. It may or may not be a recipe I would've picked if left to my own devices, but occasionally being coaxed (well, forced) out of my baking comfort zone has opened my eyes to a whole new world. So once again I am thankful to be part of this wonderful group of bakers. Without the Daring Bakers I may never have had this incredible breakthrough.



Normally this is where I would post the recipe. Since the recipe is quite long, please visit Breadchick Mary's blog,The Sour Dough, to see the recipe.