The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

This was a fun challenge. It was perfect for the hot summer we are having!  I thought it was light and easy to use your creativity. You could make a white cake, chocolate cake. You can choose so many different ice cream flavors and the fudge just brings it all together.   I decided to make my bombe with a chocolate cake, filled with a Peach whipped cream. Inside the bombe I choose to have vanilla ice cream, chocolate fudge and peaches.

First you will need to make The cake:

6 medium sized eggs

1 C sugar + extra for rolling

6 tblsp   flour + 5 tblsp unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

2  boiling water

a little oil for brushing the pans

Pre heat the oven at 400 F . Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.

Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.

Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.

Place a pan in the center of the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the center is springy to the touch

Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little sugar over it.

Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.

Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.

Repeat the same for the next cake.

The cake filling-

2 C whipping cream

1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

5 tblsp caster sugar

1/2 c of peaches (I took the skin out and diced them into small pieces)

Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processor till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream. Beat cream and vanilla sugar until very thick. Fold in cut peaches.

Open the cake rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine). Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

The vanilla ice cream-

2 and ½ C whipping cream

1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp vanilla extract

½ C of granulated sugar

Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.

Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

The Hot fudge sauce-

 1 C sugar

3 tblsp cocoa powder

2 tblsp cornstarch

1 and ½ C water

1 tblsp butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.

Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).

Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

How to put it all together:

Slice your cakes into about 1 inch slices.  Line a bowl with plastic wrap and  arrange two slices at the bottom of the bowl, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).

Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)

Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream.  Fill it with peach slices and cover with the rest of cake. Freeze till firm ( at least an hour)

Place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.

Slice and serve! YUM

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

Pavlova is meringue based dessert usually filled with cream and fresh fruits. It is very light and delicious.  The challenge this month had us make a chocolate version filled with chocolate mousse and drizzled with  a Mascarpone Cream that use Crème Anglaise as a base.  It was very good.  I decided to make mini pavlovas. I also had a bit of chocolate mousse and mascarpone cream left which turned into an amazing cake!  Will post pictures!  I hope you try this recipe. It was way worth it. There will be 4 recipes here. The first will be the meringue for the pavlova shell. Second will be the chocolate mouse. Third and Fourth will go together. You need to make Third (Crème Anglaise) so you can make recipe four which is the Mascarpone Cream

Recipes are adapted from the Daring Kitchen Arquives

Recipe 1: Chocolate Meringue (for the chocolate Pavlova):

3 egg whites
½ cup plus 1 tbsp granulated sugar
¼ cup powder sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder

Line two baking sheets with silpat or parchment and set aside. Preheat the oven to 200º F.

In the mixer, whip the egg whites until soft peaks form. Increase speed to high and gradually add granulated sugar about 1 tbsp at a time until stiff peaks form. (The whites should be firm but moist.)

Sift the powder sugar and cocoa powder over the egg whites and fold the dry ingredients into the white.

Fill a pastry bag with the meringue. Pipe the meringue into whatever shapes you desire. Alternatively, you could just free form your shapes and level them a bit with the back of a spoon. (Class made rounds, hearts, diamonds and an attempt at a clover was made!) As you can see I made little cups.  I used the star tip and just piped the bottom as a circle, then piped one more time around creating the edge.

Bake for 2-3 hours until the meringues become dry and crisp. Cool and store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe 2: Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse:

1 ½ cups  heavy cream
grated zest of 1 average sized lemon
9 ounces 72% chocolate, chopped
1 2/3 cups mascarpone
pinch of nutmeg
2 tbsp orange juice

Put ½ cup of the heavy cream and the lemon zest in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once warm, add the chocolate and whisk until melted and smooth. Transfer the mixture to a bowl and let sit at room temperature until cool.

Place the mascarpone, the remaining cup of cream and nutmeg in a bowl. Whip on low for a minute until the mascarpone is loose. Add the orange juice and whip on medium speed until it holds soft peaks. (DO NOT OVERBEAT AS THE MASCARPONE WILL BREAK.)

Mix about ¼ of the mascarpone mixture into the chocolate to lighten. Fold in the remaining mascarpone until well incorporated. Fill a pastry bag with the mousse.  Pipe or fill your meringue shells.

Recipe 3: Crème Anglaise (a component of the Mascarpone Cream below): (I made half of this recipe)

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
6 large egg yolks
6 tbsp sugar

In a bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until the mixture turns pale yellow.

Combine the milk, cream and vanilla in a saucepan over medium high heat, bringing the mixture to a boil. Take off the heat.

Pour about ½ cup of the hot liquid into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly to keep from making scrambled eggs. Pour the yolk mixture into the pan with the remaining cream mixture and put the heat back on medium. Stir constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture thickens enough to lightly coat the back of a wooden spoon. DO NOT OVERCOOK.

Remove the mixture from the heat and strain it through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl. Cover and refrigerate until the mixture is thoroughly chilled, about 2 hours or overnight.

Recipe 4: Mascarpone Cream (for drizzling): (also made half of this recipe)

1 recipe crème anglaise
½ cup (120 mls) mascarpone
2 tbsp orange juice
½ cup (120 mls) heavy cream

Prepare the crème anglaise. Slowly whisk in the mascarpone and the orange juice and let the mixture cool.

Put the cream in a bowl and beat with electric mixer until very soft peaks are formed.

Fold the cream into the mascarpone mixture.

Assembly:
Pipe the mousse onto the pavlovas and drizzle with the mascarpone cream over the top. Dust with confectioner’s sugar and fresh fruit if desired.

Here is the cake idea I made with the leftovers.

It is a chocolate cake filled with chocolate mouse and mascarpone cream. Covered with Chocolate mouse. Topped with bitters sweet chocolate mouse, chocolate mouse, raspberries. Sides are crushed pavlovas and drizzled with mascarpone cream.

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a Piece Montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I joined the Daring Kitchen last month and have been anxiously waiting to hear what the challenge of April would be.   I was so excited to see that a Piece Montée would be my first Daring Kitchen challenge. I have always wanted to make one of these.

A Piece Montée, also called Croquembouche is a French dessert.  It is basically a montage of those delicious cream puffs.   The cream puffs  are made with Pate a Choux. (If you have never tried making Pate a Choux, try it. It is easy and delicious. You can make puffs, eclairs and let your imagination run with it.)  Then you have the filling, usually a pastry cream.  Then you have the glaze, usually sugar or chocolate.

I decided to fill my puffs with whipped cream and Dulce di Leche. Then I couldn’t decide on the glaze so I thought it would be fun to do both chocolate and spun sugar.

Pate a Choux (recipe from The Daring Kitchen Archives)
¾ cup water
6 Tbsp. unsalted butter
¼ Tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 cup  all-purpose flour
4 large eggs

For Egg Wash: 1 egg and pinch of salt

Pre-heat oven to 425◦F degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine water, butter, salt and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil and stir occasionally. At boil, remove from heat and sift in the flour, stirring to combine completely.

Return to heat and cook, stirring constantly until the batter dries slightly and begins to pull away from the sides of the pan.

Transfer to a bowl and stir with a wooden spoon 1 minute to cool slightly.

Add 1 egg. The batter will appear loose and shiny. As you stir, the batter will become dry-looking like lightly buttered mashed potatoes.

It is at this point that you will add in the next egg. Repeat until you have incorporated all the eggs.

Transfer batter to a pastry bag fitted with a large open tip (I piped directly from the bag opening without a tip). Pipe choux about 1 inch-part in the baking sheets. Choux should be about 1 inch high about 1 inch wide. Using a clean finger dipped in hot water, gently press down on any tips that have formed on the top of choux when piping. You want them to retain their ball shape, but be smoothly curved on top.  Brush tops with egg wash (1 egg lightly beaten with pinch of salt).

Bake the choux at 425◦F degrees until well-puffed and turning lightly golden in color, about 10 minutes.

Lower the temperature to 350F degrees and continue baking until well-colored and dry, about 20 minutes more. Remove to a rack and cool.

Can be stored in a airtight box overnight.

I used a pastry bag with a star tip and filled some of them with Dulce di Leche

some with whipped cream

Then I dipped them in chocolate (milk and white) and here is a picture of the tower

I had never done spun sugar before and it was an interesting project. Fun though… I decided to decorate my piece with sugar art and some spun sugar.