July Daring Bakers Challenge - Fresh Fraisiers

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Here's a copy of the recipe if you'd like to have a go!

What a lovely, fresh idea for Summer.

Pity I live in Melbourne & it's the middle of Winter!

I decided to make my fraisier using the lovely oranges that are so cheap at the moment, and make a chocolate creme patissiere.

May Daring Baker's Challenge - Marquise on Meringue

The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

This was the most amazing recipe, and the finished product was sooo delicious.

At first look this seemed like a MAMMOTH task!

Four components:
Chocolate Marquise
Meringue
Caramel Sauce
Spiced Nuts

When I had a bit more of a think about things, it didn't seem so daunting.  It was just a matter of working through and making each component.  Then when they were all done it was time to put on the plate and then devour.

The original recipe had flavours of cayenne & pepper in the chocolate marquise, with a tequila caramel sauce & spicy cayenne & cinnamon nuts.

I thought I'd change the flavous a bit and went for the flavours of Muscat & Chinese 5 spice in the marquise, Muscat, orange & Chinese 5 spice in the caramel sauce, vanilla & Chinese 5 Spice crusted natural almonds & brown sugar meringue.

Sound 5 spicy, hey?!  Not So.  The flavours were lovely, and the orange in the caramel sauce contrasted with the super duper rich marquise.  The nuts were absolutely delicious and even though we were so full after eating this decadent dessert, they somehow dissappeared.

What I really loved about this challenge was learing new techniques that I'll be able to use separately in other desserts...mmm... might cook up a batch of those lovely vanilla almonds to munch on tonight.

Thanks so much for giving us such an amazing challenge, Jenny & Emma.

Here are a few pics of my Marquise on Meringue

Maple Mousse in an Edible Container - Daring Bakers April Challenge

The April 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Evelyne of the blog Cheap Ethnic Eatz. Evelyne chose to challenge everyone to make a maple mousse in an edible container

Man, I procrastinated on this one!  I had heaps of ideas, but just couldn't choose one.  I think my problem was that I kept looking at the completed challenge forum and seeing that others had though of the same things as me!

In the end I decided to make some choccies with the maple mousse as a filling.

To keep with the spirit of the orginal example I candied some bacon with maple syrup, chopped it up really finely an popped into the chocolate mould with the maple mousse.

I was really happy with the results, as I have never made filled chocolates before!  My Lucinda loved them too!

My First Daring Baker's Challenge - Yeasted Coffee Cake

The first challenge I am doing is a Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake...mmmm...bread, sweet stuff, hopefully gooey meringue filling. Sounds right up my alley.

Here's the recipe we were given.

I used the dough recipe above, with the addition of a pretty big spoonfull of vanilla bean paste to the milk.

Followed the recipe and kneaded the dough 'till it was sexy & elastic and then gave it a rest/rise in a warm spot on the front seat of Tim's van. (It got a bit hot there so I moved it inside to a sunny spot in front of the window)

These are the fillings I used:

Filling #1 - Fig, Walnut & Milk Chocolate with Dark Brown Sugar Meringue
Filling #2 - Mixed Berry & Apple with Standard Meringue

I wasn't too sure about the berry & apple filling - I thought it might turn out a bit soggy, but they both turned out great!

Here's a few pics of the process

I've never been really good at making bready things, but I was really happy with how these turned out.

I liked both fillings, but Hubby really liked the Apple & Berry filling the best.

I really enjoyed my first challenge, this recipe was a complete winner!

I think I might try this dough recipe out for making some sticky cinnamon scrolls next time :) hmmm...

I made a blog!

Hi
Who am I saying hi to?
Nobody is reading this!
Thought I'd start a blog to keep track of any fun cooking stuff I get up to.
I just joined the daring bakers and thought it would be nice to keep a record of the challenges all in the one place.