Cookie Lynn

Finally back on top of Daring Bakers. This month, all I have to say is; HOW HAVE I NEVER MADE BROWN BUTTER BEFORE? Seriously, I want to marry it, have its babies, then eat the babies.

I’ll admit that my sole experience with Baked Alaska is that my Sims have been burning down the house while making it for two generations of the game now. I had only a vague idea what it was, but I was still excited to try it. I mean… ice cream, cake, and fire? Come on.

I actually went out an bought an ice cream maker and a torch for this challenge. It was a lovely excuse, and being a pastry student, I don’t think purchasing a few kitchen gadgets with my student loan refund is stretching the rules. Much.

The three main components of the cake were a brown butter cake, homemade vanilla ice cream, and meringue.

The cake was amazing, but I think the butter could have been browned a bit more. Using a black-bottomed pan, it was hard to judge color as I was cooking it, but the smell was sort of toasty and caramelized, so I think it was good enough, if not quite right.

The ice cream recipe is a custard-style vanilla bean variety… my favorite. I bought bourbon vanilla beans, and it was wonderful. My new ice cream maker and I have started a beautiful friendship.

I’m not a huge fan of meringue, but it wasn’t as bad as I remember it. Plus, there is just something about toasting it with a pastry torch that makes it a bit more satisfying.

Mmm… pointy.

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

Saturday was my husband’s birthday, and I thought I would finally try a black forest cake.

I used this Martha Stewart “Haunted Black Forest Cake” with a few alterations, because nowhere in my ever-growing collection of baking and cake books could I find a black forest recipe. (There is a tasty-looking raspberry version in Chocolate Cakes, but the husband doesn’t like raspberries.)

The cake was a “secret” chocolate buttermilk recipe I’ve been using a lot lately. The genoise called for might have held up a bit better, but I’d had a few requests for “that chocolate cake” from the family, and I didn’t want to disappoint.

For the cherry sauce, I had to substitute the kirsch with regular brandy, as my choices at the store were a $6 “wild cherry” flavored brandy and a bottle of Paul Masson. It did start to taste a bit grapey after the sauce had sat awhile, but I still think I made the right choice.

The whipped cream and chocolate ganache were very basic. Martha’s version calls for an espresso whipped cream, which sounds delicious, but I thought I’d go plain jane this time around.

Happy birthday to my husband, and a thumbs up to my first black forest cake.

Things have been quiet around here since I’ve been on break from school. Later this month, I’ll be starting Pastry I and Baking II, and hopefully I’ll have some things to share with you.

I took these cookies over to my parents’ house this week for my dad’s 59th birthday. The chocolate ones are ‘Grammie’s Cookies’ from Martha Stewart’s Cookies, and were very popular with my husband. I replaced the vanilla with chocolate extract for an extra-chocolatey boost.

The others are ‘Icebox Butter Cookies’ from Martha Stewart’s Baking Handbook. They taste just like the Danish cookies we’d get in a tin every Christmas, and are super-easy to throw together and keep on hand in the freezer. I’ve made them several times now, and want to try adding nuts or herbs to the mix soon.