Alpha Bakers: The Renee Fleming Golden Chiffon Cake

I need to work out.

Not because I am eating dessert every week now (that part is obvious). But because it took me what feels like forever to fold the super stiff (very stiff clumps) of egg whites for this cake. My upper arm/biceps was not very happy after that exercise.

I made this cake last year right after the book is released and the Alpha Bakers started. It was one of those ambitious weekend, which was Thanksgiving weekend, where I made this cake and the Kouign Amann for the Alpha Bakers' submission - or also known as "what the heck was I thinking making 2 recipes not from the Quick and Easy Week" weekend. Between this cake and the Kouign Amann, I felt like I lived in the kitchen for 2 days! Yeah I know I'm cheating since we were supposed to bake together but I.just.can't.help.myself - this cake looked so good in the book and it wants me to bake it.

In the end, all efforts was worth it. The Kouign Amann got rave reviews, with 2 friends saying they want to place an order in the future. Another friend emailed me a week after the party to say "Jenn, the cake was delicious. Next time, make two!" And this cake was a big hit too, even though it looked kinda funny with the cooling rack making those circle impressions on top of the cake.

Since I baked this last year and had only partially written this post at that time (slacker me), I already forgot what happened so forgive this very short post.

Alpha Bakers: Chocolate Cuddle Cake

I am a little ashamed of posting this cake after seeing how tall other's cakes are and comparing it to how tall the cake in the book is. My cake only measured 1 1/2 inches tall. Sniff. The loss of height is because of my own fault. If you keep reading you'll find out why...

I was really looking forward to this cake. Plus it coincides with my birthday. I planned to bake the day before my birthday, though I didn't sleep well and didn't feel like baking. I started anyway. I should know better. Since I was not in the right mood, of course I messed up. It was bad. I had to make the caramel three times to get it right. My fault because I forgot to order a new instant thermometer so had to make do with the dying thermometer - don't really trust a dying thermometer, it seems to be working okay around 200 degrees but can't go past 250 degrees. So I am doing this by eye-balling, which is a bad sign. My first caramel, I was afraid of the caramel (still remember the caramel burn I got from a couple of years ago) so I didn't wait until the caramel was dark enough. And then I forgot to separate the cream to add to the cocoa powder. So I mix the cocoa powder into the caramel directly while it was still warm.

HCB Free Choice: Catalan Salt Pinch Cake

I had scratch this cake off my list as according to my notes I've made it back in April 5, 2010.

But when I was trying to look for the pictures to blog about it, I couldn't find the pictures. And I don't remember this as one of those cakes that I've made but didn't photograph. And I'm pretty organized, each cake from Rose's book has its own folder, filed under the book's name folder, filed under a folder called "food."

HCB: Lemon Canadian Crown

I have been looking forward to this cake for a while. I love lemon curd and ladyfingers and the combination sounded so yummy.

I made the ladyfingers on Sunday before going to the farmer's market. It came together pretty easily. I made 1/2 recipe and it took me about 1/2 hour to prep and mix everything. They finished baking in 8 minutes, giving me just enough time to wash the dishes.

TCB: Ethereal Pear Charlotte

This is a Special Edition Knitty Baker post, featuring The Ethereal Pear Charlotte from The Cake Bible. Why, you might ask, is it a special edition? Because, lovely readers, for once, I am going to post step-by-step pictures.

Before we get started, let me first say that I applaud you people out there who take step-by-step pictures. Man, it is time consuming to do this! Not only do I have to stop what I'm doing to take pictures, but also I had to wash my hand every single time. Maybe some of you don't necessarily wash your hands before you touch your camera. But my camera is 5 months old, it's my baby, and it's still pristine (I haven't even dropped it yet).





I thought you guys would like a peek of my messy work station. See on the corner the flours and cornstarch are sifted and thus ready to go.

Moving on to the actual posting, :). Here are the Red Bartlett pears. I am making 1/2 recipe so technically I only need 1 pear, but I like poached pears so I figured the more the merrier. We can always use extra poached pears for munching.

The pears are halved, peeled, and cored and are sitting (or laying) happily in their poaching liquid.

Next, I made the biscuit roulade. Here the yolks and eggs with sugar, ready to be whisked into submission.

My lovely red KA mixer in action!

Whisked eggs with sifted flour and cornstarch.

After the flour is folded, next up is egg whites.

The biscuit in the oven.

 The biscuit, measured and cut.

About 3 hours later, I took the stacked biscuit out from the freezer. 3 hours in the freezer is not enough to freeze the whole thing until solid - as prescribed by Rose - but at this point I was pressed for time.

The Charlotte mold ready for use.

And this is the part where the step-by-step picture ended. Why? Read on and you shall find out!

At this point I proceeded to make the custard for the Pear Bavarian Cream. I whisked the egg yolks, sugar, and gelatin together. Then whisked into it, the boiled poaching syrup from the pear. Next the whole thing is heated up until almost boiling and supposedly the mixture will thicken to be like heavy cream. Well, 10 minutes and counting, it is still liquid like mild. By the 15 minute mark, I gave up and strained it. And then I saw why it never thickened. I had a lot of egg yolks coagulation happening - so my whisking the poaching syrup into the egg yolks wasn't swift enough. SHIT (yes people I do curse sometimes. It takes a special event to have me curse, and this one totally qualifies!) At that time it was 5.30 PM, I still have loads to do in the kitchen and I do not want to start over!

While musing on what to do next, I whipped the cream and started on the Italian meringue - boiled the sugar syrup and whisked the egg whites.

And then an idea came to me. What if I added an extra yolk to the Bavarian cream, with some poaching syrup, and gelatin. It is risky, but technically it should work, and then at least I don't have to throw away all those egg yolks and it's not really starting over.

So dear readers, that's what I did. I took an egg yolk, 1 tsp of sugar, 2 tsp of poaching liquid. All these measurements are approximate. I didn't even bother to look at the recipe. In hindsight, that was pretty crazy and gutsy of me and I probably won't do it again. Anyway, I whisked the egg mixture real good. Heat up the liquid-y custard until hot then whisked it into the 1 egg yolk mixture. Next I heat everything up and in like 3 minutes, voila, the whole thing thickened like heavy cream. YAY!!! VICTORY!

And it was at this point that I realized I had forgotten to take pictures. Oops.. oh well, next time maybe :).

While the custard was cooling in the water bath, I did a victory dance around the kitchen area. And no, for those of you wondering, there is no picture or video of that one (and there will never be LOL).

The completed Bavarian cream, inside the Charlotte. To the fridge it went so the cream can set.


After 1/2 hour, it's time to slice the pears. The pears turned out a bit on a softer side, so it was a little hard to slice them evenly. This is when I was glad I had extra pears.

After two hours refrigeration, I un-molded the Charlotte for this photo shoot.

Tasting impressions:

Hmmmmm........... mmmmmmmmm.... mmhmmmm..... this is soooo goood! Again, my love for sponge cake is re-newed. I do like the Apple Caramel Charlotte better - because of the apples and the caramel-based Bavarian cream. But this one is really a close second. Now excuse me while I go have another piece.

HCB: The Amazing Bostini

This is the Great Bostini from Rose's Heavenly Cakes. Cake No. 49.

Chocolate and orange is my absolute favorite combination. Every time I see a chocolate bar with orange, I buy it. I'm in constant lookout for the best chocolate bar with orange. My favorite right now is Newman's Own Organic Orange Dark Chocolate. It has, IMHO, the perfect balance of bittersweet chocolate and orange flavor. This is the only chocolate bar that I could eat the whole bar in 1 sitting.

What, you asked, has that anything to do with The Bostini? The Bostini is a combination of orange glow chiffon cupcake, pastry cream, and chocolate sauce. I got so excited when this cake comes into rotation. In fact, my buddy Monica and I are so excited that we are immediately on lookout for the same cappuccino cup that Rose used in the book. We both got ours on Amazon and we both tracked our packages - holding our breath in anticipation.

When the cups arrived, I jumped up and down and then I went to work making the cupcakes.

The cupcakes were really easy to put together. So easy that as I am writing this post on Monday morning, I forgot how it is made.

Another reason why I forgot is because I made another cake yesterday from RHC, so my head is all full with that recipe.

The cupcakes baked really nice and it rose high above the cupcake pan. They smelled really good coming out of the oven and are nice and spongy.



Next is the pastry cream. This one is also very easy to put together. I don't have vanilla beans and don't really feel like buying them as they are expensive. So I opted for the vanilla bean paste. I added it to the cream once I took it off the heat - right before straining it.

After the cream is strained, put the all in the individual cups, cover with plastic wrap, and cooled.

Once cooled, into the fridge it goes. 1/2 hour before serving time, I took one of the cups out, put 1 cupcake upside down over it. After the 1/2 hour mark - which felt like the longest time in the world, by the way, as I was dying to try this awesome-sounding dessert.

I managed to patiently waited, but only because I want the pastry cream to come a bit to room temperature first.
The chocolate glaze is super easy to put together. With equal amount of butter and chocolate, dividing the recipe into 8 is very easy. For those who are curious, it is 28 point something grams LOL. I just rounded it to 30 grams.

Once the chocolate glaze is poured, I took a quick snappy picture. Then hubby and I shared a glass.

Tasting impressions:
YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM! YUM!
This one goes to the Top 5 Favorite Cakes from RHC list now. It is so good. The warm chocolate sauce with the orange-y cupcake and pastry cream is heaven in a cup! Hubby ate his half with gusto, then declared he was full for hours :). I was glad we shared a cup because the pastry cream is a bit much for me. I think for next time I will put less serving of pastry cream in each cup. Maybe less cream, more cupcake, and more chocolate sauce :).

TCB: Strawberry Maria

This is Strawberry Maria from The Cake Bible - sans the Chocolate Lattice Band. I decorated this ala Hector. The cake comprises of Genoise Au Chocolat and frosted with Strawberry Cloud Cream.

It was my 1st time making Genoise Au Chocolat - so I was a bit nervous. Genoise sometimes is a hit and miss for me. Remember this one? Well turns out I had good baking mojo on Saturday, as this genoise could not have turned out better.

The Strawberry Cloud Cream was pretty easy. I let the frozen strawberries thaw on the counter overnight. Then while the liquid is boiling, puree the strawberries, then combined both. The good thing with strawberries is that the seeds are so soft that you don't have to strain it out.

Decorating the cake is not as hard as I thought! Hector was right! Piping this was easier than piping small roses for the Golden Lemon Almond Cake a couple of weeks ago. My only issue was that the cloud cream is pretty soft, it was hard to get it to stay straight on the sides and my rose center looks like they want to just blend together!

Tasting impression:
This cake got rave reviews from my friends. People were taking 2nd and 3rds. Comments are "the cake is very light", "it's not too sweet", "the frosting taste like strawberry ice cream", "did you use real strawberries", "I'm going for another piece." I couldn't be happier!

HCB: Apple Caramel Charlotte

I was not looking forward to this cake. For one thing, it is seven pages long. I had once thought to suggest Marie to schedule this on a holiday weekend. Before I had chance to make my suggestion, Marie posted this on the schedule for this week. It crossed my mind to skip this cake, but I knew that I would never make if had it not been for HCB, "no turning back" I thought.

Another reason why I hesitated with this cake is that this requires baking the sponge cake evenly, something that never happened to me. I thought that my "charlotte" would definitely be uneven, unlike the nice picture in the book. And then I would be sooo disappointed, having spent all the hours making the cake.

Well, on Friday, after searching a couple of liquor stores for Calvados and gotten the "Cal, what?" and "what kind of liquor is it?" I got to one that carries it. At the price tag of $45 for a 750 ml bottle, I decided against buying it. In absence of Calvados, I decided I had 2 options: 1) use regular brandy and add more apples to the poaching liquid. 2). use peach brandy and hope it works.

In the end, I used the peach brandy and added more apples to the poaching liquid.

On Saturday, while doing my mise-en-place for the sponge cake, something amazing happen. You know when you do the same thing several times, over and over, and it's always the same way, and then one day, you have those "light bulb on" in your head, like you see in cartoons. Well, I thought aha, even though I'm making 1/2 recipes, I should make the full recipe of the sponge cake, so I would have a lot of cake to play with, since they will be uneven.

So I did, made the full recipe of the sponge cake. I haven't made full recipe of sponge cake for so long that I just realized it is easier to fold the sponge cake when it's the full amount. It doesn't deflate as much as if it's 1/2 recipe. And for once, for once, the sponge cake was even. The whole sheet was an even depth. I was so happy I was jumping up and down in the kitchen.

While the cake was cooling, I poached the apples. Nothing to report on this step, it was pretty easy.

The cake cooled, and I measured twice to cut the cake per instruction. Since this is 1/2 recipe, using 7 inch pan, I had to made a 6 1/2 inch circle. That leaves me plenty of cake "strips" for the charlotte. They are brushed with the apricot preserve and into the freezer they went.

On Sunday, I finished the rest of the cake. First was lining the pan with the sliced cake. I didn't really measure as I don't know exactly what 3/8 of an inch is LOL. So I just look at the picture in the book, look at my cake slices and cut. I must say that I enjoy this process the most.

Next was the Apple Caramel Custard. Made the caramel and poured the hot poaching liquid over it. Didn't get burn this time, :) phew! Heat up and stir until all the caramel dissolved and then stir into the egg yolks, then add in the gelatin and heat the whole thing up until it's thick like lemon curd.

Next was the tricky part, and the part that I totally missed when I read the recipe. Apparently I had to time the cooling of the custard until it's a certain consistency before making the Italian meringue and whipped cream. moving on to the next step. The good thing is that the cream is not quite as fragile as the Italian meringue, so I proceeded to whip the cream, and then store it in the fridge while I want.

I gotta tell you that I must have hovered over the custard like a mama bird guarding its nest. I thought of sitting on the couch and read my book, but I knew that I would get sidetrack and then forgot about checking the custard. Plus the instruction said to stir the custard often, so I hovered and did so! After I don't know how long, the custard is almost thick enough and I made the meringue.

Then all 3 components are folded together and poured onto the charlotte mold. Into the fridge it went, for about half an hour. Now is the step that's the trickiest, making the Apple into rose design. I tried to slice the apples somewhat thin and separate the big pieces from the small pieces. With the book next to it to guide, voila, here's the Apple Rose.

Tasting impressions:

This cake is DIVINE! The apple caramel custard is a knock-your-socks-off kinda of a dessert. It is so fragrant, I can smell the caramel and the apples in it, even though it's been refrigerated. I love sponge cakes and this one is no exception a winner. As hubby puts it, "when there's a fruit in the cake, it is usually good." This one gets "at least an 8" - which is the highest score any cake every get. As Rose's cake usually gets better the next day, I am so looking forward to having my slice today :).