Basket weave cake

 Basket Weave cake

This is my first attempt at using a basket weave piping to decorate a cake, it was a lot of fun  and more difficult then it appears.
Mainly trying to keep the vertical piping straight and maintaining even spacing between the horizontal piping.

The reason for the cake is to bring one to our niece's home for thanksgiving dinner, with that in mind I chose to use the flavors of the holiday in the cake.

I made a sweet potato sponge cake baked in a 1/2 sheet pan which gave me 4 layers 12" x 4".
The filling is an apple pie filling (made small dice apple pieces) topped with a brown sugar vanilla pudding drizzled with caramel sauce.

The frosting is a Swiss meringue  buttercream , since most are very sweet I used a minimum amount of sugar  yielding a mildly sweet flavor.

The recipe for the cake  the Swiss meringue buttercream and the apple pie filling are from Gretchen Price at woodland bakery in NJ. wood land bakery blog
Originally posted as a pumpkin sponge cake and since any pureed vegetable will work , I simply used roasted pureed strained sweet potato, using brown sugar in place of white.


 The flavor was amazing even without embellishment!
 For the final version I'll use whipped cream for the filling dam and to crumb coat as it was way too  much buttercream . And more buttercream flowers on top!

For topping the cake I'll make sugar gumpaste flowers which are edible or may be removed before slicing 


 I did not do a photo process of the individual components since the recipes are easy enough  to follow.

These are the photos of the assembly of the cake:  

                                         Thanks for visiting!! Enjoy!    Jim

Brown sugar vanilla pudding:

1/3 cup brown sugar , you may use 1/2  for a less sweet  taste
6 tablespoons cornstarch if making a filling 4 if for regular pudding
1/4 tsp salt
10 oz. whole milk
10 oz. heavy cream  here you may alter  the type of milk  & cream ratio to suit
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract  ....homemade vanilla extract  ( you may also scrape seeds from 1 vanilla bean to add instead of extract, put scraped bean in milk/cream mix when warming for a fuller flavor, remove before adding milk/cream to saucepan)
In a large saucepan blend sugar, cornstarch , salt
Warm milk/cream mix till very warm almost hot ( this reduces cooking time, of course you may use cold)
on medium heat add milk/cream mix to saucepan, stirring constantly till it thickens.
 When it comes to a boil cook 1 full minute to activate cornstarch.
Remove from heat stir in vanilla, pour into a heat proof bowl, place plastic wrap on surface to prevent a skin from forming.
 When cool refrigerate 4 hours or over night.

Biscuit jaconde Imprime Entremet

OK, I know I have been mia for a while, Jan we started the ww diet, which of course meant NO bread..ugghh.
 Well, lost some weight, gained some weight, still not doing the BBA, maybe begin again in the fall.
 The real reason for this post is the dessert I made, although i did try this a coupla years ago, it was not successful then.
 Happy to say this one WAS!
 During my unending Internet recipe surfing, came upon the Daring Bakers Site again, felt it was time to try again, I love food  challenges!
 I must say, visit them, an outstanding group of home bakers, making fabulous creations. I used their Jan 2011 baking challenge for this dessert, which is a decorated sponge cake wrapped around and enclosing the fillings...I'm beginning  to drool...well you get what i mean.

  Here is the cake as it was assembled...

decorated almond sponge cake strips and cut  layers 

8" spring form pan, base wrapped with plastic wrap placed on parchment lined tray

base layer with decorated almond sponge strips around wall, i brushed the cake with a light dose of brandy, could also use a sweet dessert wine, like marsala. 

The fillings first layer,chocolate mousse, 2nd orange mousse,
 3rd whipped cream then topped with brandy dosed almond sponge layer.
same order of fillings to top of pan ,my munchkin chef keeps close eye on proceedings
 

top dusted with cocoa powder, i let the cake mellow overnight before serving

view of layers

sources: almond sponge: daring bakers Jan 2011 challenge
chocolate mousse: Alton brown recipe (I used 60% cocoa chocolate chips and bourbon instead of rum) 
imo: the chocolate mousse could be a little lighter, it was very rich, the orange mousse, while delicious has a strong citrus taste that did soften somewhat against the whipped cream .Next time i would  lighten  both mousse recipes, less chocolate and less orange juice .
This is not to say it wasn't heavenly, just very rich.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/good-eats/chocolate-mousse-recipe/index.html 
orange mousse:   http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1837,148160-244197,00.html
daring bakers:
http://thedaringkitchen.com/recipe/biscuit-joconde-imprimeentremet

BBA # 34 Pumpernickel Bread

Growing up in NY, Brooklyn specifically, rye and pumpernickel bread were often eaten with lunch meats or in the case of pumpernickel, cream cheese and jelly ,yum.
 This was not that bread for me. I didn't have coarse rye, so I used my KA whole rye and added in the bran and germ that was sifted out to make the NY deli rye. I used half rye and half bran/germ.
 The bread was not as dark as PR's photo even though I used the amount of cocoa stated, could use more. Nor did the bread have that tangy pumpernickel flavor. I did add crumbs from the multi grain mash bread. As a sandwich bread ,really good, just not real pumpernickel. You have to judge for yourself ( BBA Members)
I have made pumpernickel from Bernard Clayton's book 'New Complete Book Of Breads' the book that started my bread baking in 1988, that bread was dark , used rye & wheat flours as well as corn meal and molasses, along with chocolate. To each his own ,well the process went without problems.
Next time I will use all rye and more chocolate, pehaps the molasses as well.
Here are the photos:

 the color of the crumb is light for a pumpernickel, as well as the flavor, tastes more of a deli rye 

the texture was good

WGB # 34 Spent Grain Bread

This whole wheat bread uses a soaker, a biga, and incorporates spent grain from beer brewing. The grain has been mashed or boiled to remove sugars and starches and flavors for the yeast to feed on in the process of fermentation. The grains are then strained out and discarded or used as animal feed.  There are still residual flavors  and the mashed grains are an ideal medium for yeast growth and add fiber and a chewyness to the bread according to Peter Reinhart.
 I am very fortunate to have a local brewery near by, NoDa Brewery ,Charlotte NC just opened the last October,  Todd and Suzie Ford are the owners. I emailed Suzie and she saved spent grain from their pale ale brew, I made two loaves using this grain, one for us and one for Todd & Suzie.
I was very happy with this bread, it had a wheaty chewy slightly sweet taste, a great bread for soup or stews and chili. I am sure it would be just as delicious spread with butter, or cheese.
The bread is sweetened with honey ,agave nectar or brown sugar. I used 1/2 honey and 1/2 brown sugar, since I have a sweet tooth, I added an extra tbsp of brown sugar. It was not overly sweet, just right .
        The soaker and starter were hydrated to the point of not needing to chop them, as they were quite soft. I simply put them into the mixer bowl with all the other ingredients and they blended fine.
 I finished kneading by hand as instructed, it was necessary to add and additional 1 +1/2 cups of flour. Eventually it came together nicely, although the volume of dough was too large for an 8x4 pan. The dough was at the top of the pan., I switched to a 9x5 ,that was perfect.
 The bread took almost 40 minutes to bake and never reached 200 degrees, only 190, but was sounding hollow when I thumped the bottom, so out it stayed to cool.
 here are the photos: 




spent grain from a pale ale mash

kneaded and ready for the oiled bowl

into the bowl

about an hour later it's 1+1/2 it's size

they both look the same size pan ,but the one in front is the 8x4, rear 9x5 notice the extra head room

ready for the oven

finished loaves, each loaf would also make 2- 7x3 smaller loaves

crumb

WGB # 33 Steamed Boston Brown Bread

Fellow wgb baker joe described this as "dessert' and he is right. This very much is like 'hobo' bread, a similar raisin infused sweet bread  that is baked in coffee cans ( before they all became PLASTIC).
 Problem one was some of the steam got under my foil top and sunk a hole in one of breads. Two, too much molasses flavor for me, PR did mention one could reduce or substitute for the molasses. I almost always make a new recipe as is then adjust them to my tastes. Sorry I didn't adjust this one, 3 hours is a long time to watch a steaming pot!
 If  i make this again I will rubber band the foil around the top of the can. How that affects the process I don't know. And more raisins!   here are my photos...

 I used 2 large cans from tuttarosa crushed tomatoes 28 oz size

note one sunk, probably too much water got in

sliced , found a well in the middle but it was firm and cooked ?

BBA # 33 Poilane-Style Miche

This bread is the cover photo of Pr's BBA book. I had made the whole grain version full size and decided to make three smaller loaves to share. The process went as described wtih just a minor difficulty. The volume of ingredients were very hard to blend by hand in the bowl. I eventually dumped everything onto the work surface and kneaded them together.  During the knead it was evident I had added more water than needed  ,which required an additional cup + of ww flour. All did come together smoothly and tacky.
The rise was faster than 4 hours , more like 3. 
One issue i found was I had used 2 wicker baskets lined with muslin as proofing bowls. When I turned the boules out onto my peel they had developed a crust. That made it difficult to score them cleanly.
 The finished bread was crusty and chewy , and a bit dry, I may have over baked them. That's why it's called a challenge! lol !


 It appears i will be doing this one again ! Here are my photos. I had already given away two so I had only one to shoot.

I found it impossible to blend  well in the bowl

I dumped all out onto the work surface

a nicely kneaded Large volume of dough!

first rise

final rise ready for the oven

finished loaf

crumb

WGB #31 &32 Whole Wheat Mash & Multi Grain Mash Bread

I did both these bread twice, the mash bread had a bitter  after taste.may have been to over fermenting my starter, and then over proofing. Or may simply have been something else.In any event I ground it up and it became bird food.
 The multi grain first attempt was disappointing,the pre cooked grains did nothing after 3 hours of total cooking and resting in the warm oven. Although the flavor and chewy texture was very good.
 For the second bake the mash bread was better,although i can't say it is my favorite to date, just good. On the other loaf I used a mixture of raw grains consisting of quinoa, wheat & rye berries, cracked wheat, and whole flax seeds. they did absorb all the water in the mashing process and seemed to gelatinize some.
 The flavor was better than the first try and had a really chewy texture , a good soup & cheese bread as well as a sandwich.  
In the second bake i made two loaves of each, as the dough was ample to do so.

this is the first attempt, the breads were quite large do to over proofing.I had to move one to another pan halfway through the bake the multi grain is on the left

crumb ,first multi grain

mash crumb first bake

mash crumb second bake

multi grain 

multi grain crumb
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