Tangerine's Kitchen: February 2009

Saturday, February 28, 2009

Chocolate Valentino and Apricot Icecream for the Daring Bakers

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Chocolate was the magic word here for me. The word means indulgence for me. Any cake or pastry flavoured with chocolate gets my attention.Hence, there was no way I was going to miss this challenge.

The recipe for Chocolate Valentino was clear and precise. This was made to serve the two of us. A wanted to have his share all for himself. That was where the ramekins made their way. ( Talk about feb being the month of love and sharing!!).

Homemade icecream was more of a challenge because I don't own an icecream maker and the last time I made icecream, I ended up with crystals. This time I set out to make it in the hope of getting a creamy icecream.

I halved the recipe for the cake which served enough for two ramekins.

I have never had a flourless cake so this was all the more interesting to try. I used milk chocolate. And this recipe is a a quick fix for those instant chocolate fixes. The cake was really moist and the texture was soft.... rather hard to describe. It tastes really nice and I had to prevent myself from devouring it all up.

One was served as it was minus the icecream. Trust me, this cake needs nothing to compliment it. You just scoop in and dig in and devour it!

Since we had the option of following any recipe for the icecream, I used a recipe handed down to me by the family for vanilla icecream. The only addition by me were apricots.

Milk-1 cup
Cornflour-2tbsp
Egg-1(yolk and whits separated)
Fresh Cream-1 cup
Sugar-1 cup
Apricots-100g cooked soft,pureed and sieved)

Mix cornflour, sugar and a pinch of salt in 1/4 cup of milk. Heat the remaining milk. Remove and stir in the cornflour mixture. Whisk the egg yolk over a pan of simmering water until thick and set aside to cool. Add the cooled egg yolk into the milk.add the sieved apricots. Whip the egg white to stiff peaks and fold them into the milk. Whip the cream and fold it in as well. Pour in a plastic container and freeze. Beat once every two hours for the first 6 hours of freezing. Freeze until firm.

There you go, you don't need an icecream maker to make an icecream. The picture is the proof of how a handmade icecream can turn out to be. Ultimately a fun chllenge and the yummiest so far.

Do check out what the other Daring Bakers have created for their love of chocolate.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Cheese scones for Click

Cheese is a favourite ingredient of mine and I like anything with cheese in it. You give me cheesy delights and you get anything from me. A childhood favourite of mine, the cheese has served a many snack cravings. I still use cheese to dish up quick meals. Whether it is a family get together or if I'm having friends over, I make sure cheese is not missed out.

Cheese scones topped with honey is my entry to Click:Cheese.

Saturday, February 21, 2009

An Unsuccessful Attempt at the Southern Coconut Cake for the Cake Slice Bakers

The Cake Slice Bakers voted for the Southern Coconut Cake from Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Though I voted for another option, this still won the vote.

I am not too fond of coconut in my cakes. I did make it promising myself I wouldn't coat the outside with coconut flakes. I really liked the idea of adding unsweetened coconut milk into the batter because most coconut cakes that I have tasted had coconut flakes in the batter which is something that I don't really like. I had no problems with my cake. Instead of baking three cakes, I made a rectangular cake and the intention was to make smaller cutout cakes sandwiched with creamcheese buttercream. I used pureed cottage cheese drained overnight to substitute cream cheese. For reasons that I don't know, the buttercream curdled. The buttercream was beyond repair and the only place for it was the trash. I didn't want to make it all over considering the amount of butter that goes into it. So there I sat with a baked coconut cake minus the creamcheese buttercream that I so wanted to taste.

I did slice the cake up though. I loved the pristine white crumb with the mild flavour of coconut.It tasted great I must say and it would have tasted even better had the buttercream been there.

What you need for the coconut cake are:

Makes an 8-inch triple layer cake

For the cake:

5 large egg whites

½ cup of milk

2 teaspoons of vanilla extract

3 cups of cake flour*

2 and 1/3 cup sugar

4 ½ teaspoons of baking powder

½ teaspoon of salt

2 sticks of unsalted butter (8oz.) at warm room temperature

1 cup unsweetened coconut milk

2 ½ cups of sweetened flaked coconut for garnishing cake

Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Butter the bottoms of three 8-inch round cake pans. Line the bottom of each pan with a parchment circle and butter the circle.

Put the egg whites in a bowl and whisk slightly. Add the ½ cup of milk and the vanilla and whisk to mix thoroughly; set aside.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. With the mixer on low, beat dry ingredients well in order to break up any lumps. Add the butter and coconut milk on low speed and beat just to combine. Raise the speed to medium and beat until light and fluffy about 2 minutes.

Add the egg white mixture in 2 or 3 additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition. Divide the batter among the pans.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a cake taster inserted in the middle comes out clean. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans for 10 minutes. Then turn the cakes out and place on a wire rack to cool completely.

To assemble the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on an 8-inch cake round. Cover this layer with 1 cup of the buttercream frosting. Spread it evenly all the way to edge of the cake. Then sprinkle ½ cup of shredded coconut on top. Add the second layer and repeat the process. Top with the final layer of cake and frost the top and sides of the cake.

Place the remaining 1 ½ cups shredded coconut on a large baking tray. Pick up the cake and hold it on the palm of one hand over the tray. Using the other hand scoop up the coconut and press it to the sides of the cake. Continue with this process until the sides of the cake are covered. Set the cake on a serving plate and sprinkle any remaining coconut on top of cake. Chill cake for at least one hour to allow frosting to firm up a bit.

Cream cheese buttercream frosting

12 ounces of cream cheese* slightly chilled

1 stick of butter plus 6 tablespoons of butter (7 ounces) unsalted butter at room temperature

1 cup of confectioners sugar, sifted after measuring

2 teaspoons of granulated sugar

¼ cup of water

3 egg whites

Place the cream cheese in the bowl of a mixer and beat on medium speed until slightly fluffy and smooth. Add the butter 1-2 tablespoons at a time, mixing until smooth. Add the confectioner’s sugar and vanilla and mix until fluffy. Set aside at room temperature while buttercream is made.

Combine the granulated sugar and water in a small heavy saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve sugar. Continue to cook without stirring until the syrup reaches the softball stage 228 degrees F on a candy thermometer.

Meanwhile, place the egg whites in mixer bowl and have the mixer ready to go. When the syrup is ready, turn the mixer on med-low and begin mixing the egg whites. Slowly add the hot syrup to the whites taking care not to pour onto the beaters, it may splash. When all the syrup is incorporated, raise the speed on the mixer to med-high and beat the egg whites until mixture has cooled and stiff meringue forms.

With the mixer on low, begin adding the cream cheese mixture by the spoonful. When all is incorporated, raise the speed to medium and whip until frosting is smooth and fluffy.

Am sure all of the other cake slice bakers have wonderful creations to show.

Friday, February 13, 2009

Chocolate Chip Muffins

A big applause for me for 2 reasons. 1. I just finished two oil paintings as a comission and I got rewarded well for that. 2. I am taking a trip to a dream destination courtesy a part of the reward for the weekend.

Great isn't it. To share this joy I wanted to make something or rather bake something that had chocolate in it. All I had was this lone box of chocolate chips and finally it was put to use and very wonderfully at that all thanks to a recipe from Joy of Baking.

The chunks of chocolate or the so-called chips that they are sold under in India are very very miniature and aren't that perfect tear-shaped ones that I love.Choclate chips in cookies were always favoured until I made this.

What you need for the muffins are (from here.

1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 large eggs

1 cup milk

1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cups granulated white sugar

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 190 degrees C.

Whisk together the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.

In another large bowl whisk flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the chocolate chips. Fold in the the wet ingredients, along with the melted butter, into the dry ingredients and stir only until the ingredients are combined. Do not over mix the batter or will result in a hard muffin.

FIll lined muffin tray and bake until done. Transfer to a wire rack and let cool.

A moist sweet muffin that gets you asking for more.

On another note, Aparna and I am back into baking from each part of the world. This time, we have a traditional bread originally from Mexico..Read about it here

Wednesday, February 4, 2009

Riddle #7 Answer and Sugar Cookies

The correct answer to the riddle is a shrivelled red bell pepper.. A lot of you did say it was a dried one..however the answer I was looking for was a shrivelled one. A couple of days back when I wanted to pick bell peppers from a store nearby, this is what was waiting for me :)

Harini, good guess. Your riddle would be #8.

For me, no store bought cookie/biscuit has impressed me much as a home made one. These are cookies that I make quite often. The recipe is from the magazine Good Housekeeping. There was no need of altering the ingredients. It worked well and still does. When you try this, you'll know what I mean.

What you need for these are:

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3 cups AP Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt

At low speed, beat butter and sugar util they blend. At high speed, beat until they turn creamy. Again on a low speed, add the egg and the vanilla extract. Stir in the flour, baking powder and salt until just blended.

Cover and refrigerate atleast for an hour.

Preheat you oven to 180 C. Roll out the dough and cut them to desired shapes. Bake them until lightly browned.

Frost with sugar if needed.

This serves 60 cookies. Intended for a giveaway, this served its purpose really well.

Monday, February 2, 2009

Riddle Me #7

I know i have been very late in doing this. Isn't it better late than never????

Answering 2 of the 3 in riddle #6, I have been handed the baton. So here's something that I thought was strange....Do guess what the picture shows....and all the very best for guessing...

Do leave your answers..Will publish them in 2 days from today along with the correct guess.

Following are the rules set by the founder of the game.

Find something stranger than strange and weirder than weird.
Post it on your blog within the next two weeks.
The quiz remains open for at least 1 day and at the most 2 days.
The person who guesses it correctly gets the torch and is the next host for Riddle Me This.
If the person who guesses correctly is the previous host, then that person will get to pick someone to pass the buck to from all those who made a guess.
And so on.
Please use the fabulous logo, designed by the real IFR owner: and link back to the host who passed the baton on to you..
Please do your best to keep this alive. Just think of how much fun it will be!

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