Daring Bakers – November

Well, today is the day everyone’s been waiting for… November Daring Bakers! This month’s challenge was Caramel Cake.

The recipe comes from Shuna Fish Lydon and can be found here. The month’s hosts were Delores at Culinary Curiosity, Alex, Brownie at Blondie and Brownie, Jenny at Foray Into Food and Natalie at Gluten-a-Go-Go. Wow, lots of hosts!

I decide to halve the recipe. Since I wasn’t sure if that was enough for a cake in the pans that I have, I decided to do cupcakes. Also, I’ll be able to easily transport them to Mississauga tomorrow.

My caramel syrup went really well. Like others, I covered the top of the pot with tin foil. The syrup worked just fine on my first try! I made the syrup, then we went out shopping. Once home, I made the cupcakes. Then, I ran to the store for some groceries, including icing sugar. Once home again, I made the icing. My alteration to the icing was more salt, again as others had suggested. My icing’s consistency was a little hard. If I had piping supplies, it would have been nice to make the tops a little more decorative. But, I guess I’m still learning…

My half. The verdict? Very, very tasty! I liked getting a little salt in the icing. The cupcakes were moist on the inside but a little crunchy on top – very caramel-ish. 

Overall, I loved the taste!

Can’t wait for December…

October Daring Bakers

Mmmm… pizza!

Check out the other Daring Bakers here!

Crack me up

September Daring Bakers

This month’s challenge was hosted by Natalie and Shel. The recipe was Lavash Crackers (check out their sites for the typed-out recipe – I am too lazy!) and the great thing about it was the personalization. Other than the basic recipe, the rest was up to us! As you can see, I went very plain for my crackers. I did half sesame seeds and half Fleur de Sel. For my dip, I totally took the lazy way out – straight avocado!

Here’s what happened: I actually made crackers three weeks ago.

But I forgot to moisten the top, so the seeds didn’t stick. I ate the crackers themselves, over the next few days. 

Then, today, I was reading blogs on Google Reader and saw some challenges already posted! I guess I lost track of the date, so realized that I needed to post asap. The crackers are really easy and fast to make, but at 9 o’clock on a Saturday night… all I want to do is sit like a lump and watch the tv! So, I just put out some avocado. A few crackers were my post-dinner snack…

Might have peach bread too! 🙂

Check out all the other Daring Bakers here!

So tired

We were up at 3am Winnipeg time this morning – very rough day at work. I did get out for a run, to the grocery store and then to Chapters for the next book after Twilight (will finish tonight – so good!).

For dinner, we had cold salmon with dill sauce, corn and warm pita bread. There was enough for some leftovers for Graham’s lunch tomorrow.

Sorry for the half eaten food – I was forgetting to photograph, but then remembered!

As a side note, check out the eclairs @ Elle’s New England Kitchen. What imaginative combinations – bacon on top! That’s why I really like cooking, and blog reading, because I’ve learned so much. Hopefully as I get better, readers will pick up tips from me!

Night!

Daring Bakers Challenge!

So, this is my first month as a Daring Baker. I was very excited to get the challenge while on vacation at the Cape, so I had to wait awhile to start it. Then the weeks were busy, I went to Calgary, but I always had it on the back of my mind. I finally got down to it Monday night!

This month is hosted by Tony Tahhan and MeetaK. They chose Chocolate Eclairs by Pierre Herme. The recipe isn’t too long, but does have several steps.

First I made the eclairs. I had the same challenge as many other Daring Bakers, I think – my eclairs fell after taking them out of the oven.

Next I made the pastry cream. I actually should have asked Graham first before I started this. He is the biggest eclair fan. I am not joking. However: he only likes cream filled eclairs. I made the pastry cream, but something went wrong. Here, look at this:

Yuck. I don’t really know what happened! Ah well, it didn’t matter anyways. When I showed Graham, he said: “Well, I thought they were going to be cream filled. Can you make me cream filled ones instead?” So, I chucked my garbage pastry cream (too bad… waste of ingredients…) and filled them with cream.

Finally, the chocolate glaze. Yum! This worked out and was sooo tasty! I had to stop myself from eating it with a spoon!

And here is the finished product!

(eating eclairs, while studying for the LSATs!)

I had one that night, and it was tasty, but eclairs are actually the last type of dessert I’d choose… I like brownies, cake, pie, etc. better. But Graham was in heaven! He had three that night, one for breakfast the next day and then was sad when I hadn’t packed one for his lunch!

Overall, this went fairly well. I am looking forward to next month’s challenge! I hope to start it earlier this time, so that I can attempt it more than once! Check out Daring Bakers to see what everyone else made!