Bombe Squad
The July 2010 Daring Bakers challenge was a Swiss roll-lined ice cream bombe. I chose to go with an almond and summer fruit theme, making almond cake, boysenberry jam and caramel, and apricot and honey-almond…
Category Archives: Foodblog Events
Second Fiddle
A tasty, quick chicken fricassee takes a back seat to a raw kale salad with white bean Caesar dressing and croutons made from fried bread dough.
Chocolate Pavlovas with Mascarpone Mousse
The June 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured chocolate pavlovas or meringues topped with chocolate mascarpone mousse and a creme anglaise drizzle.
The Full Montée
The May 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured the croquembouche, a tower of cream puffs glued together with caramel or chocolate ganache. I filled my choux puffs with chocolate and vanilla praline pastry cream based on…
Orange Tian
The March 2010 Daring Baker's challenge featured homemade orange marmalade, pate sablee and caramel sauce in a French dessert called an orange tian. My variation used sweet Cara Cara oranges, a buckwheat-tinged crust, and a…
Tea-ramisu
The February 2010 Daring Baker's challenge featured that coffee-lover's dream, tiramisu, with homemade ladyfingers and mascarpone cheese. My version substituted vanilla and chai teas for the coffee and Marsala wine, since we don't drink either.
Nanaimo Bars
The January 2010 Daring Bakers challenge featured nanaimo bars, an iconic Canadian bar cookie that combines graham cracker crumbs, chocolate, coconut, almonds, and frosting. Very nearly too sweet, even for me, but still oddly addictive.
Cannelloni and Cannoli
The November 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured a classic Italian dessert, cannoli. I dipped the edges of my crisp cannoli shells in chocolate and coconut, and filled them with vanilla, chocolate and banana cream made…
Chocolate Bellyflop
The October 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured that delicate and refined French confection, the macaron. My ganache-filled chocolate macarons in no way resembled the classic cookie, but they still tasted great.
Huffing and Puffing
The September 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured homemade puff pastry baked up into little cups called vols-au-vent. I filled mine with scrambled eggs, sauteed spinach and mornay sauce, in a breakfast-for-dinner riff.
Spanish Rice with Mushrooms, Shrimp and Artichokes
The August 2009 Daring Cooks challenge was a Spanish rice dish related to paella, featuring cuttlefish, mushrooms and artichokes. My pantry-friendly variation used dried porcini mushrooms and shrimp.
Dobos Torte
The August 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured a classic Viennese pastry, the Dobos Torte, in which five thin layers of sponge are stacked with chocolate buttercream and topped with a decorative caramel-glazed cake layer.
Stay-Puft
The July 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured Milan cookies and mallomars with fresh marshmallow. I made the latter, and folded the extra marshmallow into homemade rocky road ice cream.
Tart Party, Sans Vicars
The June 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured a traditional British "pudding," the Bakewell Tart, a dessert simply comprised of shortbread crust, jam, and almond frangpane. I tried my hand at homemade strawberry freezer jam, with…
Stuck on You
The June 2009 Daring Cooks challenged featured potstickers or gyoza with homemade wrappers, and allowed me to work on my pleating technique.
Cream-colored Ponies and…
The May 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured traditional Viennese apple strudel, made with dough stretched tissue-thin.
Little Pillows of Cheese
The May 2009 Daring Cooks challenge featured Zuni Cafe's ricotta gnocchi. Mine used freshly made ricotta and a simple sauce of tomato paste, capers and butter.
Cheesecake at Midnight
The April 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured all sorts of cheesecake. My variation was pumpkin swirl with a maple almond brittle garnish.
Lasagne of Emilia-Romagna
The March 2009 Daring Bakers challenge featured the lasagne of Emilio-Romagna, complete with fresh spinach pasta and slow-cooked ragu bolognese, the latter made with a blend of meats I ground myself. This lasagne is light…
Happy Valentino
The February 2009 Daring Baker's challenge celebrated Valentine's Day with a decadent flourless Chocolate Valentino cake. Mine was a splurge of bittersweet Valrhona chocolate and peanut butter frozen yogurt.