Our First Daring Bakers Challenge! We’re so proud!!

The custard came out perfectly! It had a wonderful creamy texture and set up quickly! We took the suggestion of a fellow DBer and let it cool to room temperature before refrigerating it. Worked like a charm!

We did, however, take our cake out too early so the center was not done. The middle had the consistency of scrambled eggs. I also forgot my whisk attachment, so it may not have been as “airy” as it should have been. There was enough around the edges to make 5 or 6 though, so everything worked out.

The sauce…there are no words. We had to stop ourselves just eating it straight.

This recipe is definitely not on the diet, but boy was it tasty!

Photos coming later today!

Bostini Cream Pie
(from Donna Scala & Kurtis Baguley of Bistro Don Giovanni and Scala’s Bistro)
Makes 8 generous servings

INGREDIENTS: Custard

3/4 cup whole milk
2 3/4 tablespoons cornstarch
1 whole egg, beaten
9 egg yolks, beaten
3 3/4 cups heavy whipping cream
1/2 vanilla bean (EDITED: vanilla extract is okay)
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar

Chiffon Cake

1 1/2 cups cake flour
3/4 cup superfine sugar
1 1/3 teaspoons baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup canola oil
1/3 cup beaten egg yolks (3 to 4 yolks)
3/4 cup fresh orange juice
1 1/2 tablespoons grated orange zest
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup egg whites (about 8 large)
1 teaspoon cream of tartar

Chocolate Glaze

8 ounces semi or bittersweet chocolate
8 ounces unsalted butter

INSTRUCTIONS

To prepare the custard:

Combine the milk and cornstarch in a bowl; blend until smooth. Whisk in the whole egg and yolks, beating until smooth. Combine the cream, vanilla bean and sugar in a saucepan and carefully bring to a boil. When the mixture just boils, whisk a ladleful into the egg mixture to temper it, then whisk this back into the cream mixture. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Strain the custard and pour into 8 large custard cups. Refrigerate to chill.

To prepare the chiffon cakes:

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Spray 8 molds with nonstick cooking spray. You may use 7-ounce custard cups, ovenproof wide mugs or even large foil cups. Whatever you use should be the same size as the custard cups.

Sift the cake flour, sugar, baking powder and salt into a large bowl. Add the oil, egg yolks, orange juice, zest and vanilla. Stir until smooth, but do not overbeat.

Beat the egg whites until frothy. Add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form. Gently fold the beaten whites into the orange batter. Fill the sprayed molds nearly to the top with the batter.

Bake approximately 25 minutes, until the cakes bounce back when lightly pressed with your fingertip. Do not overbake. Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. When completely cool, remove the cakes from the molds. Cover the cakes to keep them moist.

To prepare the glaze:

Chop the chocolate into small pieces. Place the butter in a saucepan and heat until it is just about to bubble. Remove from the heat; add the chocolate and stir to melt. Pour through a strainer and keep warm.

To assemble:

Cut a thin slice from the top of each cake to create a flat surface. Place a cake flat-side down on top of each custard. Cover the tops with warm chocolate glaze. Serve immediately.

Edit from Beth~

In all, I think Katie’s right – a success! I cannot speak much for the custard part of the deal, as I’m a bit allergic to eggs and just a taste of it was enough to tie my stomach in knots, but the few bites of it I had were nice and creamy. The cake came out tasty (although still – so many eggs), and the chocolate sauce… Way rich, but I could have eaten that on just about anything. Of course, what’s not to like about chocolate and butter, right? Whoever dreamt up that combo deserves a statue in their honor. A gooey, chocolate statue.

But anyway, on to the show!

We tried the tried and true “glop on a plate” method:

But it was not so beautiful as we had hoped.

This one was probably our best, despite some, ahem, disagreements as to the orange zest:

So there you have it! We daringly baked. And it was tasty, if I do say so myself.

Fig and Pistachio Biscotti

Well, I was out perusing the flavorful land of FoodBlogs and came across this wonderful recipe from Cream Puffs in Venice (http://creampuffsinvenice.ca/2007/09/13/a-sweet-reminder/ ). They are, quite simply, scrumptious! It is one of the lighter biscottis i’ve eaten. And not nearly as hard! So I’m not sure if it’s really a “biscotti” or just a “cookie” as the recipe calls it.

Well…biscotti or cookie, they are darn tasty!

Fig and Pistachio Cookies
Adapted from Italian Baking Secrets by Father Giuseppe Orsini.

1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup butter, at room temperature
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. orange extract (if you don’t have orange extract, use 1 tbsp. grated orange zest)
1 cup shelled unsalted pistachios (don’t chop them up)
1 cup chopped dried figs
1-1/2 cups all purpose flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Combine the flour and baking soda and set aside. Combine the sugar and butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and cream on high speed for 2 to 3 minutes.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Mix in the vanilla and orange extracts (or orange zest). Stir in the pistachios and figs.

Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Scrape the dough out onto a well-floured surface and gather into a ball. Divide the ball into three equal pieces. Roll the pieces into logs that are about an inch and a half to 2 inches thick and about 10 to 12 inches long. Carefully transfer the logs to the baking sheet.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. The logs will be slightly golden and firm to the touch.

Remove from the oven and let cool on a wire rack for about 20 minutes. Carefully slice the logs into cookies (about an inch thick). Transfer the cookies back to the baking tray so that they are standing upright. Do not lay them on one side. Put the cookies back in the oven for 10 minutes.

Let cool completely and dust with icing sugar before serving.

Enjoy!

from http://creampuffsinvenice.ca

Well, We’ve Gone and Done It…

Well, we’ve gone and done it…  that’s right!  KBK Bakery is now part of the Daring Bakers!  We got our first challenge today…but we’re not telling!  It’s a secret!  We’ll post at the end of the month along with our fellow DBers! 

We’ll have more of our past food experiments up soon. 

We’re such slackers! 

We apologize!