Yellow Wood

This month’s Daring Baker challenge was a yeasted danish braid with an apple filling. I had actually made something nearly exactly like this in a baking class, so it wasn’t too much of a challenge. I did, however, use real vanilla bean for the first time. =)

Apple Danish Braid

Recipe
“Danish Braid” from Sherry Yard’s The Secrets of Baking

Modifications
None.  I was even able to find cardamom for cheap at World Market.

Rating
We had it both warm from the oven and refridgerated the next day.  I do have to say it tasted better chilled.  3 stars out of 5.

Flan’s one of those things that I’ve always wanted to try. It’s really simple and only has a few ingredients.

Flan

Recipe
Spanish Flan

Modifications
None

Rating
Very simple, but my caramel stuck to the bottom of the pan.  3 stars out of 5.

1. Matcha
2. Macarons
3. Pistachios

All of those things look completely unappealing to me. Blech.

That is all. =)

My dad is on a health kick, so I tried to come up with a healthy little dessert for him for Father’s Day. These mini tarts have about 70 calories and 5g of fat each. And you can’t go wrong with fresh fruit and homemade whipped cream.

Directions

Make cream cheese tart shells as directed.

Spoon small amount of sugar free jam into the bottom of each shell. I used strawberry jam for the strawberry tarts and either lemon curd or blackberry jam for the blueberry tarts.

Spoon fresh berries into top shells; about 4 small pieces of fruit will fit in each tart.

Top with homemade whipped cream.

Enjoy!

I had initially planned on forming these into bowls in place of waffle bowls, but it didn’t really work out. They still taste good as regular fortune cookies though.

Fortune Cookies

Recipe
Fortune Cookies

Modifications
I shaped the cookies into slightly larger circles because I had originally intended them to be bowls. I also used an egg white product instead of real egg whites.

Rating
Tastes just like a real fortune cookie, but VERY time-consuming and tricky to make. 2.5 stars out of 5.

These are not just any gingerbread cookies. These are the coveted ginger-molasses-oranges cookies from SS’s mom. We are working on a way to incorporate these into a gingerbread cookie dough orange ice cream. It sounds weird, but it totally works.

Gingerbread Cookies

Recipe
Personal recipe of SS’s mom - gingerbread/molasses cookies with an orange/powdered sugar icing

Modifications
None

Rating
For those who like gingerbread, 5 stars out of 5. If not, then maybe only 4 stars out of 5. =)

I finally picked up a really nice stand mixer. A Kitchenaid Pro 600 to be exact. Recommended by Alton Brown, you know. =)

I don’t have any pics, but just let me say this thing is awesome. I made a double batch of snickerdoodles last night, and the bowl was still only 1/3-1/2 full. The paddle attachment made creaming so easy and beautiful. They were easily the best snickerdoodles I have ever made.

I can’t wait to make soooo much more stuff with this thing.  I know I’m going to have this for a very long time, so it was definitely worth the investment.

This recipe is a sort of run-off of last week’s TWiB. I’ve also never made a souffle, so I wanted to try that out.

Chocolate Lime Souffle

Recipe
Dark Chocolate Lime Souffle

Modifications
None really, but I did choose to use semisweet chocolate instead of bittersweet. I also think my ramekins are slightly larger than the size called for.

Rating
Tasty, but nothing super awesome. Fairly easy to make. 3.5 stars out of 5.

I know the post is late, but I did honestly make this during the proper week. My friend SS likes to give me food challenges, so he challenged me to create something that combined the BRIGHT flavors of lemon and cherry with the DARK flavors of chocolate. His goal was to make people’s heads explode with flavor confusion, and this recipe succeeded.

Twilight Madness

Recipe
Chocolate cake mix, baked in a 1/2 sheet pan, then cut into 3 portions. One layer of cake, one layer of lemon curd, another layer of cake, a layer of cherry preserves, a final layer of cake, then dark chocolate ganache poured over top.

I’m not sure of the sources for the lemon curd and ganache I used, but any will do as long as you use fresh lemons for the curd and dark chocolate for the ganache.

Modifications
None

Rating
It needs more filling and maybe slightly thinner slices of cake, but the flavor is definitely there. 4 stars out of 5.

Over the past month or so, a couple of my friends have celebrated their birthdays. Each of them requested a special cake, both of which turned out fantastically.

First, I made an ice cream cake shaped like the character Boo.

I used this picture as a guide, so I think it’s pretty accurate. The only thing I changed was the throat for simplicity’s sake. The cake itself was devils food with a cookies and cream ice cream layer in between.

The other birthday person was KC, whom you might know from this post. As such, she requested a cake shaped like a giant Hostess cupcake.

I used this post as inspiration. The only suggestions I have are to definitely use shortening for the white frosting otherwise it won’t be as white, and to add a little more powdered sugar to the chocolate frosting to make it easier to spread.

It tasted just like a real Hostess cupcake, except much less artificial. And of course, the birthday girl loved it.