Let's roll it up really fast!

Oh my! I didn’t realise it’s the 27th already! Well in fact it’s almost the 28th!

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an Ice-cream filled Swiss Roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home



I pretty much followed the recipe and directions (strange for me I know)… maybe I’m growing up…

The Swiss rolls:

• 6 medium sized eggs

• 1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling

• 6 tblsp / 45gms/ 3 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /2.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together

• 2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water

• a little oil for brushing the pans



For the filling:

• 2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream

• 1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)

• 5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar



Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake. In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds. Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water. Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans. Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch. Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it. Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges. Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down. Repeat the same for the next cake as well. Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream. In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick. Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes. Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine). Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

 

The only different things I’ve made is that I used a milk chocolate ganache instead of the chocolate fudge and I added cherries to my whipped cream for filling the swiss roll. My ice creams were ginger and cherry, and they were beautiful together!

 

Assembly:

Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ). Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.  Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).  Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour). Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm. ( at least an hour). Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

Want a slice? Or the whole thing maybe? I know I would eat it again if I still had it...

Foodbuzz 24x24: A baking class to "baking virgins"

I have 2 friends that were virgins. Baking virgins, that is! Cookies, cakes, pastries, all new stuff to them… Poor things, they had no idea!… I’m talking of not knowing what a pinch (of salt) means. I’m talking about not knowing what creaming butter is or the difference between mixing and whisking. Really, they needed help! They needed a big sweet help!

I offered to give them a basic baking class, because I believe that a person that can bake cookies is a happier person! Cristina took the pictures and Sandra was the hands-on girl. Check out our fun afternoon while these girls lost their baking virginity!

Fisrt things first. Let’s talking about the recipes. At this point they still didn’t believe they were going to be able to bake those things!

The ingredients for the sugar cookies. Basic ingredients, basic cookies, basic happiness!

Sandra got right into action making the sugar cookies! I’m drying her sweat with a towel, she was not used to that kind of effort!

Nothing like putting your hands in the dough! Work it girl, work it! You can do it!

Sandra had those cookie cutters since last Christmas waiting to be used, in case you were wondering why we were doing snow flakes cookies in the Summer. I guess she’ll bake lots of cookies this Christmas now that she learned!

Sugar Cookies

• 125 gr butter

• 125 gr sugar

• 250 gr flour

• 1 egg

• ½ tsp baking powder

• 1 tsp vanilla



Mix the butter with the sugar, add the egg whisked with the vanilla. Mix the flour with the baking powder then add to the butter-sugar-egg mixture. Mix just until well incorporated. Take to the fridge for a couple of hours. Roll the dough, cut in the desired shapes and bake in a pre heated oven at 180ºC (350ºF) for about 8-10 minutes.

By special request of the girls we did “Areias”. These are very popular cookies here in Portugal and the name can be translated to “sand cookies”. They’re like a shortbread kind of cookie flavoured with lemon and covered with cinnamon sugar.

Why does everybody love raw dough? Yummy, it’s lemony!

Rolling little balls of dough. Come on, even a kid can do this!

Areias (“Sand” cookies)

• 100 gr sugar

• 200 gr butter

• 300 gr flour

• 1 lemon (zest)

• ¼ tsp salt

• Cinnamon sugar

Mix the softened butter (but not melted) with the sugar. Add the flour, lemon zest and salt. Mix with your hands or with the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, just until it all comes together. The dough should be soft but not sticky. Roll little balls and bake them in a 180ºC (350ºF) preheated oven. They should take about 10 minutes to bake. When they’re out of the oven and when they’re still hot (but not so hot you’re gonna burn yourself) dip them in a bowl of cinnamon sugar and shake the excess with your hands.

We also baked some oatmeal cookies. These were like an “everything cookie”, we added lots of add-ins. Cinnamon, coconut, all kinds of seeds, they had it all… I wanted to show the girls the kind of things they could add to drop cookies.

What’s that? An ice-cream scoop? We’re gonna have ice cream now? Isn’t it cute that baking virgins don’t know you can scoop cookie dough?

While the oatmeal cookies were in the oven we had to take a break to wash the dishes. That was Cristina’s job because she looks stylish doing the dishes, scarf and all…

You can not have a basic baking class without a basic chocolate cake. Everybody need to know how to make chocolate cake. They should teach that at school!

I think Sandra was having a blast mixing the cake!

Instead of cake we made muffins (they take less time to bake)! I won’t show you the pictures of what happened to that bit of batter that was left in the bowl, but you can guess it…

1 Bowl Chocolate Muffins

• 3 eggs

• 1 cup sugar

• 1 cup flour

• ½ cup butter

• ½ cup boiling water

• ½ cup chocolate powder*

• 1/4 tsp salt

• ½ tsp baking powder



* Chocolate powder is highly available in Portugal and used more than actual cocoa powder. It’s a mixture of cocoa powder, with sugar, vanilla and emulsifier. If you want to make it with cocoa powder, just use a bit less (1/3 cup) and you might wanna add a bit of vanilla too.



Beat the eggs with the sugar. Add the melted butter and mix well. Add the powders (flour, salt, chocolate and baking powder) and mix to incorporate. Finally add the boiling water mixing softly until you have a nice uniform batter that will be less thick than most cake batters because of the water. Scoop the batter into muffin cases and bake in a 180ºC (350ºF) preheated oven until a toothpick comes out clean. We had some cinnamon sugar left from the “Areias” and sprinkled that on top before baking them, it adds a nice crunch.

Last but not least we made scones! These are British style scones and are my absolute favourites! In fact from all the things we baked, scones were the girl’s favourite thing! The recipe came from an old book, I can’t even credit it. I’ve been using this recipe for ages…

My favourite Scones

• 250 gr flour

• 1 tbsp baking powder

• 30 gr sugar

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1,5 dl yogurt

• 1-2 tbsp milk

• 60 gr butter



Mix all the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt and sugar) with a whisk. Add the yogurt and softened butter. Mix with your hands (you should not over mix) until it’s all combined. If the dough is a bit dry add 1 or 2 tbsp of milk. If the the dough it to wet add a bit of flour. The dough should be dense but soft and not stick. Roll it high (2.5cm - 1 inch) and cut your scones with a round cookie cutter. Bake in a preheated oven (200ºC - 400ºF) until they’re just golden brown on top.

So here they are, all our baked goods and the two (very proud) not baking virgins anymore!

What a sweet afternoon! We sure had fun… and we sure ate a lot!

It's steaming hot here!

So it’s that time of the month, Daring Bakers' time!

The April 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Esther of The Lilac Kitchen. She challenged everyone to make a traditional British pudding using, if possible, a very traditional British ingredient: suet*.

* I could't find suet here so I've used one of the alternatives: lard.

I’ve done a few steamed cakes before, but in one of those special ovens that have that option. In a restaurant I used to do a chestnut steamed cake that was to die for. But steaming a cake like this (in a pan) it was something new to me. I went with the sponge type recipe provided and did 2 flavors: Hazelnut-Nutella and Peanut Butter Cup. And just for fun I also steamed a Chocolate Chip Cookie!

Here are some step-by-step pictures and the recipes I’ve used:

My pan ready to steam, with my homemade steamer: a round cooling rack. I’ve used small containers, first because they are cute and second because they take less time to cook (that means less waiting time to eat).

This is my "Peanut Butter Cup" inspired steamed cake. It doesn’t contain actual Peanut butter cups, but it’s like a giant one: a chocolate sponge with a peanut butter filling. Yum!

Steamed “Peanut Butter Cup” Pudding

• (100 grams/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• (1/4 teaspoon) salt
• (1.5 teaspoons) baking powder
• (100 grams/4 ounces) vanilla cake crumbs
• (75 grams/3 ounces) caster sugar
• (75 grams/ 3 ounces) lard
• (1) large egg
• (6 to 8 tablespoons) Cold milk
• 3 tbsp cocoa powder
• 2/3 cup peanut butter

Sift flour, salt, cocoa powder and baking powder into bowl. Add cake crumbs, sugar and lard. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk. Turn half the batter into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin. Add the peanut butter in the middle and top with the rest of the batter. Cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours (mine took less time because I’ve used smaller containers). Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce.

Let's peek inside?

Do you like the look of this one? Or do you think you'll like the Hazelnut-Nutella best?

Nutella. Enough said.

Steamed Hazelnut-Nutella Pudding

• (100 grams/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
• (1/4 teaspoon) salt
• (1.5 teaspoons) baking powder
• (100 grams/4 ounces) toasted, skinned and grinded hazelnuts
• (75 grams/3 ounces) caster sugar
• (75 grams/ 3 ounces) lard
• (1) large egg
• (6 to 8 tablespoons) cold milk
• 2/3 cup Nutella
  

Sift flour, salt and baking powder into bowl. Add hazelnuts, sugar and lard. Mix to a soft batter with beaten egg and milk. Turn half of the batter into a buttered 1 litre/ 2pint pudding basin. Add the Nutella in the middle and cover with the rest of the batter. Cover securely with buttered greaseproof paper or aluminum foil. Steam steadily for 2.5 to 3 hours (mine took less time because I’ve used smaller containers). Turn out onto warm plate, Serve with sweet sauce to taste such as custard, caramel or a sweetened fruit sauce (I didn’t serve with any sauce because the Nutella inside was enough).

Yep, that's good stuff.

Last, but definitely not least. Here’s a chocolate chip cookie that I also decided to steam last minute, from dough that I had frozen. Unfortunately I only had space to do one single cookie and I kind of regret that… It was quite interesting. It obviously didn’t have the crunchiness I love, but it was moist, cakey and chewy.

I don’t know if it was all this steaming yesterday, but today it’s steaming hot here! I leave you with the cookie and I’m off to the beach!

Sponge cake waffles

What to do when your cake batter doesn’t fit all in the cake pan?

Of course, the most logical thing would be to do some cupcakes or even a mini cake in a smaller pan. That’s what I usually do anyway. But this time, when left with some sponge cake batter, my waffle iron started calling me. I’m not rude, so I answered.

This is a very easy and basic recipe for sponge cake. To tell you the truth I usually use my grandma’s sponge cake recipe but this is the one I used for the cake I was making, and so for the waffles. It actually worked pretty well.

BASIC SPONGE CAKE

• 3 eggs


• 90 gr (3 oz) sugar


• 90 gr (3 oz) flour

Whip the eggs and sugar until they double their volume and are very foamy. Add the flour and mix delicately. Bake in a 180ºC (350ºF) pre heated oven.

To make the waffles, just dump the batter into the hot waffle iron. Make sure to spray it or brush it with some oil or butter, since there’s no fat in the batter (except for the yolks).

This was probably the end of my “leftover cake batter cupcakes”, I rather have “leftover cake batter waffles” instead! They were good! I enjoyed mine with honey and even made a wee sandwich with jam that was quite nice! And I don’t even like jam that much…

I’m pretty much sure they don’t eat much waffles in Tunisia, but I’ll let you know what they do eat, since that’s where I’m heading tomorrow. I’m going to spend a few days in Tunis with a friend that lives there. Couscous here I go!

Boleima: a cake made with bread dough

It might sound strange to you, if I say that one of the ingredients of this wonderful cake is raw bread dough…

It doesn’t sound strange to me because I grew up eating this cake. Boleima it’s traditional from my grandparents’ little village, where people didn’t have much access to a lot of ingredients and had to rely mostly on their imagination to bake...

This is a dense cake, kind of chewy, with a tight crumb, very aromatic and with a slight tang (from the bread dough). I personally love it!

This recipe was given to me by my cousin that got it from her mother. My cousin always buys the bread dough to make it, but I make my one. This time I decided to experiment with the master recipe from the book Artisan Bread in five minutes a day and it worked beautifully!

BOLEIMA

• 250 gr (9oz) bread dough (raised)
• 250 gr (9oz) flour
• 250 gr (9oz) sugar
• 125 gr (4.5 oz) lard, softned (you can use butter)
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 lemon (peel)
• Cinnamon sugar* (for sprinkling)
  

It’s so simple to make! You just mix all the ingredients and you’re done! I’ve used my hands, because I’m a hands-on kind of person, but a mixer or a spoon are fine too.

The batter is a bit odd for a cake, since it’s quite elastic. I’ve baked mine in a square 20cm (8inch) pan, buttered and floured. One important step is to heavily sprinkle cinnamon sugar on top of the batter before baking. Gotta love a crunchy top!

For the Cinnamon sugar* I’ve used 4 tsp sugar and ½ tsp cinnamon. Bake at 350ºF (180ºC) for about 20m or until a toothpick or knife comes out clean and the top is golden.

This is the plain version, but there’s also Boleima de Maçã (Apple Boleima) that is made by putting half the batter in the pan, covering it with a lot of sliced apples, walnuts and cinnamon sugar, and then top it with the rest of the batter. I think that version is even better, but since I was trying a new bread dough and wanted to keep it simple. Still it’s great!

Now all you need is a cup of tea! Have you ever tried a similar cake?