Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream

I thought that “hey, I can bake” and decided to join the Daring Bakers who bake something new and interesting every month. You will get a recipe and you will have to follow it step by step, and usually no substitutes, no shortcuts are allowed. A real challenge, as you can see on the length of this post!

My first challenge resulted in a small not-so-perfect-looking cake and and a pile of dirty dishes in my supersmall kitchen. I never would have thought that making a cake can be so difficult. In the end I made it – it turned out to be not so nice and pretty as in the picture all the Daring Bakers were given as a model, but hey, it was my first try of making a Filbert Gateau. It turned out a little bit of lopsided, so I feel kind of bad calling it “gateau”…but if you look at the recipe below, surely your understand that there is a chance that this cake MIGHT come out a bit messy. Especially if you are a beginner and you have a very bad oven (I always blame the oven btw).

What I did, was halved the recipe, because I thought in case I will mess up, I don’t feel so bad. I did the right thing. The cake was very richand if I had done the whole lot and eaten it, I would be 5 kg heavier. Seriously. But the taste was very dense, especially the next day when the cake had had some time to set. If you have a spare afternoon and a party to attend and you want to impress the guests with something unusual, this is the cake.

You’ll find the recipe below, but firstly I will tell you what I did differently:

-halved the recipe, to make a small cake

-did not use any alcohol

-did not clarify the butter, because I did not find it necessary to clarify so small amount

So, be ready, the challenge is here: Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream (From Great Cakes by Carol Walter)

1 Filbert Genoise
1 recipe sugar syrup, flavored with dark rum
1 recipe Praline Buttercream
½ cup ( 1,2 dl) heavy cream, whipped to soft peaks
1 recipe Apricot Glaze
1 recipe Ganache Glaze, prepared just before using
3 tablespoons filberts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Doesn’t seem that hard, does it? Think again. All those above mentioned parts need to be prepared by you – you can’t buy them from the shop.

1. Filbert Genoise

1 ½ cups (255 g) hazelnuts, toasted/skinned
2/3 cup (75 g) cake flour, unsifted
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
7 large egg yolks
1 cup (200 g) sugar, divided ¼ & ¾ cups (50 g and 150 g)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
½ tsp. grated lemon rind
5 lg. egg whites
¼ cup (60 g) warm, clarified butter

# If you don’t have toasted and skinned nuts at hand, do it yourself. Place the nuts on an oven dish and toast them at 180 degrees C for about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let them sit for 10 minutes, then remove the skin with rubbing the nuts with kitchen towel.

# then to the cake. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 10” X 2” inch (25 cm wide and 5 cm in height) round cake pan.

# Using a food processor, process nuts, cake flour, and cornstarch. You’ll know the nuts are ready when they begin to gather together around the sides of the bowl. Set aside.

# Put the yolks in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat until thick and light in color, about 3-4 minutes on med-high speed. Slowly, add ¾ cup (150 g) of sugar. It is best to do so by adding a tablespoon at a time, taking about 3 minutes for this step. When finished, the mixture should be ribbony. Blend in the vanilla and grated lemon rind. Set aside.

# Place egg whites in a large bowl and beat until soft peaks evolve. Increase to med-high speed and slowly add the remaining ¼ cup (50 g) of sugar, over 15-20 seconds or so. Continue to beat for another ½ minute. Add the yolk mixture to the whites and whisk for 1 minute.

# Put the nut meal in a mesh strainer (or use your hand – working quickly) and sprinkle it in about 2 tablespoons at a time – folding it carefully for about 40 folds. Be sure to exclude any large chunks/pieces of nuts. When all but about 2 Tbsp. of nut meal remain, quickly and steadily pour the warm butter over the batter. Then, with the remaining nut meal, fold the batter to incorporate.

# With a rubber spatula, transfer the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with the spatula or back of a spoon. If collected butter remains at the bottom of the bowl, do not add it to the batter! It will impede the cake rising while baking.

# Tap the pan on the counter to remove air bubbles and bake in the preheated oven for 30-35 minutes. You’ll know the cake is done when it is springy to the touch and it separates itself from the side of the pan. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes. Invert onto a cake rack sprayed with nonstick coating, removing the pan. Cool the cake completely. (I started to assemble it right away and what happened was that the whipping cream started to melt – of course!)

# If not using the cake right away, wrap thoroughly in plastic wrap, then in a plastic bag, then in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

2. Sugar Syrup
Makes 1 cup (2,3 dl), good for one 10-inch (25-cm) cake – split into 3 layers

1 (2.3 dl) cup water
¼ (50 g) cup sugar
2 Tbsp. dark rum or orange flavored liqueur

# In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and sugar to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat, add the liqueur. Cool slightly before using on the cake. Can be made in advance.

3. Praline Buttercream
1 recipe Swiss Buttercream
1/3 cup ( ca 70 g or 1 dl) praline paste
1 ½ – 2 Tbsp. Jamaican rum (optional)

# Blend ½ cup buttercream into the paste, then add to the remaining buttercream. Whip briefly to combine. Blend in rum.

4. Swiss Buttercream
4 large egg whites
¾ cup (150 g) sugar
1 ½ cups (3 sticks or 350 g) unsalted butter, slightly firm
1 ½ -2 Tbsp. Grand Marnier or liqueur of your choice
1 tsp. vanilla

# Place the egg whites in a bowl of a electricmixer and beat until the whites are foamy and they begin to thicken (just before the soft peak stage).

# Set the bowl over a saucepan filled with about 2 inches (5 cm) of simmering water, making sure the bowl is not touching the water. Then, whisk in the sugar by adding 1-2 tablespoon of sugar at a time over a minutes time.

# Continue beating 2-3 minutes or until the whites are warm (about 120 degrees, or 50 degrees C) and the sugar is dissolved. The mixture should look thick and like whipped marshmallows.

#Remove from pan and beat the egg whites and sugar on med-high until its a thick, cool meringue – about 5-7 minutes. Do not overbeat. Set aside.

# Place the butter in a separate clean mixing bowl and cream the butter at medium speed for 40-60 seconds, or until smooth and creamy. Do not overbeat or the butter will become toooooo soft.

# On med-low speed, blend the meringue into the butter, about 1-2 Tbsp. at a time, over 1 minute. Add the liqueur and vanilla and mix for 30-45 seconds longer, until thick and creamy. Refrigerate 10-15 minutes before using. Refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Some tips for the buttercream:

- My buttercream won’t come together! Reheat the buttercreambriefly over simmering water for about 5 seconds, stirring with a wooden spoon. Be careful and do not overbeat. The mixture will look broken with some liquid at the bottom of the bowl. Return the bowl to the mixer and whip on medium speed just until the cream comes back together.

- My buttercream is too soft! Chill the buttercream in the refrigerator for about 10 minutes and rewhip. If that doesn’t work, cream an additional 2-4 Tbsp. of butter in a small bowl– making sure the butter is not as soft as the original amount, so make sure is cool and smooth. On low speed, quickly add the creamed butter to the buttercream, 1 Tbsp. at a time.

5. Praline Paste
1 cup (4 ½ oz. or about 170 g) Hazelnuts, toasted/skinless
2/3 cup (140 g) sugar
Line a jelly roll pan with parchment and lightly butter.

#Put the sugar in a heavy skillet. Heat on low flame for about 10-20 min until the sugar melts around the edges. Do not stir the sugar. Swirl the pan if necessary to prevent the melted sugar from burning.

# Brush the sides of the pan with water to remove sugar crystals. If the sugar in the center does not melt, stir briefly. When the sugar is completely melted and caramel in color, remove from heat.

# Stir in the nuts with a wooden spoon and separate the clusters. Return to low heat and stir to coat the nuts on all sides. Cook until the mixture starts to bubble. Remember – extremely hot mixture.

# Then place the mixture onto the parchment lined sheet and spread as evenly as possible. As it cools, it will harden into brittle.

# Break the candied nuts into pieces and place them in the food processor. Pulse into a medium-fine crunch or process until the brittle turns into a powder. To make paste, process for several minutes. Store in an airtight container and store in a cook dry place. Do not refrigerate.

6. Apricot Glaze
Good for one 10-inch (25-cm) cake

2/3 cup (170 g) thick apricot preserves
1 Tbsp. water

# In a small, yet heavy saucepan, bring the water and preserves to a slow boil and simmer for 2-3 minutes. If the mixture begins to stick to the bottom of the saucepan, add water as needed.

# Remove from heat and, using a strainer, press the mixture through the mesh and discard any remnants. With a pastry brush, apply the glaze onto the cake while the cake is still warm. If the glaze is too thick, thin to a preferred consistency with drops of water.

7. Ganache Glaze
Makes enough to cover the top and sides of a 9 or 10 inch (22-25cm) layer or tube cake

6 oz. (170 g) semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, like Lindt
6 oz. (¾ cup or 1.8 dl) heavy cream
1 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. Grand Marnier, Cointreay, or dark Jamaican rum (optional)
¾ tsp. vanilla
½ – 1 tsp. hot water, if needed

# Blend vanilla and liqueur/rum together and set aside.

# Break the chocolate into pieces and process until finely chopped. Transfer into a medium sized bowl and set aside.

# Heat the cream and corn syrup in a saucepan, on low, until it reached a gentle boil. Once to the gently boil, immediately and carefully pour over the chocolate.

# Leave it alone for one minute, then slowly stir and mix the chocolate and cream together until the chocolate is melted and incorporated into the cream. Carefully blend in vanilla mixture.

# If the surface seems oily, add ½ – 1 tsp hot water. The glaze will thicken, but should still be pourable. If it doesn’t thicken, refrigerate for about 5 minutes, but make sure it doesn’t get too cold!

And now, to the most important thing – assembling the cake:

# Cut a cardboard disk slightly smaller than the cake. Divide the cake into 3 layers and place the first layer top-side down on the disk. Using a pastry brush, moisten the layer with 3-4 Tbsp. of warm sugar syrup. Measure out 1 cup of praline buttercream and set aside.

# Spread the bottom layer with the remaining buttercream. Cover with ½ of the whipped cream, leaving ¼-inch (0.5 cm) border around the edge of the cake. Place the middle layer over the first, brush with sugar syrup, spreading with buttercream. Cover with the remaining whipped cream.

# Moisten the cut side of the third layer with additional sugar syrup and place cut side down on the cake. Gently, press the sides of the cake to align the layers. Refrigerate to chill for at least 30 minutes.

# Lift the cake by sliding your palm under the cardboard. Holding a serrated or very sharp night held parallel to the sides of the cake, trim the sides so that they are perfectly straight. Cut a slight bevel at the top to help the glaze drip over the edge.

# Brush the top and sides of the cake with warm apricot glaze, sealing the cut areas completely. Chill while you prepare the ganache.

# Place a rack over a large shallow pan to catch the ganachedrippings. Remove the gateau from the refrigerator and put it the rack. With a metal spatula in hand, and holding the saucepan about 10 inches (25 cm) above the cake, pour the ganache onto the cake’s center. Move the spatula over the top of the ganache about 4 times to get a smooth and mirror-like appearance. The ganache should cover the top and run down the sides of the cake. When the ganache has been poured and is coating the cake, lift one side of the rack and bang it once on the counter to help spread the ganache evenly and break any air bubbles. (Work fast before setting starts.) Patch any bare spots on the sides with a smaller spatula, but do not touch the top after the “bang”. Let the cake stand at least 15 minutes to set after glazing. Garnish with the buttercream.

# Refrigerate uncovered for 3-4 hours to allow the cake to set. Remove the cake from the refrigerator at least 3 hours before serving. Leftover cake can be covered with foil and kept in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

Gongratulations, if you succeeded in finishing reading this post. You deserve a medal! And a medal should also go to Chris of the lovely Mele Cotte, a Daring Baker who was hosting this month’s event. Thanks Chris, it was fun!

For more DB goodness, please visit the blogroll and forum!

Soup for the eagle-eyed

Actually a soup for those, who would like to have eagle-eyes. It is the old truth that when you eat carrots, your vision will improve. It might not be true, but at least when my mum used to scare me “You’ll get huge and ugly glasses in case you don’t eat your carrots”, then I believed her and ate all yellow vegetables from my plate. Had I known at that time that there is no direct relation between how many carrots you eat and your eyesight, I obviously would have left them on the plate. Did you know was this myth created? It seems that in World War II, Britain’s air ministry spread the word that a diet of carrots (already known to be a good source of Vitamin A, essential for healthy eyesight) helped pilots see Nazi bombers attacking at night. That was a propaganda story originating from Britain’s Ministry of Food, intended to cover the real reason for the Royal Air Force’s successes: Airborne Interception Radar, also known as AI. The secret new system pinpointed enemy bombers before they reached the English Channel. Apparently the motive of the Minister for Food was twofold — it also encouraged folks to eat more vegetables (that could be grown in your own backyard) during ration time, when meat and imports were scarce. Weren’t expecting that, were you?

For me, carrots have always been those orange roots. But was I narrow minded! Hundreds of years ago carrots weren’t just orange — they came in all kinds of colours, including green, white and even purple. In the 17th century, Dutch growers crossed pale yellow carrots with red ones to produce orange carrots. Why did they do that? To curry favour with the Dutch monarchy, “The House of Orange.” Smart fellows! Now all we see, are orange carrots all over the place.

As we have already stopped on the origins of carrots, I would also like to let you know that if you eat a lot of carrots – like several kilos per day – your skin will turn yellowish or even orange. Like getting tanned without the sun or solarium. And this is very true. Carrots contain beta carotene (it’s what makes them orange) and mega dosing on them will turn your skin orange. So there. Be careful.

Now to today’s dish, finally. When I was fed up with eating raw carrot or boiled carrot as a side dish, I decided to go for the carrot soup, and see what comes out of it. A nice yellowish soup indeed! Although very tasty, I recommend you to prepare it when you don’t have more than 2-3 mouths to feed. You see, peeling and washing the carrots is pretty timeconsuming (and boring thing to do) and if you are preparing it for 5-7 people, you might find yourself thinking that it might not be worth all the trouble. I prepared it for two persons and peeled about 400 g of carrots. Huge pile! It took me ages to to the preparatory work and later on the carrots boiled like 100 years until they were soft enough so that I could process them into a nice and creamy soup.

And another thing – the saucepan was full of carrots and I was already hoping to save some leftovers for the next day…but when I started to puree those 400 g boiled carrots, the soup started to, bit-by-bit, diminish…So I ended up having only two platefuls and though pretty tasty, I won’t do it again on a busy weekday-evening, when you are back from work, hungry and expecting to get a meal ready within 20-30 minutes. I do recommend it for a weekend lunch, accompanied by nice bread and chilled tomato juice. But only for 2 or 3 people, otherwise too much trouble.

# Peel and wash carrots (around 400 g for two persons), place into a saucepan and pour over with chicken broth. Bring to boil and simmer until the carrots are soft. If needed, add some broth while the carrots are boiling (you want the carrots to be constantly covered with broth).

# When the carrots are soft, remove the saucepan from the heat. Add a few tablespoons of cream cheese and puree the potful. If you feel that the soup is a bit too thick, add some more hot broth. Season with some pepper and coriander (you probably won’t need salt, as the broth should give you a nice salty taste anyway) and serve immediately.

I really liked the color of this soup. Seriously, it was so nice and summery. At first, J was a bit of suspicious. You know, “how does one eat liquid carrot?”-suspicious. But in the end he was satisfied with the result. As was I. Still, I would have loved an additional spark, maybe a dash of paprika or garlic or something like that. True, pepper made the soup spicy and it was not bland, but something was missing, something which would have made this soup the best cream soup for me…So I have to do it again and experiment with the seasonings. If I end up finding the perfect combination, I’ll let you know.

Short holiday and kama

Whopee, this evening I’ll be on the plane and on my way to Estonia. Holiday! A short one though, but I have been planning it for quite a while now. Every minute is important – meetings with friends, hairdresser, dentist, the whole package. Haven’t planned my meals though…but surely I will do some cooking. My mum already warned me that the fridge is full of pork which she expects to be cooked while Im at home. We’ll see.

I’m not going to introduce a new dish today, instead I would like to draw your antention to kama. It is one of the oldest dishes in Estonian kitchen. Basically it’s just a mixture of various roasted and ground grains – the most common kama in Estonia is a mixture of peas, rye, barley and wheat – and you should usually eat it with sour cream or fermented milk and some sugar. Very healthy. And cheap!

You don’t find it everywhere. In Estonia – definitely. Also in Finland, where they have a similar product, called talkkuna or mutti, depending on the region. If you haven’t tasted it before, you might find its taste and texture a bit strange. Our Irish friends who were over for dinner at Midsummer night, they finished their bowl of kama with berries and said it was good. Not sure though if they really liked it or if they were just polite…

Pille gives a good overview of kama. Have a look. She also offers a number of recipes – regular kama, kama mousse with season berries, kama and mascarpone truffles. You can also make pancakes with it, just substitute the regular flour with kama. The result is much healthier than regular pancakes. The easiest way is of course just mix kama with some sour cream, mascarpone, whipping cream or ricotta and season with some sugar, honey and/or berries.

Now you just need to get a package of it and try…So I suggest you to book a trip to Estonia, look around in our nice cities and countryside and buy some souvenirs, including some packages of kama. Or try to find some friends in Estonia and ask them to send you some kama. My luggage size is pretty limited (those stupid air-fares), so Im not sure if I can bring some of it back with me, but I still have some kama that my mum brought, left in the kitchen cupboard, so Im not worried.

As we are on Estonian topic already, some of you might know that Estonian language is a pretty difficult one to learn. There seems to be no logic and it sounds weird. Today I found a guy named Douglas Welles who has took the trouble to learn Estonian and has come up with a story of how Estonian language was born. I think it is amusing. And totally true! But maybe only because I understand Estonian and the message of this story…But see what you think:

A long time ago, about 1000 or 1100 B.C. there were three Estonian guys sitting around the campfire. Their names were Billy, Ray and Duke (bet you didn’t know that these are real ancient Estonian names). It was winter time and they were bored. Billy spoke first. “Ya know Ray, what we need is a new language”. “Damn straight!” said Ray, “Talkin’ this way is gettin’ boring and besides everybody almost understands us. We need a language that’s sooo crazy, soooooo complicated that nobody will ever understand what’s going on!” As the idea picked up steam, Duke piped up. “Let’s do it this way, that you can’t say he or she. That way you won’t know if your talkin’ about a man or a woman. Also, we gotta think up names for people that give no clue to foreigners about their gender, names that change with the grammer so you never know what to call somebody.” Ray nodded in approval “Yeah,” he said thoughtfully “that’s it. Then we can eliminate the future tense. Think of trying to ask someone out on a date when you can’t say the right name, whether it’s a boy or girl or when it is going to happen!”

Billy, the smart one, was thinking in more technical terms already. “O.K., let’s make it this way, that when you learn a noun, you don’t have to learn just one word but FOURTEEN Yeah and instead of just saying that you are going to or from something, you have to change the noun in some weird way.” Now Ray was excited and spilled his beer. “Yeah Yeah! And..and.. the nouns can’t change the same way, let’s make like, a hundred different spelling groups that all change in different ways!” This appealed to Duke who added slyly, “Ya wanna make it real hard, a real nut-buster? Let’s make it so all the adjectives change, too. In boring old English, you say ‘five small, red houses’, ’small, red houses’ and many small, red houses’. Small and red always stay the same but in our new language? Whoaaaa Nellie!” They exchange high fives all around and cracked a few beers. After that they started practicing how to say “Oh, you’re learning Estonian” without busting up laughing.

So, that’s that. Have fun, I’m off to enjoy my holiday.

Fruit wok for dessert

I get smarter every day. On desserts anyway. You see, I love to have a nice dessert after dinner. Every day. I think I have mentioned it already in some earlier post…Sometimes it is rather frustrating because coming up with a tasty dessert can be awfully time consuming. So I have started to look for something that is tasty yet simple to make. Blogs and recipe sites have thousands of ideas – and by browsing them I get smarter. Qsti’s woked apples looked so delicious and I really wanted to try them. She used a very simple recipe, and the ingredients that I usually have at hand, so why not try.

Just take the apples (1 small apple per face or 0.5 big apple per face), remove the core and slice. Then heat the butter in a frying pan and fry the apples until tender. In the mean time season with some vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon. Or choose whatever seasoning you like, you can’t go wrong here. Serve with ice cream, when hot or with some whipped cream when you prepare the apples before the dinner and serve them cold. I have tried both ways, it works every time.

One day I needed to get rid of the dried bread and wanted to make the dessert from bread crumbs. J insisted on having the apple-wok. I wanted bread crums. J insisted apple-wok. There it was.

So I combined the two desserts as you can see on the picture. Wasn’t bad actually. At least healthier than with whipping cream or ice cream (I used only sour cream when making the bread-crumb-dessert).

I have also tried woked orange – peeled and sliced a big orange, fried in butter and with a whole glove until soft and seasoned with some vanilla. Wasn’t too bad actually. You just need to be sure that you have sweet oranges at hand, otherwise you’ll end up with a bitter orange-wok which taste can not be improved even with some sweet whipping cream…

But in general, I think woking fruits is a good idea. Come along, wok something sweet and let me know!

Banana cream

For example, when you feel like having a banana but it feels very boring to eat it just like that and you don’t want to spend hours for making a cake, you might want to try banana cream.

Serves two:

2 bananas

2 tbsp sour cream

2 tsp sugar and some vanilla (vanilla is optional)

a few slices of some other fruit or some berries for garnish

Using fork, mash the bananas, mix them with sour cream and sugar and place into small dessert bowls. Garnish with some slices of fruit or berries. I used plums.

I actually used blender to make it – as I was lazy – but would suggest to use fork, otherwise you end up with rather liquid soupy dessert rather than a cream.

Banana is pretty calorie rich – you might want to avoid eating a lot of it, especially in the evening. Did you know that 100 g banana will give you 93 calories and a person who weighs 75 kg, needs to stand for about 56 minutes to burn it? Luckily I am smaller, so I probably need less and as I spent around 30 min doing the dishes and cleaning the kitchen (standing!) after the dinner, I think I burnt all there was to it…