Foray into Food

Daring bakers-cannoli

2009-11-27T06:31:00.000-08:00

I have to admit that I just couldnt face trying to get the cannoli moulds, or trying to deep fry in a vat of oil, so I tried making these in muffin pans in the oven. They came out a little on the rock hard side, but it was a fun thanksgiving snack. The dough was quite difficult to work with, it didnt really like to be rolled out thin, and it tore easily, but I managed to roll it out into little shells.

I paired them with a little whipped marscapone cream. I whipped some cream to a soft peak, then whisked together marscapone with a little cream, marsala and sugar. Some shaved chocolate on top made for a tasty garnish, plus some delicious persimmons. Marscapone cream was also a delicious accompaniment to our dessert of apple pie!

To read more about the recipe and the daring bakers, please visit the daring kitchen!

The November 2009 Daring Bakers Challenge was chosen and hosted by Lisa Michele of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drives. She chose the Italian Pastry, Cannolo (Cannoli is plural), using the cookbooks Lidia’s Italian-American Kitchen by Lidia Matticchio Bastianich and The Sopranos Family Cookbook by Allen Rucker; recipes by Michelle Scicolone, as ingredient/direction guides. She added her own modifications/changes, so the recipe is not 100% verbatim from either book.

Happy Thanksgiving!

2009-11-26T07:05:00.001-08:00

Here is a quick snap of the thanksgiving cakes I did for a friend!

Hope everyone has a wonderful thanksgiving with the people they love.

As usual, mine will be small but fun, we'll crack open a bottle of wine at midday, I have a mushroom and seitan pie, there is duck, roasted veggies, mashed potatoes, creamed leeks, stuffing, and apple pie! I might even have time for the daring bakers challenge as a little bonus!

Dont forget to donate to the food4kids, or bring your donations to the little italy mercado on the 12th!

San Diego Food Bloggers Food 4 Kids Holiday Fundraiser

2009-11-23T06:37:00.000-08:00

Just a quick one to say that I'm very happy to be participating in the San Diego Food Bloggers Food 4 Kids Holiday Fundraiser. It breaks my heart that so many people are really struggling in this recession. I always hope that I can help somehow and thanks to Alice Q and Caren, I can. I'll be donating a prize for the raffle to raise money for this great cause.

There are many ways you can help

1. Donate online and participate in the raffle at first giving and make sure to give your email, so that you are eligible for a prize!

2. Collect donations for the backpacks, and drop them off with the stand at the Little Italy Mercado on Saturday, 12th December between 9-12. Donations can include:

A medium-sized neutral design backpack, preferably red in color.

Toothbrush and kids toothpaste

Coloring books
School supplies (pencils, paper, pencil sharpeners, markers, crayons)

Nutritious kid-friendly foods, such as fruit roll ups, granola bars, boxed packaged food items like cereal, crackers, nutrition bars, pop top canned goods such as applesauce or other fruit, ready made macaroni and cheese and other easy convenient items.

3. Donate a prize for the raffle

I will be donating a cake/cupcakes for the raffle, so if you do donate you could be eligible to win one of my 9" cakes, a dozen cupcakes, or if you're out of town then I'll make up a gourmet gift basket with cookies, caramels and other goodies that I can ship! Here are some recent cakes for ideas of what you could win!!

Wild welsh wedding cakes!

2009-11-22T09:09:00.000-08:00

Part of the fun of attending the wedding was that I got to make the cakes! So fun, especially since I didnt feel too much pressure. Sean and Phil just love good food, so I knew that as long as I nailed some awesome recipes then it could look like a dogs breakfast and they'd still be happy.

It was a bit ambitious to attempt an enormous cake, so I decided on making a few different cakes, which also offered variety and wasnt too demanding on me, in a different country, with different ingredients, and my poor, long suffering mum's kitchen.I got all that I could done at mum's, then jumped in the car and brought everything to the house.

I was so relieved to find a Costco in Birmingham, they sold lovely free range eggs, delicious anchor butter, demerera sugar and very pretty cake stands, which were cheaper than the crappy cardboard ones I'd seen in fancy cooking shops! It was interesting that there was a much larger interest in cake decorating in the UK, I found some lovely tools and bits and pieces just in the supermarket, and also in the wonderful Lakeland store.

The next day, I set to work finishing off the cakes to show. I managed a two tier almond cake with cherry buttercream and a marzipan covering, covering with hand made cherries and leaves. I also made several batches of Molly's 'hearts and minds' chocolate cake(notice the dresser behind me, identical to the one on the book!). They were decidedly on the rustic side, even after putting whipped chocolate ganache on, so I dressed them up with fresh fruit. I also made some vegan, gluten free 'freedom' cupcakes which were topped with a soy chocolate ganache. Vegan cupcakes take over the world to the rescue!!

I was also lucky enough to have lots of helpers, people to chop up the fruit, kiddies to help make the cherries and leaf decorations for the cake.

Another really fun aspect of the cake was the topper. I found these little munny dolls and thought it would be excellent fun to decorate them in Seany and Phil's likenesses. Seany has a penchant for tweed, and phil recently volunteered on a steam train, so my friends decorated them to show that. They were ridiculously cute! We had them so that one way there were all cute and lovey, then the other way they were looking away and 'in a mood'! Super fun memento of the day too!!

Thanks so much to andrew miller for the great photos!

Welsh Wedding

2009-11-21T11:22:00.000-08:00

I had the enormous honor of being invited to my dear friends, Sean and Phil's wedding recently. It was a truly magical event, in the rolling welsh hills, at a manor house, Treowen. Since I was coming from so far away, I was also lucky enough to be able to snag one of the guest rooms in the house.

I arrived the day before the wedding, driving up the enormous drive to the house, I knew we'd be in for a treat of a weekend. This is the kind of place that americans dream of when they visit the uk. I found myself just speechless with the beauty of it all.

After running up and down the stairs (featured in Dr Who!) we all went for a curry, I guess an equivalent of the rehearsal dinner. One of the highlights of the evening was a reunion of old friends in the Somerfield aisles as we chose our alcoholic beverages for the evening!!!

The next day people were milling around, fussing, rehearsing, but we all got dolled up and ready for a 3pm ceremony. It was truly magical to see my two dear friends tie the knot. It was a really beautiful ceremony, and it was really wonderful to see a room full of people overflowing with love and support of the union of my two dear friends. It was particularly poignant since I met my husband at the same time as Sean and Phil got together, so this 10 year anniversary marked a change in both of our lives, bringing me back to the time when Sean and I shared a rather strange(but cheap!) flat in East London.

The food was just outstanding, Sean and Phil love good hearty food, so we had delicious canapes on the lawn with our champagne, then later were treated to a scrummy pumpkin soup, bangers and mash, then the most amazing sticky toffee which was sitting in a lovely caramelly sauce. I had to restrain myself not to lick the plate! We were later treated to bacon butties and chips, and cake (which I'll discuss in another post!!). The caterers, Charlotte Roskill and her crew were amazing, and very friendly, it really boggled my mind how they work such long hours and are still so sprightly! They worked all day feeding us, then returned the next day to make us a full english brekkie!!

Its hard for me to understand why this isnt legal in so many parts of the United States, and the world. It breaks my heart that two people who love and care for each other arent allowed to show that commitment to the world. I hope people can see this post and all the love and positivity of this wonderful occasion and maybe think it through a little more carefully.

Most of the photos on this post were by andrew miller. He did a fantastic job, and had a great sense of humour, which is really important when you're a wedding photographer! I was particularly taken with his portrait photography.

Beas of Bloomsbury

2009-11-02T17:41:00.000-08:00

One of the really fun things I got to do while in London was to check out Beas of Bloomsbury
I took my dear friend John there for lunch, and we snagged a great table at the back where I could watch all that was going on in the pastry kitchen as we munched on our lunch.

We chose to share a sandwich and a couple of salads, which were both totally delicious. I think it was a cheese and roasted veggie sandwich, and a pasta salad with a really tasty broccoli salad.

We saved room for some cake, which we had to sample! I chose an amaretto cheesecake and a chocolate cupcake with praline buttercream. The buttercream was to die for, and I really loved the oaty crust on the cheesecake.

I then ended up saying hello to the chef, Bea, and I'm so glad I did as they were nice enough to offer me an afternoon of work experience. So I dashed off to the Burkenstock store and snapped up some chef shoes and showed up the next afternoon.

Despite her formidable reputation, she was an amazing teacher, and incredibly patient with me. My first test was to quickly weigh out eggwhites and sugar for meringues. I didnt take too long to do that, so it was on to the next task, whipping up some gluten free orange cakes. These were a snap to make, and totally delicious, I was lucky enough to taste one. It was a simple mixture, which didnt even need any frosting, totally delicious and moist.

I then set to work piping meringues, which I found really tricky, but after being corrected several times, I managed to get it right, and set about piping tray after tray of meringue, which eventually winged their way to selfridges (oooh!!).

Even though it was just an afternoon, I had a fantastic time, Bea had created a really great atmosphere with the people working there, I met two people, Naomi and James, who were both really nice, and it felt like fun to work, which is important as its often a very long day in this kind of business.

I would love to think that this could be my job one day, although its so much better paid being a chemist than a cook/pastry cook/cake artist! Its lovely to visit a bakery like Beas, where quality ingredients are of the greatest importance and attention to detail is impeccable.

Be sure to check the bakery out if you're in London, and also try a lesson with Bea, she's a great teacher!

British Invasion!!

2009-10-31T19:23:00.000-07:00

As I look back over my photos, I see that I really didnt take any photos of food on my trip home! I did of course eat lots, but I didnt have a camera handy to take piccies, so you'll have to be content with a little bit of scenery!

I started off paying my dear grandma a visit. She lives pretty close to Teddington Lock now, so I stretched my legs and wandered over there. So pretty. I really loved the weeping willow trees over the river, and the fact that fall was starting.

We had a pretty unmemorable meal at a french restaurant. I often find it a little stressful eating with her as she always feels she ought to leave a clean plate, and doesnt really have much of an appetite, so she has a big stress about being too full and feels ill. Its sad to think that food sometimes isnt so much of a pleasure any more as one gets older.

I then set off to Central London and was given a delicious healthy tofu dish for dinner, its wierd how they have really embraced flavoring tofu and making it much more palatable there.

I had a lovely day in central London with my friend, John, we enjoyed wandering around the British Museum, and also a delicious lunch at Beas of Bloomsbury (more about that later!)

After a couple of days in London, I made my way to my home town of Birmingham. I had a tasty curry with my friends, but we lamented the fact that the curry houses are trying too hard, and that maybe we should have gone back to the homeplace of the balti, Ladypool Road.

I also started on 'project wedding cake', which was

quite a challenge. I baked cakes for 70 people to take to the wedding I was attending at the weekend. My mum served as my sous chef, and we managed to do pretty well, despite a small oven that cooked a little unevenly, and limited resources. Costco came to the rescue, it was great to see that the butter and eggs are all free range. I wish America would follow suit a little more in this regard, after all, theres much more space here to give the animals!! It was also fascinating to see what they had to offer, giant sacks of tea bags and enormous jars of pickled eggs (who really eats those?!!)

I then made my way to a fantasic country house, Treowen in the Monmouthshire countryside, it was a truly beautiful place, and I really enjoyed reconnecting with old friends over a really fun

weekend. We enjoyed fantastic food all weekend, but highlights included the wedding dinner of bangers and mash, with a wonderful sticky toffee pudding for desert, and then a great big full english breakfast the following morning, to mop up all the alcohol that we'd had the night before!

I still believe that the overall quality of food in the UK is often better, although I think its sad that the farmers market concept isnt quite as widespread. I would say that in California we are blessed with an abundance of wonderful fruit all year round, but the dairy produce in the UK is just exceptional.

One of the things that makes me happiest is to see the faces of my favourite farmers when I pick up my eggs and sometimes produce. I was really happy to be back in San Diego and see my favourite farmers stand, schaener farm at the Little Italy Mercado.

Happy Halloween!

2009-10-30T20:59:00.001-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone!

I must admit, I'm not really in the mood, making these cupcakes got me feeling a bit more festive.

Hopefully I'll have more to say soon, I've got so much to talk about, a great trip to the UK, fun times at a bakery, a wedding, plus lots of fun in San Diego...

Daring bakers and macarons

2009-10-27T01:13:00.000-07:00

The 2009 October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Ami S. She chose macarons from Claudia Fleming’s The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern as the challenge recipe.

Like most of the daring bakers, I've been meaning to tackle macarons. I've tried them once, they didnt go so well, so I was happy to experiment again.

This could be the holy grail of pastry, I've been trying to work out why, and I think it could be the variation in ingredients, and the importance of the consistency of the batter. The almond meal could be more finely ground or less, and the egg whites could be more or less aged and can vary in size. Of course the technique is also very tricky, whipping the egg whites to a soft peak, not too hard, then carefully folding the nut meal and powdered sugar in.

I'm going to blame this on the fact that my macarons were a little runny. I think I needed more nut flour. Also, I didnt use my common sense and I piped them too close together. The macarons also stuck to the silpat, so it was difficult to release them. I've heard you can put water underneath the silpat to help to release the cookies.

As you can see, my macarons are woefully thin too, although they did seem to develop the 'feet'. One day I'll spend a week perfecting them, but I just dont seem to have the time to commit to it.

A happy accident happened, I realised I didnt have enough almond meal, so I ground up some hazelnuts to mix in, and then filled the macarons with nutella. Delicious!!!

Please check on amy's blog for the recipe!

Autumn is here!

2009-10-16T04:15:00.000-07:00

I've been so busy I've not had time to write about how busy I am! I recently had a little get together to celebrate the fact that fall is here. I bought a copy of Martha Stewarts new cupcake book and I thought it would be fun to share some of the cupcakes from it, plus a couple of new ideas.

I was very happy with the book, lots of ideas and lovely presentations, the only downside is martha seems to have an awful lot more friends than I do, and her recipes often yield several dozen cakes, I prefer to make a dozen or two at a time.

I started with everyone's fall favourite, the pumpkin spice cupcake. I didnt have time for the cute pumpkin topper, so I mixed a little of the cream cheese with some caramel so that it created a pretty swirl. I think this was definitely the big winner of the day!

I was also lucky enough to get some meyer lemons at the farmers market. Although they are not in season he had a few extra on the tree. The cupcake was quite nice but not as dreamy and ephemeral as maybe the dorie greenspans perfect party cake is. Meyer lemons make a much less tart curd too, which is worth keeping in mind if you like a bit more zing.

I then got started on a pretty looking 'hummingbird cupcake. It was another lovely tropical treat. I've seen these lovely pineapple flowers before and wanted to recreate them myself. I found them to be a lot of work and it does seem like a bit of a waste of good pineapple as they are just a bit dried out and not as tasty.

I'd also been hoping to recreate smores in a cupcake form, so I had a try at martha stewarts recipe. Being me, I decided to only stick to the cupcake recipe, I topped with a whipped chocolate ganache and a swirl of seven minute meringue frosting, which was lots of fun to burn with my ridiculously large torch from Home Depot!

Last but definitely not least, I made a rich chocolate mud cake, scooped a little out and popped a filling of coconut with cream cheese frosting and topped with a decadent dark chocolate buttercream, topped with an almond to be an 'almond joy' cupcake. Most definitely my favorite, I think this would be a wonderful treat for anyone wanting something a bit more decadent!

I'm afraid I'm out of town, so I cant share any recipes, but I have to share that chocolate mud cake recipe on my return, it was delicious and very moist!

Whats your favorite cupcake?

Fall Foodie Swap

2009-10-15T08:25:00.000-07:00

Thank you so much to Laura for organizing this! I partnered with Erin in Boston, who shared some amazing stuff with me, maple syrup, pancake/waffle mix, ginger jam, cranberry honey and some beautiful fall cookie cutters, dishes towels etc. So generous!

I was a little embarrassed with what I'd sent off, I made some little pumpkins out of marzipan which I thought would go great as toppers for pumpkin cupcakes, so I popped in a recipe and added some halloween cupcake cases and homemade caramel syrup for decorating. I put in some spices to give a fall scent upon opening, and added some 'world peace cookies' from Dorie Greenspan's recipe, and a little hand painted bowl from guadalajara, mexico that I found at my local farmers market

Daring bakers and vol au vents

2009-09-27T01:37:00.000-07:00

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' Challenge has been chosen by Steph of a whisk and a spoon. Steph chose Vols-au-Vent, which we are pretty sure in French means, “After one bite we could die and go to heaven!”

Well, this was a fun challenge, I've made puff pastry from scratch twice so far, once in home economics when I was about 12, and once in class at college recently. It really is excellent when you make it yourself.

I was really excited to make vol-au-vents too, I've had them at many parties and occasions, unfortunately they seem to have fallen out of favor recently, being just way too dated, but I really loved those little fluffy bites and was really looking forward to making them from scratch.

The building of the pastry worked very well, but unfortunately when I rolled it out, I didnt persist, getting a nice thin pastry, so they were a little stodgy. I was also kind of worried about weighing them down with a silpat to make them rise evenly, so they were a little loopy when they baked! My husband says they look like geoducks. Ick!

I decided upon two fillings, I remember really loving mushroom vol au vents, so I sauteed some mushrooms and garlic, added a sprinkle of red pepper and black pepper, a touch of 'better than bouillon' mushroom, a sprinkle of flour and then reduced the sauce down. Mmm. Bit ugly looking but very tasty.

For dessert I whipped up some heavy cream with honey, and filled the vol au vents, then added slices of figs and walnuts.

I was very happy to see all the layers in the pastry, although they were really heavy to eat since they were so thick. Oh well, I'll just have to keep practicing!!

Brekkie in San Diego

2009-09-19T06:14:00.000-07:00

I generally eat my breakfast at home, our Sunday routine involves slowly scrambled eggs from Schaener Farm, spinach and muffins/bagels and some bacon for my husband. If there are big tomatoes in my CSA I put them under the broiler on a low heat. I like to wake up slowly, have a good brekkie, but not overdo things.

Having visitors, I thought it would be fun to take them out for breakfast, and I wanted to share two outstanding breakfast spots.

I went down to Mission Beach with my beloved brother, and we decided to eat at Mission Cafe. I had the best french toast I have ever had in my life, crusty cinnamon toast with a souffle like soft eggy middle.

My brother enjoyed the Chilaques, which he decided were like breakfast nachos. It was great eating with my brother, we had so much trouble deciding that we ordered these and then swapped half way through, so it was like having two meals. Excellent! I'm trying to think of excuses to get back there asap!!

Another weekend we had a friend in town and we wandered up the hill from our house to Crest Cafe. It has such a cheery exterior, and is really cute inside, and also does a killer version of my favourite breakfast, eggs florentine. They also had a really solid regular breakfast (my husband always orders eggs, bacon, toast and potatoes with an extra side of bacon) and omelette.

Other places that I've heard are good are the City Deli, Hash House a go go and the Studio Diner. I've clearly got a lot more eating out to do!

Livestrong with Banana Bread!

2009-09-17T07:39:00.000-07:00

As I surveyed my kitchen after a whirlwind visit from my family, I really wanted to bring something nice to bookclub. We'd just finished 'A homemade life' by Mollie Wizenburg and planned to each bring a dish from it. I realised I had 3 very ripe bananas just waiting to be used in some banana bread.

This also seemed to be a perfect opportunity to work with something yellow for Livestrong Note the cat wandering through my shot!!

This is in honor of many people, especially Jen and Barbara, who is hosting the livestrong taste of yellow.

Cancer is a horrible thing, I like the way livestrong is positive and strong about fighting cancer and moving on with life.

I hope this would be good for someone who is struggling with cancer. It might be a little rich, but the ginger in it may settle the stomach and the bread is very comforting in smell, texture and taste, so definitely good to have around. I like to cut into slices and have a piece ready in a baggie in the freezer ready to pop in the microwave whenever I'm peckish.

There were varying reports on whether the ginger was good or bad, I did use the lovely stuff from King Arthur Flour, so it was probably stronger than other stuff. I used the big choc chips from giradelli, so I thought it paired very nicely. If you're not a fan then it could easily be left out, maybe try walnuts in addition or instead.

This banana bread has similar proportions to my regular low fat banana bread, although I'm definitely a fan of the technique of melting the butter, since one can quickly make this with just a couple of bowls, a whisk and a spoon in a matter of minutes.

We also enjoyed some super delicious butternut soup, I'm not always a fan but the pear and vanilla really cut through the creaminess. There were roasted cauliflowers and the super indulgent corn bread. Everything from the book seems immensely comforting, although not necessarily super rich. We're all looking forward to trying more recipes from it.

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Crystallized Ginger from A Homemade Life

makes 1 loaf

6 tablespoons (3 oz) unsalted butter, melted

2 cups unbleached all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup finely chopped crystallized ginger

2 large eggs

1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana (around 3)

1/4 cup plain yoghurt

1 tsp vanilla extract

preheat the oven to 350f and grease a 9 x 5 in loaf pan

Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking soda and salt.
Whisk together the butter, eggs, banana, yoghurt and vanilla.
Combine the wet and dry ingredients with the minimum of stirring, then add the ginger and chocolate, turning a couple of times to mix.

Bake for around 50-60 minutes until a toothpick comes out clean.

Daring cooks make masala dosa!

2009-09-14T01:40:00.000-07:00

What an interesting challenge this month! The dish is of Southern Indian origin. When I travelled in India I didnt really enjoy masala dosa, but that may have been that they are traditionally served for breakfast, which just didnt appeal!

These were delicious. It was fantastic and rich and totally vegan, we really didnt miss the animal products here. My husband doesnt usually enjoy my curries, but the dosas mopped up the sauce and he was very impressed, so this may be added to my rotation. I think in the future I'll make big batches of everything and then it will be just a case of reheating the dish. I followed the recipe almost exactly, I got a bucketload of the coconut sauce, it will last for weeks!

Please visit Debyia for the recipe and her approach to the dish.

San Francisco and Santa Rosa, fun times!

2009-09-05T18:08:00.000-07:00

We had a fun weekend in the bay area, starting with a night in San Francisco at our favourite cheap and cheerful hotel, the Metro. We strolled over to Magnolia Pub for lots of beers, and the best fish and chips I've had in a long time. They also had excellent sausages, saurkraut and crispy pork skin. Not great for veggies, the veggie rice dish was a little bland.

After a heavy beer night, the best thing to do was find a good brekkie. We wandered down to the bean bag cafe and I indulged in a totally delicious nutella and banana crepe, everyone else had hearty omelettes and scrambles which also looked and tasted great. I dont normally go out for breakfast much but this was a total winner.

We then started on our way to wine country and stopped off at Ubuntu for lunch. It was a lovely restaurant, but the meat eaters in the group found it totally over the top and really weren't into the concept of the restaurant. Its easy to win them over with good food, but the insanely over the top attitude of the place did put them off. We started with olives with carrot-top pesto

A wonderful green bean salad with bright colors

Delicious little cutlets with 'nasty bits' of veggies, probably my favourite dish!!

An excellent pizza, while some people say you cant go wrong with pizza, this was lovely

We really over-ordered on this to the waiters recommendation, we probably only needed about 3 dishes between 2. Everything comes out when its ready, so tapas style is the way to go. Another observation was that the plates were insanely large, so it was kind of hard to fit them on the table!

Then we made our way to Santa Rosa, which was by and large a bit of a letdown, foodie wise, apart from a really wonderful Ethiopian meal at Abyssinia. This is one of the best cuisines for a mix of veggies and meat lovers, they had wonderful veggie curries, and slow braised meat stews with the injera and everyone was very happy. I enjoyed the sweet honey wine, and my companions enjoyed the stout.

Daring Bakers tackle Dobos Torte!

2009-08-27T01:04:00.000-07:00

The August 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Angela of A Spoonfulof Sugar and Lorraine of Not Quite Nigella. They chose the spectacular DobosTorte based on a recipe from Rick Rodgers' cookbook Kaffeehaus: ExquisiteDesserts from the Classic Caffés of Vienna, Budapest, and Prague.

Since I'd already made this in cake class just a few months back I was going to sit this challenge out, it wasnt my favourite cake. But I suddenly felt inspired, I had some extra chocolate buttercream in the fridge, and it seemed like a good opportunity to play with my food and give it a try.

Dobos torte is a multi layered cake, composed of a sponge, chocolate buttercream, and a top sponge layer which is covered in caramel. I enjoyed the caramel part, but I find the sponge chewy and not so appetizing. I prefer buttery and crumbly, or oozy and gooey.

It quickly became apparent that making little cakes is harder than it looks! The sponge was easy enough, I halved the recipe, then spread onto a parchment on a baking sheet. It was very quick to stamp out circles with a cookie cutter. It was harder to cleanly spread buttercream onto the little discs, and I didnt have the patience to cleanly smooth it to make for a perfect presentation, so I placed almond slices on the sides of the cake. I then saved some circles, pouring caramel over them and placing them on top of my little cakes.

Please head on over to the daring kitchen for the recipe, or to join in the challenges, and to see how the other daring bakers got on.

Northern California and a new hobby!

2009-08-25T21:01:00.000-07:00

I inherited a camera when my lovely husband decided to upgrade, so I had lots of fun snapping away in wine country over the weekend!

Bounty of Oregon

2009-08-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

I was contacted by some lovely folks in oregon to ask if I'd like to help to judge their competition. How cool is that?! I love oregon, and I love cheese and chocolate, so it was a winning combination.

Oregon Bounty Cuisinternship Contest started today, a great all espenses paid trip to follow an expert for a week. So if anyone is interested in entering, check the website, and get writing! Even if you dont win the competition, the website has lots of tools to plan a trip.

We had an absolutely lovely wedding anniversary in Portland in 2007 and keep trying to think of excuses to go back, so this was a lovely reminder that its been too long!!

The cheeses included some rogue blue cheese, a delicious goat cheese tapenade, a firm white cheese, and a very oozy brie type of cheese. Our favourite was definitely the Rivers Edge Chevre Tapenade from three ring farm, it was remeniscent of boursin with the garlic, but so much better!!

There was a very quaffable fruity tempranillo wine, which we slightly chilled since it was a warm day.

The chocolates were an interesting mixture, there was a 'hippy crunch' mix of chocolate and rice, which was a good snack. There were a couple of lavendar chocolates, a dagoba lavender dark chocolate, and some fleur de sel caramels which were topped with lavender. I really want to love lavender in desserts, but it just tastes nasty to me, so I'm sure I would have loved them without the lavender! I think my favourite were the berry chocolates which had a lovely berry mixture in them and some nice crunchy seeds.

Real Life

2009-08-13T16:45:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the real world, Jennywenny!

I had the opportunity to work at a local bakery as part of the Culinary Program at Grossmont College. It was a fantastic experience. I learned about a million dollars worth of stuff, and although I worked for free, it was well worth it for all the stuff I learned.

The bakery has a few different cake flavors and designs that they generally make, mostly presented with buttercream frosting and simple piping. They have an incredibly sturdy system for making sure that the cake stands up to all manner of abuse and wobbling before the happy couple take their chunk of cake.

It was a little disappointing to find that the buttercream used was a standard 'American Buttercream' made with shortening and sugar and a little butter flavor and vanilla to make it palatable. I generally use swiss meringue buttercream for my cakes and it seems to be really easy to work with, this stuff took a bit of getting used to, and doesnt taste the best. I understand that most bakeries use this, so it wasnt an enormous shock for me.

In my 120 hours of experience, I learned how to torte and cut the cakes to size, then fill a 'dam' of buttercream with a tasty filling, making sure to use lots of flavored syrup to moisten the cake. A 'crumb coat' of buttercream was added, followed by at least two layers of buttercream, then lots of smoothing to get the perfect finish.

I never did get the perfect finish, but I got close! I'm told the secret is dipping the scraper into really hot water and having the cake very well chilled.

I also learned about putting ribbons on cakes, which I've not tried, and about piping, which I got used to.

This is a finished cake that I did, I was very happy with how it turned out, I did get some help with smoothing the buttercream, but I built the cake and did the ribbon and the piping.

It was an invaluable experience, I've read lots about what its like working in the food industry and it was great having this experience. I'm eternally grateful to grossmont college, since I'd worked in their kitchen I had a feeling for how things work in an industrial kitchen so it didnt feel too wierd.

Something I was reminded of was that it will become repetitive pretty quickly. Making cakes for friends is one thing, the cakes are different every time, and its fun, but as a profession, you have to pare things down a little and things get repetitive pretty quickly. Most bakeries have a choice of somewhere around 10 different flavors of cake/filling, and a similar number of designs. It wasnt a long enough period of time to know whether I would be bored out of my mind in a few months.

Boozy black forest trifle

2009-08-04T22:38:00.000-07:00

Cherrapino got me all excited about making a black forest trifle. I picked up some beautiful cherries from smit orchards at the farmers market. With all the cakes I've been making, I've always got plenty of cake scraps, so I layered some chocolate fudge cake, drizzled with kirsch, added a layer of chocolate custard, cherry and whipped cream with a little shaved chocolate. Yum!!

Chocolate Custard Dairy Book of Home Cookery

Enough for 4 small trifles

150ml milk

1/2 tsp vanilla essence

2 egg yolks

15g sugar

30g dark chocolate, melted

Whisk together milk, vanilla and eggs. Warm on a low heat until the custard coats the back of a spoon. Add melted chocolate and stir together. Cool before adding to the trifle.

I also made a trifle in a jar for my friend as a surprise!

Daring bakers tackle Chocolate covered marshmallows

2009-07-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

The July Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Nicole at Sweet Tooth. She chose Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Cookies and Milan Cookies from pastry chef Gale Gand of the Food Network.

What a fun challenge. This month has been totally insane crazy, so I very much appreciated a less technical challenge, but I did try something new with making marshmallows from scratch.

We started with a little cookie, I used my new vietnamese cinnamon in them from KA flour, which gave them quite a kick, very different to the regular cinnamon in the store, cant wait to give it a try in something chocolatey. I divided the recipe by 3 since I didnt have a specific destination for them.

Marshmallows were made by whipping up egg whites and adding a hot syrup that was mixed with gelatin. I found that they didnt set up as much as I expected, so I really worried I'd made a mistake, but in the finished product they were little pillows of soft goodness. They piped very nicely onto the cookies

The cookies were left to set for a couple of hours, then I melted some chocolate with a little coconut oil and then dipped them in.

The verdict on the finished product. Meh. Marshmallows are really not my thing, the cookies were a little soft and cakey. Although they dissapeared very quickly at work, my discerning friend told me they were like chewing on a soggy wagon wheel (a confection he remembers fondly from the UK). Ouch. Always brutally honest, I appreciate his opinion, but sometimes the critique hurts a little, even if its not my own recipe!!

After a few days in the fridge these improved a lot as the cookie had a little more crunch to it.

Thanks for the opportunity to try new things as always, daring bakers, and thanks, Nicole for the perfect bite sized treat! Also thanks to my lovely husband for the photos.

How the other half live!

2009-07-18T09:15:00.000-07:00

I was recently lucky enough to be invited to meet some other San Diego food bloggers and go down to Rancho La Puerto in Tecate for the day.
We were treated to a 'Saturday at the spa' where one can get a taste of the spa.

My day started with being met by Aida and Peter from the Spa at Old Town and being driven to the border. We learned about the interesting history of the spa and the various people that were attracted to it, including concientious objectors from Europe in the 2nd World War to Burt Lancaster and Tony Curtis training for the movie 'Trapeze' before anyone had dreamed up personal trainers and wheat grass smoothies!

Strangely enough, eating lots of fruit and veggies, getting in the outdoors and exercising, and all that stuff is back in fashion! Maybe it will actually catch on this time. Who knows!

We crossed the border, applied for our Mexican Visas, then it was a new country. Tecate looked like a really cute little town that I hope to return to soon. It was nice to see another side of Mexico after visiting Tijuana a few years ago.

We were welcomed to Rancho La Puerta with juice, muffins and fruit. Taking a look around the ranch, it was enormous, and it extended as far as the eye could see with the majority of it a wilderness. It is apparently the first cross-border wildlife reserve.

Sadly, my pictures of the resort didnt come out very well, although I can assure you it was very picturesque! One of the highlights was coming across some hammocks hidden away in some trees and I felt like I was in a little disney film, watching the little birds at the feeders and the squirrels on the lawn!

I had a pedicure, and then a buffet lunch, followed by a quick swim, then we were whisked away to the farm where all the produce is grown for the ranch. They also have a beautiful kitchen where the cooking lessons are held.

We met Chef Michel Stroot, the former ranch chef, and he took us through the meal for the day.

People split into teams of 2 and chose a station to work on.

I've never made tortillas from scratch, so I decided to choose that station. They were pretty easy to make, if you have a tortilla press! So much tastier!

Our tortillas were a mixture of minced garlic and jalapenos, masa flour and water, very simple.

Our meal started with a delicious corn chowder. It was very rich and you'd never know its not full of cream and butter. Unfortunately it was a very involved process, so I'm not sure I'll be making it at home!

We were then treated to a very pretty moulded quinoa salad with crab and papaya.

My tortillas came out for the main course, where they complemented some tilapia with tomatillo sauce, baby potatoes and green beans

The dessert was a plum apple compote with orange meringue. This was a bit of a shame, the fruit seemed so delicious, I think it might have been nicer just as is with a crispy meringue on the side, the meringue was a little soft for my taste. I thought the edible flower garnish was really pretty, I'll definitely remember that for the future.

The food was all delicious, I think some people were used to a little more salt and much more meat in their cooking, so it was a bit of an adjustment although its the way I like to eat most of the time, so I was very happy!

I really enjoyed the setup of the lesson, it was very relaxed, but it was all hands-on, so I learned a lot. I'm definitely interested in trying lessons like this again, a fun way to spend an afternoon, definitely different from my lessons at college!

Finally, it was time to get back to San Diego, Peter had one more treat in store, churros! We stopped at the churro stand at the side of the road and had a delicious decadent treat. They were so much nicer than any that I've tried before, fried and sprinkled with sugar and cinnamon!

I highly recommend visiting Rancho La Puerta. I'm hoping that one day I'll have the time/funds to be able to make it to the ranch, but maybe I'll buy the cookbook so I can dream a little!

I hope to bump into my new foodie friends along the road sometime on my culinary adventures. I was pretty nervous meeting new people, it turned out I didnt need to be, they were all fun, and very friendly and we had something in common straight away that we could discuss. It was particularly good learning more about 'slow food', something I'd like to get more involved in, since it makes me so sad how far away from real food we've got, particularly with cakes!

A very special day

2009-07-12T08:27:00.000-07:00

I was very honored to be a part of a really wonderful wedding recently. I love weddings anyway, but this was so much fun. The day was really all about the couple, their family and friends and the love that they had for each other. It was very personal and the guests were having a whale of a time. Being on an incredible property in the beautiful Rancho Santa Fe area didnt hurt either!
Here I am with the cake!

The details were totally adorable, like these little succulent place cards/favors.

Delicious barbecue was served, and it reminded me of a recent NYT article about the backyard bbq being totally where its at these days
I also made my first proper wedding cake! As an amateur I got to really enjoy the process, have fun with the couple, go through lots of tastings and iterations of designs and come to what I hope was a great conclusion on their special day. I recently bought Martha Stewarts book on weddings, and her advice to try making the entire cake for a practice run is a good idea. I found a very nice girl who wanted a birthday cake, so it was good to try a 3 tier cake.

I definitely pushed my boundaries, doing a square cake was a little tricky, but I'm glad they insisted as it came out super cute.

I helped out with some goodies for their out of town guests, they were treated to a home made recycled bag containing some water, fruit, chocolate chip cookies, caramels and fruit and nut bars. As per the bride's wishes I managed to find some biodegradable bags for the snacks from clearbags.

On the wedding day itself, I brought a big jar of caramels, three types of cupcakes, and a square 3 tier wedding cake, which the couple asked to be off center.

The cake was carrot cake on the bottom and 'almond joy' on the top two tiers, a delicious fudge chocolate cake, filled with a layer of coconut mixed with cream cheese frosting, and a layer of chocolate ganache with almonds. mmmm! The cake was covered in fondant and decorated with the couples colors of choice, and topped with their hand made likeness, very cute.

I also made 3 flavors of cupcakes, 'sexy vegan' from Vegan Cupcakes takes over the world, banana choc chip with caramel and cream cheese frosting, and a lovely light 'berrylicious' cupcake with berry buttercream.

The cakes looked wonderful on the table, and the guests all seemed very excited! So my first wedding experience was a fantastic one!

For any other amateurs thinking of trying this kind of thing, I'd recommend giving yourself plenty of time, if you're planning on doing a tiered cake, make sure to have all the cakes ready and crumb coated at least the night before and thoroughly chilled before you cover in fondant. Cardboard isnt strong enough as a base, use poster board or something similar(and food safe) between the layers and use a proper dowel (available from michaels) for support.

Daring Bakers Bakewell Tart.

2009-06-27T05:12:00.000-07:00

The June Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart... er... pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800's in England.

I was really happy this month that one of my favourite pastries from home was picked as the daring bakers challenge! I love almonds and I love pastry, so this was a total winner!

I was also happy that it was a nice quick challenge since I was a little under the weather when I made them.

This seemed like a perfect candidate for my little mini quiche pan. I cut the pastry down by half, and the frangipane to a third and it made 12 little mini bakewells and 3 larger ones in tart cases.

Thanks very much for the recipe!

Please stop by the daring kitchen to join us or to check out pictures of the challenge, or stop by and get the recipe from Jasmine or Anne Marie!