11 year old Princess with a Salted Caramel Chocolate Mousse Cake

So my princess turned 11 today, the 17th of February 2015! As per the practice over the years, we placed her presents under the bed and then woke her up.



It was a school day for her today while her brother Michael started the school break for Chinese New Year. She gets tomorrow until the end of the week and also the next Monday off.

She got a few presents from us starting with an Adidas T-shirt. My princess loves games that you play together and with that in mind we got her a board game called You are Sentenced, a small dice game and finally an Electronics Lab that lets you build 130 different circuits to build timers, make make sounds, flashing lights and other electronic gizmos - supposedly even an AM Radio!

She seemed quite please with the presents and with the presents out of the way, she got ready and went off to school. I had to go to work but after school she was taken for lunch at Chillis with Mummy, Mike and Amma. My wife's brother and family went for lunch too.


Later in the evening, my parents visited and we went out for dinner. Sarah wanted Japanese so we went to Rakuzen at Sri Hartamas. She enjoyed a Sushi and Tempura bento while Michael went for the Unagi Rice Bento. Mummy had a Teriyaki Cod while my parents shared a Beef dish. I had a Beef Teppanyaki and we all shared a Grilled Salmon head. I had told the restaurant manager that we were celebrating Sarahs birthday and they gave us a complimentary dessert - Japanese ice cream wrapped in some kind of waffle covering. Rather tasty!

After dinner we returned home to cut her cake that I had made the night before.

Homemade Honeycomb

Honeycomb is not something that I thought could be homemade. I always thought that it was only something that was commercially available and if at all it could be made at home, you would need some sort of industrial production line or at the very least a huge machine. Wrong!

Honeycomb is known by a variety of names throughout the world. In Australia, South Africa and most of Britain, it is known simply as Honeycomb although some Brits refer to it as Honeycomb toffee. The Kiwis refer to is as Hokey Pokey while I am informed that it is not hugely popular in the USA but is more commonly known as Sponge Toffee.

For those of you that have no idea what Honeycomb is, think of that golden crunchie stuff that you find inside Crunchie bars or Violet Crumble bars.

So anyway, while vegetating in front of the Tele one evening with the kids, I watched as Gary Mehigan and George Calombaris from MasterChef Australia gave a MasterClass on how to make some dessert that had, you guessed it, Honeycomb in it!

The kids and I watched spell bound as the honeycomb came to life and the kids then turned to look at me and asked me what honeycomb was and how it tasted. I reminded them that they had eaten it in a chocolate bar before - Crunchie and Violet Crumble.

The next question out of their mouths was: "Dads, Can you make it?"






So a few days later, what did I do? I made the honeycomb! The recipe from MasterClass actually uses liquid glucose but I chose to use honey instead. I also followed my own method of making a caramel and just added in the honey and then the sodium bicarb. The Sodium Bicarbonate actually aerates the caramel and that is what produces the honeycomb texture.

Ingredients
7 Tbs Sugar
2 Tbs Water
2 Tbs Honey or Liquid Glucose
1 tsp Sodium Bicarbonate
Method
Line a small baking pan or bowl with non-stick baking paper. In a heavy saucepan, heat sugar and water till it dissolves. Add in the honey and bring to the boil till edges start to turn a little golden/darker at the edges. (This may be difficult to see if using honey) Quickly add in the sodium bicarb and whisk. Mixture will froth up. Pour into the paper lined bowl/pan. Mixture will continue to cook and rise. Let sit for about 40 minutes till honeycomb is cool and hard. Break into pieces and serve with ice cream or dessert or just eat it!

The size of the pan is dependent on how thick you want your honeycomb. If you want it really thick, use a deep bowl. If you want it thin, then use a swiss roll pan or flatter bowl.

Be really careful when you are working with caramel as the temperatures get really hot. And I mean really, really hot! I've been making caramel for years now and I still take extra precaution.

So how did the honeycomb turn out? I was amazed! Really, really amazed! It was really crunchy, really airy, really tasty. But sweet. Then again, that's what honeycomb is supposed to be - sweeeeet. (spelling intended!)

The kids enjoyed it and it went really good with ice cream. I made the mistake of not putting the honeycomb away in an air tight container or in the fridge and found that after a few short hours, it began to weep rather badly. I guess the humidity in Malaysia doesn't help either!





So! I can now add honeycomb to my list of 'achievements' and I can think of a variety of desserts that would go well with honeycomb.

I also took the opportunity to tell my kids that many people claim to be good cooks. However, the 'true test' of a good cook is whether they can make their own Hot Fudge/Chocolate Sauce and their own Honeycomb!

And I'm only half joking about the 'true test'...

Le Snick Snack - A Homemade Snickers Dessert

Every meal has to end with a dessert and to finish off my dinner for eight series of posts is this dessert.

When deciding what to make for dessert, The Lovely Wife suggested I go down the route of a tried and tested. After all, she advised that I wouldn't want to make something that might not turnout well. In her infinite wisdom (and good looks too!) The Lovely Wife suggested that I should make my version of Le Kit Cat that I had made some time ago for her friends. That is one seriously lovely dessert.

The Lovely Wife made a lot of sense. However, I realised that there is a serious problem with having a food blog. It's really difficult keeping it 'alive' as that means knew recipes and posts have to be added in all the time! The upside to having a food blog though is that I keep challenging myself to come up with new recipes and this means that not only do I keep broadening my horizons, it also means that the kids and The Lovely Wife get to keep trying out new foods.

So with that in mind, I decided that I would HAVE to make something new. Sometimes the best new thing to do is to combine a few elements made from other recipes and come up with a completely knew when. That's what I did and I came up with Le Snick Snack - my own take on a Snickers Bar but made as a dessert!







Snickers is probably one of our favourite chocolate bars. Whenever we are feeling like a chocolate fix and pop in to the nearby petrol station or supermarket, we always end up getting either a Snickers Bar or a Kit Kat. So, since I already know how to make a Kit Kat dessert, it was time to make a Snickers Dessert.

Base:
3 Eggs whites
150 g castor sugar
150 g ground almonds
Make the base. Line a 9" Springform pan with baking paper. Whisk eggs whites till foamy and then add in sugar and whisk till stiff. Fold in ground almonds. Spread meringue mixture into springform and bake in preheated 170C oven for about 40 minutes or till meringue is cooked. Remove from oven and cool slightly. Remove springform and greaseproof paper from meringue. Allow to fully cool then replace into springform.

Caramel Layer
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup (250 g) whipping cream
¼ cup (50 g) butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour

In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the whipping cream and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.
5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake at 160C for 25 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Top Layer:
400 ml whipping cream
200g good quality dark chocolate
3 egg yolks
2 tbsp Sugar
1 Tbsp Crème de Cacao
100g Peanuts

For the top layer, melt the chocolate over a double boiler on low heat. While chocolate is melting, whisk the egg yolks with the sugar and quickly add into the melted chocolate. Remove from heat and continue whisking till smooth. If chocolate becomes clumpy, add in a little warm cream. Add in the Creme de Cacao. Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Fold a little of the whipped cream into the chocolate, then fold in the remaining cream.

Sprinkle the peanuts over the caramel layer then spoon over the Chocolate mousse and smoothen the top. Chill for at least 4 hours or preferably overnight.

It all sounds rather cumbersome and complicated but if you break it down into it's individual elements it really isn't all that bad. There were a few lessons that were learnt along the way that I will attempt to improve when I make this again.



Firstly, the caramel layer leaked a little down the sides of the meringue so the caramel layer wasn't quite thick enough or well defined. I suppose maybe I should keep the pan lined until after the caramel has been baked. Or maybe make a casing of meringue so the caramel cant leak down the sides. Another thing I would do differently is to add the peanuts into the caramel mixture rather than sprinkling it on top. You can see all the layers above. The almond meringue base, the caramel centre with peanuts and the choc mousse on top. Kind of looks like a Snickers Bar doesn't it!!


Having said all that however, the dessert was absolutely delicious and tasted quite like a snickers bar - only more luxurious and fancy schmancy like a great dessert should! All our guests had two servings each and my son was delighted that he got home in time for dessert!

I'll probably make this again some time and when I do, I"ll incorporate the changes and see how that works out.

So...with Kit Kat and now a Snickers Bar converted into desserts, I wonder what other Chocolate Bars I can convert to desserts. Any ideas or suggestions??

Crème Brûlée infused with ginger

Crème Brûlée is something I've always wanted to make. So a few weeks ago, when we had Lynn and Tina over for a get together, I decided to make Crème Brûlée. I also wanted to use my kitchen blowtorch that I had bought some time ago. I'd used the torch for briefly searing tomatoes and peppers but nothing really fancy. I'd actually bought the torch for desserts like Crème Brûlée so this was a perfect excuse to make the dessert and use the torch!

The Lovely Wife had mentioned that one of her friends had told her about this fabulous Ginger flavoured Crème Brûlée at some restaurant. A couple of weeks earlier, we had tried the Ginger Creme Brulee over lunch at a Vietnamese restaurant. It was a big disappointment as the custard was lumpy and runny at the same time. The flavours though were really quite good.



I adapted a recipe I found in the Readers Digest Your Cooking Questions Answered - one of The Lovely Wife's favourite cookbooks. This is what I did:

Ingredients
600ml Whipping Cream
2 tsp Vanilla Essence
4 large egg yolks (or 5 medium egg yolks)
125g Caster Sugar
3 tsps ground ginger
Method
Preheat oven to 150C. Heat the cream with the vanilla and ginger until just boiling. Remove from heat and allow the ginger to infuse into the cream.
Beat the egg yolks with half the sugar until thick and creamy. Temper the yolks with a little cream and then whisk in the cream ensuring that the yolks dont curdle. Pour the custard into 6 ramekins.
Put the ramekins in a baking pan and pour in enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake for at least one hour or until set.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool before refrigerating for several hours, preferably overnight.
Before serving, sprinkle the tops with the remaining sugar and then caramelise the sugar with a cooking torch. Serve immediately.

[If you dont have a torch, place the sugar covered custard under a very hot grill until the sugae caramelises. Chill again for a few hours or the custard creams will be hot]

To say that this was delicious would be somewhat of an understatement. The ginger flavour of the Creme Brulee was lovely. I was in a bit of a rush and the custards didnt set as well as I had hoped, with the centre a little runny. I think that was partially due to the eggs being slightly smaller than usual. Also, I think it would need to be baked for a while longer to set really well.

Nonetheless, the custard turned out rather well and I was most pleased with the caramel layer. It was crisp and full of flavour and it was a lot of fun cracking the crust and digging into the smooth custard underneath.



A lovely dessert, very professional looking and really yummy! Something I will definitely make again and the best part of this dessert is the fun using the torch!!

Apple Crumble without the crumble!

I've been having trouble keeping up with my posts of late. There's a backlog of photos in my PC and some recipes I can't even remember. I've said this before and I'll keep saying it. Life gets in the way sometimes...

Time is always something that one never has enough off. Another thing that one can never get enough off is desserts! Just the other day, the kids asked The Lovely Wife if she could make them some Apple Crumble as she does make a mean Apple Crumble. She replied that Apple Crumble was only nice with Ice Cream and since both of them were having a little bit of a cough, The Lovely Wife said it wouldn't be such a good idea.

Now I have never equated Ice Cream with being bad for a cough or cold but I know a lot of people who subscribe to that thought that cold things are not good for coughs and colds. So no iced water, no cold drinks and no Ice Cream.

So rather than argue with The Lovely Wife, and risk giving the kids Ice Cream and finding that they DID get sick, I decided I'd just make them a dessert to enjoy after lunch. Apple Crumble without the Crumble!




I quickly pared and halved some Granny Smith apples and dusted them with a load of cinammon and brown sugar. I then left them to bake in the oven while I whizzed up some Caramel. As soon as the caramel was nice and amber, I pulled the pan out of the oven, poured the caramel over it and let the apples bake a little longer till they were nice and tender.

Ingredients
4 Granny Smith Apples - pared, cored and halved
2 tsps Cinammon
4 tsps Brown Sugar

5 Tbsp Castor Sugar
2 Tbsp water

Method
Coat the apples in the mixture of brown sugar and cinnamon. Place in a baking dish and bake in a 220C oven for about 15 minutes. Meanwhile, make the caramel by heating the sugar and water till the mixture caramelises. Quickly remove the baking dish and pour the caramel over the apples. Return to the oven and bake for another 10 minutes or till apples are tender. Take care not to overbake or the apples will lose their shape and become mushy.

The kids were happy to have their dessert and they loved the caramel goodness over the tart taste of the apples. The cinnamon and sugar gave it a lovely aroma and taste as well while the juices from the apples mixed really well with the caramel.



I only regret not making more of this as the kids really, really enjoyed it. Best thing is, this would go really well with Ice Cream too. Maybe the next time when The Lovely Wife isn't around...or maybe I should just make sure they don't have a cough!

Caramel Pears

It's amazing that I haven't posted about this before, because for a long, long time, this was my son's Favourite Dessert. I can't even remember when I hit upon the idea of serving pears with caramel but suffice to say that I did and the very first time, I used canned pears. However, as time went on, I tried it with fresh pears and I must say it is far nicer with Fresh pears. The pears are not so sweet and you can also get a little crunch out of them as opposed to canned pears.

This dessert is not at all difficult yet turns out to be a real crown pleaser. This is what I do.

Ingredients
6 fresh pears, peeled, cored and halved
300 ml cream
1 cup sugar
½ cup water
2 tsp rum (optional)


Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C.
Make the caramel by melting sugar with water in a heavy saucepan.
Bring to the boil without stirring and continue boiling till sides of syrup start to turn golden.
Allow the caramel to cool slightly and then add in the cream. Be careful as the mixture will splutter. Continue to boil until it becomes thick.
Bake the pears for about 30 minutes or until tender.
Spread 1/3 of the caramel over the pears and bake for another 15 minutes. If using rum, add it into the remaining sauce and mix well.
Serve the pears with the remaining sauce.



I usually serve my Caramel Pears with whipped cream but this time I decided on serving it with Ice Cream. To be honest, I cant quite remember when this was served but that doesn't really matter, does it!





My son now says that this is ONE of his favourite desserts and that to me is a good thing as it simply means that he his tastes have matured a bit and it also means that both The Lovely Wife and I have increased choices to make our children happy with their favourite desserts!

Pear Pudding with Caramel Sauce

One thing about food blogging is that sometimes, you make something, take all the pictures but just keep delaying posting about it. This is one of those times and although this was made more than 6 months ago, I just failed to post it!

Good thing I had uploaded the photos though as my PC has been on the blink for the past week. I have a backup 'ol dinosaur' pc which I am using to update this post but would you know, the 'ol dino' is giving some problems as well... So that kind of explains my silence. I'm really struggling without my home PC but I guess I'm getting by with a little help form 'Ol Dino'!




This recipe comes from an old cookbook I own called Indulgence Food. The recipe is actually for a Steamed Pear Pudding with Caramel Sauce but I baked it instead. This is how the recipe goes with my modification of baking:

Ingredients
3 pears
125ml water
1.5 tbsp sugar
45g butter
3 tbsps caster sugar
2 eggs
90g self raising flour
4 tbsp milk

Caramel Sauce
185g sugar
3 tbsp water
45 g butter
155 ml whipping cream

Method
Peel, core and finely chop the pears. Place pears, water and sugar in a pan and cook over medium heat for about 10 minutes or till pears are just tender. Set aside.
Cream butter and caster sugar till pale and fluffy. Add eggs and beat well. Sift flour over mixtrue and fold in with milk.
Strain pears and fold into puidding mixture. Pour into a 9" srpingform pan. Bake in a preheated 180C oven for about an hour or till done.
Make the caramel sauce by placing sugar and water in a saucepan. Cook until sugar dissolves and then caramelsies into a deep amber culler. Remove from heat. Add in butter a little at a time. Return to heat, add in cream and contiunue cooking till smooth.



One of my son's favourite desserts is Caramelised Pears (not sure if I've posted about these...) so he absolutely loved this cake! I served it with Ice Cream and it was quite a lovely dessert!

James Bond Returns - Quantum of Caramel

Firstly, I'm sorry I had to miss last month's Pizza Toss but October was just to busy for me.

Secondly, This post is extra special because not only am I a November Baby, but TODAY is my actual Birthday. So HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Me!!

Now on to the Bond Story.....but not without the required warning:

PG

The following story is Rated PG - Parental Guidance is Suggested. Some material may not be suitable for Children, Prudes or Fuddy-Duddies. [With Apologies to Ian Fleming - once again!]

“This just came in M.” The handsome young man, (playing a bit part that required no name) handed a document over to the head of MI6.

M took a look at the document and frowned. Pressing a button on the red telephone she barked into the phone. “Moneypenny, get me Bond. Yes! Double O Seven - On the double.” She smiled to herself at her little play on words. Its no wonder she was the head of MI6.




Bond quickly grabbed his beeping wrist watch as he glanced quickly at the lovely woman lying naked beside him. Good, she was still asleep. He pressed a few buttons on his watch to decode his secret message.

007 summoned by M - OTD

Bond sighed and started to get dressed. OTD meant On The Double which meant that he couldn’t have his way with the woman again. At least he was thankful that in all his years with MI6, he had never had to leave a naked woman in bed that was still awake. Dead maybe, but never awake. Quietly he snuck out the door, regretting for a brief moment his dedication to the job. Not to mention to Queen and country.

** *** **

“About bloody time Bond!” M said as she gave Bond a cursory glance. “We’ve been issued a challenge. The other agencies seem to want to pit their best against ours. Sad to say that You… seem to be our best.”

“But of course M, however, I’m not quite sure I follow you.”

“It’s quite simple really Bond. The Mossad and KGB have issued a challenge that the CIA have taken up. Matter of fact, the Americans have thrown in their FBI and Secret Service into the fray as well. More chances of them winning you see.” M explained.

“Yes, I see. Everyone wants to win. I saw a movie recently where there was this song, something from Abba – The winner takes it all – I think it was.”

“Mamma Mia, Bond.” M replied

“What’s wrong with your mother M?”

“The name of the movie Bond! Mamma Mia! That’s the name of the movie, but stop digressing. You seem to have an awful habit of doing that off late!” M rolled her eyes upward.

“Ah yes. Sorry. So please. Tell me more about this challenge.”

“It’s all here in this dossier Bond. Read it well. Suffice to say that it involves baking a cake. You just need to make the cake and ice it successfully. It seems to be a rather complicated recipe and one that is prone to failure. Apparently the KGB, the Mossad and all those American agencies have got some very talented, not to mention gorgeous, women to do the baking and you are up against them. The pride of Britain and of HRH the Queen is at stake here.” M said.

“Hmmm.” Bond exhaled deeply while rubbing his chin. “Baking eh? Competing with gorgeous women eh? This just might be fun.”

“Well just make sure you don’t fail. And keep your fingers to yourself Bond, as well as your other appendages. We all know your reputation. Now go and get this done. Dismissed.”

Bond left the office and boarded the subway. With the economy the way it was, his Aston Martin had been taken back. He read and re-read the recipe on his way home. It seemed fairly straightforward although the notes said that this was quite a difficult cake to make. There was something in the notes that said getting this cake to bake is about balancing fat with acid and protein JUST RIGHT.

Well, Bond had a degree in Engineering so he Should know something about incorporating his technical knowledge into baking a cake. Bond decided that he would jump straight into it. Well, tomorrow morning anyway.

** **** **

Since Bond decided he worked best in the early hours of the morning, he woke early and checked his recipe once again. He decided he would start on the caramel first simply because the caramel needed to be cooled and also due to the fact that there were no eggs in the house…

Bond heated the sugar and water carefully, cooking it till it became a lovely dark amber. He smiled to himself as he thought of Amber, the lovely Australian girl. He then poured in the cup of water, quickly stepping back as he gleefully watched it sputter and spatter while making loud gurgling noises. The spluttering and splattering reminded him of the Russian Submarine he had blown up during the days of the Cold War while the gurgling reminded him of that lovely Russian scientist … ah, such fond memories.


James Bond whisked the mixture over medium heat till it thickened slightly. As he left it to cool, the Lovely Woman he had spent the night with came down the stairs. Bond gave her a quick once over. She looked so much better in lingerie but he had to admit she still looked stunning in just a pair of shorts and a t-shirt.

“I need some eggs.” Bond said matter of factly as he eyed her bosom under the tight t-shirt.
“Well, why don’t you come to the market with me?” she said with a slight pout of her lips. “After all, we do need some groceries and I am staying over for a few days.”

Bond followed the lithesome woman out the door, appreciating the swell of her buttocks and the sensual sway of her hips. He winced at how times had changed though. He much preferred the days of old where women would do the marketing and the cleaning and well, just everything. Now there was even a Female head of MI6 and he – James Bond, Agent 007, the finest Britain had to offer – was forced to take part in a challenge. A Baking Challenge at that. To add insult to injury, he had to go to the market as well. How Shocking!

In hindsight though, it was a good thing that Bond went along to the market too. He had forgotten that he was out of Vanilla Extract as well. On their return from the market, James was ready to begin making the cake. He decided that since getting the proper amount of air into the batter seemed to be critical, he would use his trusted Hand Mixer instead of the hi-tech Kenwood mixer. There was somehow so much more control with a hand mixer. The batter whipped up beautifully and Bond used his spatula to give the batter a few folds. He poured it into the prepared tin and left it to bake – noting that he would need to turn the pan after a while. The cake rose very well and Bond felt a surge of pride as he took the cake out of the oven to allow it to cool.



“There’s a reason I’m the best of Britain.” He thought to himself rather smugly as he did his oft repeated trick of posing with his pretend gun formed out of his thumb and forefinger.

While wating for the cake to cool. Bond made the icing or, as he noted, ‘frosting’ as the Americans called it. First thing to do was to ‘brown the butter’. That sounded rather racist to Bond. Even his travels to far and exotic places and his many encounters with women of - how should he put it - various degrees of tan, he had never seen brown butter. He smiled and almost laughed aloud as he suddenly remembered this one lovely woman he had met at an embassy function. She was an operative from Kenya with the Codename ‘Butter’. Now that would give Brown Butter a whole new meaning…

“Concentrate Bond.” He reminded himself as he watched the butter bubbling in the pan. He quickly took it off the fire and strained it into a bowl to stop the cooking process. Indeed, the butter had turned a lovely brown and had a wonderful nutty fragrance. The fragrance surprisingly reminded him of Butter – the lovely operative from Kenya.

While waiting for the butter to cool, Bond sifted out the icing sugar, noting once again that the American’s called it Confectionary Sugar. “Why oh why did Britain ever give up America”, he thought to himself rather sadly. “The whole world would be so much simpler. Everyone would use Icing sugar to make Icing rather than some parts of the world using Confectionary Sugar to make Frosting.”

Bond suddenly realised that M was right. He did have a habit of digressing. Must be his old age. Getting back to the icing, he poured the butter into a mixing bowl and then added the icing sugar a little at a time till the mixture was really chunky. Then he added some caramel, more sugar and then more caramel together with a dash of cream till all the sugar was used up.

He tasted the icing and although it was delicious, is was rather sweet. A tad too sweet for Bond’s liking. “Perhaps it will taste better once it’s combined with the cake,” he thought to himself.

Bond proceeded to ice the cake and for a brief moment he considered decorating it. Actually he had planned to use sliced canned pears to decorate the cake but since he found the icing too sweet, he decided against it. He was tempted to taste the cake but decided it would be prudent to take it back to M and let her have first pickings.




** **** **

“Remarkable cake Bond. You;’ve done well.” Said M. “It would have been better if you had decorated it somewhat but never mind. Lets see how it looks inside. We’ll let our official tasters cut the cake and taste it. We’ll try it too.”



The Officials cut the cake and proceeded to test it. M took a slice too as did Moneypenny and Q.



“Its rather sweet Bond.” M remarked

“I”d have to agree M. In my defence, I followed the recipe, just as I was supposed to.” Bond replied, stuffing his face with cake

“Let me have a look Bond. There, you see? There’s a variable for how much caramel you need to put into the icing. Pay attention Bond, after all, its simply a matter of the Quantum of Caramel…..”




I hope you enjoyed my little Bond story - the second time Bond has appeared in the Daring Bakers. This month, the challenge was hosted by my good friend Dolores from Culinary Curiosity ably assisted by her co-hosts
Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo ) and
Jenny of Foray into Food
As usual, for alternative baking help, Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go provided support.

The recipe is an original from Shuna Fish Lydon of Eggbeater with her signature caramel cake.




Like Bond and M, we all found the cake a tad too sweet. I took some in to work as well and my colleagues also said that although delicious, it was certainly on the sweet side. Nonetheless, it was an amazing cake as the texture was just lovely. I think if I make it again, I will not ice it or maybe try an icing that is less sweet.

Caramel Custard

Another recipe that has been passed on to me by my Grandmother is her famous Caramel Custard. It is no surprise therefore, that this is my Father's favourite dessert. The Lovely Wife simply adores my Grandmother's version as well. Unlike most Caramel Custards, this version is steamed and and produces a lighter and somewhat fluffier custard.

As a child, whenever we were sick, my Grandmother used to advocate making this custard as not only was it nutritious (because of the eggs) but it was easy to swallow and tasted delicious too!

Nowadays, we dont need any excuse to eat it. This is the recipe:

For the Caramel
5 Tbsp Sugar
2 tbsp water

For the Custard
4 Eggs
1 Tin Evaporated milk
1 Tin water
4 Tbsp Sugar
2 tsp vanilla

*You can use fresh milk too if you want. Leave out the Tin of evaporated milk and water and substitute with 700ml milk

Method
• Put sugar and water into a heavy pan and place over high heat
• Stir till sugar melts and then leave to boil
• Sugar will caramelise – the edges will start to turn golden.
• Start stirring to ensure all sugar is caramelised. Mixture should be a dark golden colour. Take care not to burn as caramel will then be bitter
• Pour into a 8” Pan that can be steamed
• Mix eggs and sugar. Don’t beat too much as this will cause the eggs to froth and cause too many air bubbles.
• Add in Evaporated Milk and mix well.
• Fill the tin with water and add in. Mix well
• Pour custard into the pan containing the caramel
• Steam for about ½ hour or till custard is firm. The custard will be wobbly as the caramel underneath has turned liquid
• Chill for 3-4 hours




Not surprisingly, Caramel Custard has become one of the kids favourite desserts as well.

Usually we just scoop the custard out of the pan but if you are serving it as a dessert, just turn it out onto a nice wide, flat dish. Some of the custard may stick to the pan but I think this just gives it that nice home-made look!

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart

It's Daring Bakers Challenge time again!!
This is my second month in this group and thus my second official challenge. I must say that it is turning out to be a really interesting group and I'm having a lot of fun.

Only problem is that my weight has gained with all this dessert making. My wife has asked if the DB's can stop issuing dessert challenges.... :)

Anyway, this months challenge was issued by Veronica and Patricia and is really up my alley. I love anything to do with Chocolate and I've also had plenty of experience making Caramel. So when I saw the challenge for this month, I lifted my haughty little nose into the air, gave a snort and did my arrogant rooster shuffle. (it's really quite a sight to behold...!!)

August has been a particularly busy month with most of my weekends taken up. Anyway, I finally decided to do this challenge on the weekend of 18 August. The recipe specifically said that the dough needed to be prepared a day ahead. And so it came to pass (yeah, I love that line) that on the Friday evening after work, I prepared the dough..... and that was when my nose started to angle sharply downwards in humility.

Firstly, I didn't understand why a dough needs to be prepared in advance. Why not just prepare the dough and bake it straight off I asked myself haughtily (while still doing my rooster shuffle)... I even asked around on the DB blog but I didnt read the answer that would provide assistance till after I had made the challenge.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, I was expecting a thick sort of dough. You know, the sort of dough that you get with ready made Shortcrust pastry. But no! This dough was like cookie dough - in fact even a little like cake dough. To complicate matters, the shortcrust recipe was for 3 tarts and so I halved it. It was just so soft and mushy I figured I HAD to have done something wrong. The rooster has just left the building....

I contemplated adding some flour to the dough but I thought I'd just stick to the recipe and have some faith. So I worked the dough into a ball and chucked it into the fridge.

The next morning I woke early since I couldn't sleep thinking about the tart - she was mystically beautiful with pouted lips and seductively swaying hips - Oh sorry, I meant the Chocolate Caramel Tart! Hehehehehehe. :)

So while everyone was asleep, I took the dough out of the fridge and found it had hardened. I rolled half of it out and lined the fluted flan pan that I had decided to use. This was another 'headache' for me. I realised that the pan would probably be too thin for the tart but at the same time, I wanted something that looked nice. I didn't fancy making it in a springform pan or a square pan either so I chose the fluted flan pan. (I actually also like the sound of that - fluted flan pan - reminds me of a fancy Peter Pan kind of thing, but I digress)

The pan lined well and I docked the dough all over before covering it with greaseproof paper and filling it with red beans to bake it blind. I shoved it in the oven to bake and then took it out after the required time. I hastily poured out the red beans and then peeled of the baking paper. The crust was lovely! The rooster was back!



While the crust was cooling, I made the caramel. I used my trusted method of just adding a few spoons of water to the sugar and then boiling it till it caramelised. The recipe said that the caramel should be made by the Dry Method but Veron had allowed this to be deviated. I added the cream after letting the caramel cool a little. This caused the caramel to harden a little but I had expected this. A little stirring over heat and everything combined nicely again. I then added the eggs and flour. No problems there.


It was time to fill the pan and it was then that I realised that I would have a lot of caramel left over. Even after filling the flan pan half full, there was still a fair amount of caramel left over.

Next step was to bake the caramel-egg mixture and again this was no problem. I baked it for about 20 minutes - slightly longer than the recipe stated - on the advice of other DBs who had said it didnt really set.

While the tart was baking, I made the mousse, again with little problem. One thing I would do differently if I make this again, would be to chill the caramel filled tart before covering with the mousse to allow the caramel to set up properly rather than just cooling it. When I tried to put the mousse on, the caramel layer was still a little soft and started to break a little when I spread the mousse over it. So... I decided to pipe the mousse on and then smoothen it out.

With lots of caramel left over as well as mousse, not to mention shortcrust dough, I decided to make mini tarts. These turned out rather well too!



Finally, to finish off the dough, I made shortcrust cookies.



Taste wise it was a little sweet but still very delicious. Some of the DBs had commented that the cinammon in the crust was a tad overpowering so I reduced it a little. I found that I like the slight cinammon aftertaste that it created. The melding of Chocolate and Caramel flavours was wonderful and combined nicely with the nutty crust. I think I got my layers right even though they may have been slightly on the thin side. I think any thicker and the dessert would be cloying.




The wife and kids loved the dessert although they too felt that it was a little sweet and would be much, much better with Dark chocolate rather than milk. I tend to agree. This however didnt deter them from finishing off half the tart after dinner!
Just look at my two darlings stuffing their faces on their Second Serving of Chocolate Tart - too immersed in eating to even smile!



All in all, yet another very satisfying Daring Bakers challenge. Check out the rest of the Daring Bakers and more information about the group at .
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This is the recipe that was given to us and in the spirit of the Daring Bakers, we HAD to follow:

Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart (by Eric Kayser)
Preparation time: 40 minutes
Baking Time: 30 minutes
Refrigeration time: 1 hour
One 9-inch(24-cm) square pan; 1 10-inch (26-cm) round baking pan

Ingredients
½ lb (250 g) chocolate shortbread pastry (see recipe below)
1 ½ cups (300 g) granulated sugar
1 cup (250 g) heavy cream (30-40 percent butterfat) or crème fraiche
¼ cup (50 g) butter
2 whole eggs
1 egg yolk
2 ½ tablespoons (15 g) flour
1 ¼ cups (300 g) whipping cream
½ lb (250 g) milk chocolate

1. Preheat oven to 325 °F (160 °C).
2. Line the baking pan with the chocolate shortbread pastry and bake blind for 15 minutes.
3. In a saucepan, caramelize 1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar using the dry method until it turns a golden caramel color. Incorporate the heavy cream or crème fraiche and then add butter. Mix thoroughly. Set aside to cool.
4. In a mixing bowl, beat the whole eggs with the extra egg yolk, then incorporate the flour.
5. Pour this into the cream-caramel mixture and mix thoroughly.
6. Spread it out in the tart shell and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool.
7. Prepare the milk chocolate mousse: beat the whipping cream until stiff. Melt the milk chocolate in the microwave or in a bain-marie, and fold it gently into the whipped cream.
8. Pour the chocolate mousse over the cooled caramel mixture, smoothing it with a spatula. Chill for one hour in the refrigerator.

To decorate: melt ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar in a saucepan until it reaches an amber color. Pour it onto waxed paper laid out on a flat surface. Leave to cool. Break it into small fragments and stick them lightly into the top of the tart.

Chocolate Shortbread Pastry

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Refrigeration :overnight
To make 3 tarts, 9 ½ inches (24 cm) square
or 10 inches (26 cm round)

Ingredients:
1 cup (250g ) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (150 g) confectioners’ sugar
½ cup (50 g) ground hazelnuts
2 level teaspoons (5 g) ground cinnamon
2 eggs
4 ½ cups (400 g) cake flour
2 ½ teaspoons (10 g) baking powder
1 ½ tablespoons (10 g) cocoa powder

A day ahead
1. In a mixing bowl of a food processor, cream the butter.
2. Add the confectioners’ sugar, the ground hazelnuts, and the cinnamon, and mix together
3. Add the eggs, one by one, mixing constantly
4. Sift in the flour, the baking powder, and the cocoa powder, and mix well.
5. Form a ball with the dough, cover in plastic wrap, and chill overnight.