March 9, 2013

Baking | Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau … deep, dark, delicious & flour-less!

“If chocolate is the answer, the question is irrelevant.”

The Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau came about 3 days ago. I ~~needed to~~ wanted to bake a cake for our anniversary. There was inspiration aplenty with fresh strawberries from a recent trip to the Baramati vineyards near Pune urging me to do something. Preferably something good. The cake is a result of the many ideas that were brimming in my crowded head.

My thoughts included something chocolate, definitely dark chocolate. Also something flourless as I attempt to cut back on flour and carbs. Almond meal was a choice, but that funnily that didn’t happen even though I love baking with almond meal. Pistachios got included because some good folk sent me a bag to taste.

Homemade mascarpone increasingly a natural choice as it is far better behaved than the low fat cream that we get here. It obliges in charming way, so I made a batch the previous night. Balsamic strawberries came around in an attempt to stop my recent shopping from spoilage as the mercury rises! And finally, the meringue on top because I find the effect quite captivating and whimsical. I’ve done a Chocolate Meringue Strawberry Cream Slice and Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake in the past, so I know the combination and technique work well. This time around the almonds were replaced with pistachio slivers, the play of colours quite intriguing.

Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau Needed a mood uplift as I have been feeling rather unaccomplished of late. Too much work = too much stress = no time for fun stuff. This gateau was fun!

It’s a cake as simple as it gets. No flour, so no gluten. The texture is rich and moist. Eggs, sugar, chocolate and a little water is all it takes. I threw in some pure vanilla extract too.

A meringue on top always bakes up rustic pretty. Slivered nuts like almonds or pistachios add to the charm. The play of colours is visually uplifting as well. If your meringue begins to colour up too quick, tent it with some foil. My oven uses just the lower element for baking so the top is safe.

Mr PAB was amazed at the cake; couldn’t believe that it was flour-less. Praised it endlessly and thought I was a magician! I did feel quite accomplished eventually even though there are plenty of flour-less cakes around. A bonus is that this one has no butter!

It turned out to be a pretty cake. Pretty delicious too! Moist, dark, deep, chocolaty, indulgent, fruity, therapeutic, flour-less, sans butter … and fun!

Recipe: Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau

Summary: The Gluten Free Dark Chocolate Strawberry Mascarpone Gateau is a cake as simple as it gets. No flour and no butter. The texture is rich and moist, since eggs, sugar and chocolate {and a little water} is all it takes. A pretty cake. Pretty delicious too! Moist, dark, deep, chocolaty, indulgent, fruity, therapeutic, flourless, sans butter … and fun!

Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 1 hour Ingredients:

Dark chocolate Cake
Makes 2 8″ layers
7 eggs, separated
200g vanilla or granulated sugar
200g dark chocolate, melted
1tbsp vanilla extract
2tbsp hot water
Balsamic Strawberries
200gms fresh strawberries
30ml good quality balsamic vinegar
100g granular sugar
1 vanilla bean {optional}
Filling
100g low fat cream, chilled
150g mascapone, chilled
30-45g powdered sugar {as per taste}
50g pistachios, chopped {and a few slivered for meringue topping}

Method:

Dark chocolate Cake
Preheat the oven to 180C. Line the base and sides of 2 8″ springform tin {I used 8″ dessert rings}
In a large clean bowl whip the 6 egg whites until stiff, reserve.
In another large bowl, beat the 7 yolks with 180g sugar until pale, creamy and mousse like, 5-7 minutes on high speed.
Beat in the vanilla extract, then whisk in the melted chocolate and hot water
Gently fold the egg whites into the yolk mixture. Divide between two 8″ baking tins.
Beat the remaining egg white with 20g powdered sugar to stiff peaks, and gently spread over the batter of one layer. Sprinkle with slivered pistachios.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes until slightly firm to touch and a tester comes out with a few cumbs hanging/ barely moist. The meringue topped layer might take a little longer, about 7-10 minutes more.
Cool completely in tin.
Balsamic Strawberries {make ahead and cool}
Place strawberries, sugar, scraped vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer until the strawberries just become soft, still holding their shape.
Strain strawberries out into a large bowl.
Return the liquid back to the pan and simmer until it reduces to a thick syrup. Discard vanilla bean if using, and pour syrup over reserved strawberries. Cool completely, then chill. {Can be made 1-2 days ahead}
Filling
Whip all ingredients to stiff peaks just prior to assembling cake.
Assemble
Place the layer without the meringue on the serving platter within a dessert ring.
Top with a few tbsp of balsamic strawberries followed by the whipped mascarpone filling. Top with some more balsamic strawberries.
Place the second layer over the filling, and gently press into place. Chill for at least an hour or overnight. Then demold.
Sprinkle over with powdered sugar and top with fresh sliced strawberries. Chill until ready to serve.

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November 27, 2011

Baking| Filipino Sans Rival Cake … Daring Bakers get deliciously indulgent!

“Life is uncertain. Eat cake first.”
Ernestine Ulmer

When they say butter makes things better, I never rival the thought. Even though I try and keep the butter under check most of the time, give me an utterly buttery challenge like this Filipino Sans Rival Cake, and I’m all game. This sort of indulgence can only be good indulgence, and of the unrivaled sorts!I happily got Novembers DB challenge moving pretty soon as it was a cake, and this is my birthday month. Time to lavish myself with love, I would have normally reached for my jar of coffee and immersed myself in a coffee cake. This time though it was reason enough to change my mind as I love the window on other food cultures, and a Filipino dessert was truly something intriguing.

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.“Sans rival” means “without rival” and any Filipino will argue hat this is true. Although it’s one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines, its origins are certainly French. In the 1920’s to 30’s there were many Filipinos who went abroad to study. A good number went to France and learned many French cooking techniques which they then brought home. A Sans Rival is made with layers of dacquoise, typically using crushed cashews, with very rich French buttercream frosting. The dacquoise is allowed to bake and dry to a crispy layer so that there is the crunch of pastry and nuts with the buttery, silky frosting.

I absolutely love the idea of crisp meringue and have baked quite a few before … Apple Brown Sugar Meringue Pies, Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake, Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse & Preserved Stone Fruit, Tropical Fruit Pavlova, Chocolate Meringue Strawberry Cream Slice, Chocolate Coffee Almond Meringue Cake … and now this challenge!A Sans Rival is traditionally made with cashews, and though I would have loved to go the cashew way, I had plenty of almonds and pistachios {my favourite nuts} on hand, so decided to use a combination of both. I also chose to stick to a non chocolate version, even though I was VERY tempted to make a chocolate buttercream.The dacquoise took the better part of the morning to make, what with laundry, kids at home and much more distraction than warranted, yet most of the hard work belonged to the oven. Did I tell you that parchment paper must be the best thing invented by man for bakers? I ALWAYS marvel at its properties, and of late, it is usually the only thing on my shopping list for folk visiting from overseas. It isn’t available locally here.This was an indulgent good cake and just seemed to get better with every nibble. The nutty meringue complimented the rich vanilla buttercream ever so beautifully and the meeting of textures was delicious. Once layered and rested overnight, the now slightly chewy meringue and the satiny vanilla buttercream created magic, the specks of vanilla adding to the beauty!

It was worth the effort and a wonderful birthday cake for me! We loved it and it got over pretty soon, despite the fact that it was rich and calorie laden! It was one of those cakes that must be made to experience the variety that the world of pastry and cakes might offer … a beautiful balance of taste and texture. It was a good birthday! The ‘not-so-terrible-anymore’ teen made me this beautiful picture as a gift, black and white in ink. She spent 3 days doing it, while the ‘now-beginning-to-get-terrible’ lad made me a ‘wired up‘ card, complete with a circuit and batteries, where the eyes lit up when you pressed the tongue, and wrote a little verse too! I gave myself a cookbook {read yet another cookbook} … One More Slice! I could do with one more slice of the Sans Rival now though … it was that good!

Thank you Catherine for an outstanding daring challenge; it was a beautiful one, very fulfilling. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the gorgeous unrivaled cakes our other daring bakers have created!

Sans Rival Cake

Prep Time: 1 hour

Bake Time: 2 hours

Total Time: 3 hours

Yield: 1 9\" cake

Serves 12

Sans Rival Cake is a traditional Filipino dessert. It has crisp layers of dacquoise {traditionally cashew} sandwiched with French buttercream.

Ingredients

Almond Pistachio Dacquoise

10 large egg whites, room temp

225 gm white granulated sugar

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

190gm almonds

50gm pistachios

French Vanilla Buttercream

5 large egg yolks, room temperature

225 gm white granulated sugar

60 ml water

285 gm unsalted butter, room temperature

1 vanilla bean, scraped

Instructions

Almond Pistachio Dacquoise

Preheat oven to moderate 160°C.
Draw 9" circles on parchment paperl.
In a really large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins.). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)
Fold in nuts, reserving enough to use for decoration.
Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread over the drawn out circles, evenly to edges. If doing batches, use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch. {I divided it oven 5 circles}
Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.{Mine took almost 45-50 minutes as I baked 2 at a time} Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.

French Vanilla Buttercream

Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 235°F/112°C (or thread stage).
With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add flavoring after you beat in the butter. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Sans Rival Assembly

Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts.
Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. {May freeze.}

http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/11/baking-filipino-sans-rival-cake-daring-bakers-get-deliciously-indulgent.html

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There are Macys coupons for showpiece tableware.

Posted: November 27, 2011 by Deeba @ PAB |Filed Under: Baking | Cake | DARING BAKERS | Dessert | almonds, baking, birthday, cake, Daring Bakers, dessert, Filipino, food, French, holiday baking, meringue, pistachios, recipes, Sans Rival, sweet, traditional 55 Comments

November 15, 2011

Baking| Perfect Pumpkin Pie … and simple too {#getsmart}

“Vegetables are a must on a diet. I suggest carrot cake, zucchini bread, and pumpkin pie.”
Jim Davis

India is pretty much pumpkin country, the yellow and rather mellow squash that you will find around every nook and corner all year through, a vegetable I looked at rather disdainfully until I made my first Praline Pumpkin Pie 2 years ago. The lad nudges me this time every year to remind me he l♥ves it! This one is for him – a Perfect Pumpkin Pie.Mentally conditioned by food blogs, lovely pumpkin posts painting the net in a orange hue, I eagerly await fall. It makes me look at the pumpkin in wonder, a rather underestimated veggie, yet one that holds a lot of promise. The beautiful flavour of the pumpkin soup I shared with Jamie in London holds a special connect. It was the company, the atmosphere, the euphoria of that first time we all met. Somewhere in the middle of all this, the humble pumpkin got an even more elevated status in my life!I made soup last year, and for some silly reason it never got blogged. This pumpkin pie is the result of inspiration out of the blue. I saw a mail in my inbox saying ‘If you had two extra hours in a day, how would you spend it?‘ … and I thought, hmmm, I wonder!An extra 2 hours for the obsessed baker in me is like an impossible dream. My life seems to run choc-a-bloc morning to night, balancing the fine act of racing through laundry, trying to feed a blog, a brood, a pooch, snatching a few harassed moments to take photographs while the dog is now tall enough to get to table tops {… CUTE as a button too}, grocery {sigh}…and then emails of course!That thought stayed in my mind while I ran the laundry that morning, and teased me while I went to the vegetable vendor, our fabulous sabziwala. Someone was buying pumpkin and the fellow cut a nice bright one for her. That was my cue!Give me 2 extra hours and watch me bake with joy, bake something to fill home with autumnal aromas, pumpkin gently roasting {of course you can buy it canned as well in the rest of the world, but we know no luxuries of the sort in India!}. Much from scratch with this too, I have never had tomatoes or pumpkin out of a can here. I have read though that fresh roasted pumpkin beats the canned one hands down. Got an extra hour? Roast some!

I always have tins of condensed milk on hand after having indulged in this absolutely addictive Vietnamese Coffee Ice Cream from Perfect Scoop. You need less than an hour to make it, need resolve to keep away from the freezer, and finally 10 minutes to polish it off. But if you can grab those two extra hours, then I recommend you head for pie!
The verdict was delicious! The terrible teen screwed up her nose and said “Ewwwwwww …. pumpkin!!,” and then predictably went on to ravenously demolish the slice, and ask for another. There was something about it!! The boy lapped it up … it was his on request after all!!This is a pie right for fall. The filling … silky, smooth and spicy! The crust just right, not too crisp, yet offers a handsome bite, gently teasing the palette with beautiful pistachio flavours and a pleasing texture. I wish I could offer you a slice…it was that good, and it went FAST!

Perfect Pumpkin Pie …with fresh roasted pumpkin puree

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Bake Time: 1 hour, 45 minutes

Total Time: 2 hours

Yield: One 9 inch pie

8-10

Perfect Pumpkin Pie …with fresh roasted pumpkin puree

This is a pie right for fall. The filling … silky, smooth and spicy! The crust just right, not too crisp, yet offers a handsome bite, gently teasing the palette with beautiful pistachio flavours and a pleasing texture. {Filling from Eagle - www.eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=3929&CategoryIndex=11}

Ingredients

Pumpkin puree

600gm pumpkin with peel

2tsp pumpkin pie spice

50gm powdered sugar

Pistachio Pie Crust for 1 9" pie

100gm unsalted butter, chilled, cubed

150gm cups all-purpose flour

2 tbsp sugar

50gm pistachios

1/2 teaspoon salt

2-3 tbsp cold water

Pumpkin Pie Filling

440gm roasted pumpkin puree {recipe above}

1 can condensed milk

2 large eggs

1/2 vanilla bean scraped

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Pumpkin puree

Remove seeds etc of pumpkin {I used a long slice}, wrap in foil and bake at 180C for about 45 minutes.
Once warm enough to handle, peel and chop the roasted pumpkin, add pie spice and sugar and puree. I find that the pie spice gets an enhanced flavour in warm puree and matures well.
Yields about 425-440gms of pumpkin puree {approximately 1 15oz can}

Perfect Pie Crust

Blend flour, pistachios, sugar and salt in processor till nuts are ground very fine, {Thermomix: Speed 8, 7 seconds}
Add butter and blend until you get breadcrumb like mix, and then a little more {2-3 seconds}. Add water, 1 tbsp at a time, and process till the dough begins to hold together when you pinch it. {Thermomix Speed 6, 5 seconds}
Turn onto work surface and pat together gently into a ball {donot overwork dough}
Either roll between 2 sheets of baking parchment to line the pie tin, or push into place with your fingertips. Chill for about 30 minutes.
Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 15 minutes. Cool. {I baked mine in the last 15 minutes while the pumpkin was roasting}

Assembling Pie

Preheat oven to 190C. Whisk pumpkin, sweetened condensed milk, eggs, spices and salt in medium bowl until smooth. Pour into crust. Bake 15 minutes.
Reduce oven temperature to 180C and continue baking 35 to 40 minutes or until knife inserted 1 inch from crust comes out clean. Cool. Garnish as desired. Store leftovers covered in refrigerator.

http://www.passionateaboutbaking.com/2011/11/baking-perfect-pumpkin-pie-and-simple-too.html

And since I had so much extra time, I shot some pictures of out CUTE Coco … she was ‘all eyes’!! Oh to have those extra two hours more often!
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