Category: candy

Darings Bakers Do Shuna Fish Lyndon’s Signature Carmel Cake

Photos by Certain Someone
I was worried about getting this challenge done this month with a vacation and the holiday. But here I am on Black Friday ,waking early not to shop, but bake. This months hostess is the lovely Dolores ,and co hosts Alex, and Jenny. And let us not forget Natalie who always is a huge help in adapting these recipes to Gluten Free versions.This months challenge was by a renown pastry chef, I have to admit I had never heard of. But there is lot I haven’t heard of.Shuna Fish Lyndon is pretty well known for this signature caramel cake in the San Francisco regions. When I saw the challenge I was like Meh?It looked good , but reminded me of cakes friends and family make all time.And there was a additional challenge of making Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich, to accompany. Diabetes runs in my family and that was just a little to much much sugar going on for Glamah’s house. But I need the practice and love Daring Bakers Challenges, so I went with it. I decided to halve the recipe and make a tiny 6 inch cake.Unfortunately I was out of vanilla but had vanilla bean. Reading Shuna’s suggestions to us on the forum about flavorings, I decided to infuse my caramel syrup with a quarter of a pod of vanilla bean with beans scraped out. My caramel syrup kept crystallizing when it cooled down. I don’t know if it was the addition of the vanilla bean( which Shuna warned that additions could alter) or my choice in sugar. I had been using this raw pure cane sugar from Mexico all year, but switched back to Domino ( which they say is cane?). Anyway the batter and frosting came together smoothly once I reheated the syrup. Since my pan was deeper, but smaller, it still used about the same baking time. I iced it and piped some. Dusted some gold lustre, and drizzled some syrup. I don’t know if you can see the black pods from the vanilla in on the surface., but it made a nice speckle. I cut little wedges for Certain Someone and I . He’s not a big dessert eater, but he said it was good. Washed down with an ice cold glass of milk. Judging by some forum talk I hear it gets better even the next day. I thought the same. Not the most exciting challenge, but wholesome and good. Kind of like the way Mommy used to make it.

Shuna Fish Lyndon’s Caramel Cake With Caramelized Butter Frosting
10 Tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 Cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/3 Cup Caramel Syrup (see recipe below)
2 each eggs, at room temperature
splash vanilla extract
2 Cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup milk, at room temperature
Notes from Natalie for those of you baking gluten-free:
So the GF changes to the cake would be:
2 cups of gluten free flour blend (w/xanthan gum) or
2 cups of gf flour blend + 1 1/2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1/2 – 1 tsp baking powder (this would be the recipe amount to the amount it might need to be raised to & I’m going to check)I’ll let you when I get the cake finished, how it turns out and if the baking powder amount needs to be raised.
Preheat oven to 350FButter one tall (2 – 2.5 inch deep) 9-inch cake pan.In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter until smooth. Add sugar and salt & cream until light and fluffy.Slowly pour room temperature caramel syrup into bowl. Scrape down bowl and increase speed. Add eggs/vanilla extract a little at a time, mixing well after each addition. Scrape down bowl again, beat mixture until light and uniform.Sift flour and baking powder.Turn mixer to lowest speed, and add one third of the dry ingredients. When incorporated, add half of the milk, a little at a time. Add another third of the dry ingredients, then the other half of the milk and finish with the dry ingredients. {This is called the dry, wet, dry, wet, dry method in cake making. It is often employed when there is a high proportion of liquid in the batter.}Take off mixer and by hand, use a spatula to do a few last folds, making sure batter is uniform. Turn batter into prepared cake pan.Place cake pan on cookie sheet or 1/2 sheet pan. Set first timer for 30 minutes, rotate pan and set timer for another 15-20 minutes. Your own oven will set the pace. Bake until sides pull away from the pan and skewer inserted in middle comes out clean. Cool cake completely before icing it. Cake will keep for three days outside of the refrigerator.CARAMEL SYRUP2 cups sugar1/2 cup water1 cup water (for “stopping” the caramelization process)In a small stainless steel saucepan, with tall sides, mix water and sugar until mixture feels like wet sand. Brush down any stray sugar crystals with wet pastry brush. Turn on heat to highest flame. Cook until smoking slightly: dark amber.When color is achieved, very carefully pour in one cup of water. Caramel will jump and sputter about! It is very dangerous, so have long sleeves on and be prepared to step back.Whisk over medium heat until it has reduced slightly and feels sticky between two fingers. {Obviously wait for it to cool on a spoon before touching it.}Note: For safety reasons, have ready a bowl of ice water to plunge your hands into if any caramel should land on your skin.
CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 pound confectioner’s sugar, sifted
4-6 tablespoons heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2-4 tablespoons caramel syrup
Kosher or sea salt to taste
Cook butter until brown. Pour through a fine meshed sieve into a heatproof bowl, set aside to cool.Pour cooled brown butter into mixer bowl.In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle or whisk attachment, add confectioner’s sugar a little at a time. When mixture looks too chunky to take any more, add a bit of cream and or caramel syrup. Repeat until mixture looks smooth and all confectioner’s sugar has been incorporated. Add salt to taste.Note: Caramelized butter frosting will keep in fridge for up to a month.To smooth out from cold, microwave a bit, then mix with paddle attachment until smooth and light(recipes above courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon)
Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels
Golden Vanilla Bean Caramels from Pure Dessert by Alice Medrich, Artisan Press, Copyright 2007, ISBN: 978-1579652111(Optional)
GOLDEN VANILLA BEAN CARAMELS- makes eighty-one 1-inch caramels –
Ingredients
1 cup golden syrup
2 cups sugar
3/8 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 teaspoons pure ground vanilla beans, purchased or ground in a coffee or spice grinders, or 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into chunks, softened
Equipment
A 9-inch square baking pan
Candy thermometer
Procedure
Line the bottom and sides of the baking pan with aluminum foil and grease the foil. Combine the golden syrup, sugar, and salt in a heavy 3-quart saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring with a silicone spatula or wooden spoon, until the mixture begins to simmer around the edges. Wash the sugar and syrup from the sides of the pan with a pastry brush dipped in water. Cover and cook for about 3 minutes. (Meanwhile, rinse the spatula or spoon before using it again later.) Uncover the pan and wash down the sides once more. Attach the candy thermometer to the pan, without letting it touch the bottom of the pan, and cook, uncovered (without stirring) until the mixture reaches 305°F. Meanwhile, combine the cream and ground vanilla beans (not the extract) in a small saucepan and heat until tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan. Turn off the heat and cover the pan to keep the cream hot. When the sugar mixture reaches 305°F, turn off the heat and stir in the butter chunks. Gradually stir in the hot cream; it will bubble up and steam dramatically, so be careful. Turn the burner back on and adjust it so that the mixture boils energetically but not violently. Stir until any thickened syrup at the bottom of the pan is dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally, to about 245°F. Then cook, stirring constantly, to 260°f for soft, chewy caramels or 265°F; for firmer chewy caramels. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, if using it. Pour the caramel into the lined pan. Let set for 4 to 5 hours, or overnight until firm. Lift the pan liner from the pan and invert the sheet of caramel onto a sheet of parchment paper. Peel off the liner. Cut the caramels with an oiled knife. Wrap each caramel individually in wax paper or cellophane. VariationsFleur de Sel Caramels: Extra salt, in the form of fleur de sel or another coarse flaked salt, brings out the flavor of the caramel and offers a little ying to the yang. Add an extra scant 1/4 teaspoon of coarse sea salt to the recipe. Or, to keep the salt crunchy, let the caramel cool and firm. Then sprinkle with two pinches of flaky salt and press it in. Invert, remove the pan liner, sprinkle with more salt. Then cut and wrap the caramels in wax paper or cellophane.
Nutmeg and Vanilla Bean Caramels:
Add 1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg to the cream before you heat it.
Cardamom Caramels: Omit the vanilla. Add 1/2 teaspoon slightly crushed cardamom seeds (from about 15 cardamom pods) to the cream before heating it. Strain the cream when you add it to the caramel; discard the seeds.
Caramel Sauce: Stop cooking any caramel recipe or variation when it reaches 225°F or, for a sauce that thickens like hot fudge over ice cream, 228°F. Pour it into a sauceboat to serve or into a heatproof jar for storage. The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for ages and reheated gently in the microwave or a saucepan just until hot and flowing before use. You can stir in rum or brandy to taste. If the sauce is too thick or stiff to serve over ice cream, it can always be thinned with a little water or cream. Or, if you like a sauce that thickens more over ice cream, simmer it for a few minutes longer. (recipe from Alice Medrich’s Pure Dessert)

Plum Cardamon Fruit Leather…Natures Candy

What is a grown , almost 40 year old woman with no children (other than her big baby Certain Someone) doing making fruit leather? Well, a number of reasons. The May issue of Gourmet has a strawberry fruit leather recipe I had my eye on . Then yesterdays CSA box yielded about a 1 1/2 lbs of each of black, and red plums, in addition to blackberries, and peaches! No way I can get through all that fruit, and I don’t feel like baking pies or cakes . So fruit leather it is. Think of it as another way to preserve summers bounty.I figured I can take it to work and resist the Candy Man “Big Money” who sits in front of me with his notorious stash of candy. It’s bad and everyone comes down in the building for their daily fix. He gets odd delight in it. Maybe he likes to see all the women go by, who knows. But we love him. And he keeps my orders moving and clients appeased. What appeals to me about fruit leather is that it is all natural. You can add sugar or not depending on the fruit and your taste levels. I used Agave Nectar and some Cardamon for some kick. I looked online and also used the Gourmet article as reference. Rather than add water to the fruit puree and cook down, as some suggest, I felt the plums had enough water in them .I kept the peel on to for texture. If using stone fruit be sure to pit them. A lot of people recommend removing the peel, but that’s up to you. And you don’t need a fancy dehydrator gadget. This can be done in your oven.

Coco’s Plum Cardamon Fruit Leather (adapted in part/technique from Gourmet Magazines May 2008 Strawberry Leather)
1 1/2 lbs black plums( about 14)
1/2 cup Agave Nectar

Wash and stone fruit. In a food processor or blender puree fruit. In a heavy bottomed pot add puree and Agave nectar and bring to a boil. Reduce and cook for about 10 minutes. Add Cardamon to taste. Using the Gourmet method from this point pour the mixture onto the Silpat. I have seen some recipes use microwave proof plastic wrap as well. Spread in an even layer. Place in a oven that’s heated at about 150 degrees to no more than 200 for 3 hours or until slightly sticky , but not sticking to fingers/solid. Very low temp(caution don’t leave unattended even though it is a low temp). Take out ,remove Silpat /liner , and let dry on a rack for several hours up to 24 until dry. Take a piece of parchment or plastic wrap and cover the leather with it. Then peel upwards to remove the leather from the Silpat. It should adhere to the parchment(See notes). Roll up and store in plastic bags. Stores for up to 1 month.
Some notes: Due to humidity and thickness make sure the fruit puree is evenly dries out and done in the oven.While it dried it became a little more so(did not have air on) I noticed my center was more gooey and put it back in for another hour or so. When I added the parchment to roll the center was still mushy. I flipped the Silpat and peeled off the leather onto the parchment paper. I scraped the gooey part off the Silpat with a dough scraper and spread over the ‘broken part’. The underside now exposed right side up on the parchment went back into the oven for another hour or so.
On a side note I just want to say first thanks for your opinions about the link issue. Made me feel way better! Your support means a lot to me. Also, guess what? It may not mean anything yet, but I will be starting to work on a ‘on call’ basis in a artisan caterers kitchen. I have known the chef for a few years through some part time restaurant work and followed him as a part time on call server to this particular caterer. Saturday morning I’m coming in to learn the kitchen and the ropes. Less pay than serving , but something I love to do! A little dream of mine without giving up the day job. It will be an experience learning and working off premise catering.

Daring Bakers…A Hot Mess of Cheesecake Pops


This months Daring Bakers Challenge was from one the combo of Elle and Deborah. Deborah is one of my favorite bloggers in that she was one the first people to notice my new food blog and comment. I have never seen a more supportive blogger! Elle and Deborah chose Cheesecake Pops from Jill O’Conners Sticky. Chewy, Messy, Gooey. When I first saw the challenge I was kind of taken aback( I like cheesecake, but I’m not obsessed with it), but how more American can you get than with cheesecake and these cute pops! I didn’t underestimated these would be easy. But I didnt have a enthustiactic feeling as I did with most challenges. Nevertheless I purchased some Merkens Wafers, and a mini heart shape cheesecake pan. I know the recipe called for scooping out the mixture to form the balls, but I wanted to play with the small shapes. I added Butterscotch Extract. The batter really rose tall in the heart shaped mini cheesecake pans and fell just a little once removed. I did the requisite chilling and started to work. I purchased two colors of wafers. Because I purchased in bulk, they were no instructions. I looked on line and read I could microwave them. Thankfully I only micro waved a bit, and I over nuked them to a caramelized crunch. I dug out the double boiler and decided to mix the two colors. This is where the trouble accelerated. My coating was very thick. I was getting tired of manipulating it to the pops. I did it small batches. Suddenly right before I was about to chuck the whole mess, I reread the instructions and forgot to add the shortening. It helped a bit. Some of my pops fell apart while coating. Maybe they were not frozen enough in my impatience. My hearts would have been more perfect with the thinner coating. I had to slice the hearts down to size, but the coating masked the shape. I kept adding my pan back to the freezer to hold. I tried squeezing some coating from a squeeze tub but had difficulty. I had lots of decorating supplies and sprinkles, various colored sugars, laid out, but this project needed more speed in decorating than artistry. Once my pops solidified a bit I went back and added gold luster to them with a brush. I did not make forty pops. I saved half of the mix to just scoop up and eat plain throughout the week. I prefer my cheesecake plain, or with a light fruit. I though the candy coating was little overkill. Kids would love it perhaps. My final verdict:

Upon tasting them the second day to photograph, I was pleasantly surprised. It was like crack on a stick! I thought the candy crunch would turn me off, but it was rather enjoyable. And I learned to appreciate my molten lava pops a little more. Next time I’ll do better. As my Mommy would say “they’re are so ugly their cute!”
With all that’s going on on with me, I’m glad I rose to the challenge. Despite my failure, I learned more about sugar craft and candy with this exercise. So thanks Deborah and Elle. But the other Daring Bakers and their creations.

PS: The Daring Bakers have a new forum.Some parts are open to the general public. Check it out.

Matcha Mochi

I had no intention of staying home all day today. I planned to go into work after lunch after the cable guy came to fix our HD receiver. Well you know how those things go, and he came after the 12:00 deadline and stayed until 2:30 . Messed up my whole day. The productive person I am decided to run some errands,pay some bills, etc.While on the way home I stopped off at my favorite new neighborhood grocery for some fruit and things. I love this place because they have all sorts of International goodies to add to your pantry. I picked up some pomegranate molasses, Sharon fruit(a type of persimmon),Sweet Rice Flour,(Mochiko)coconut milk and such. All stuff to play with. I was intrigued by a recipe on the back of the Rice Flour Box.It was for a cocoa mochi. I have had Mochi before and found it odd. I have also seen some bloggers blog about it. My mind went racing and I figured I give it a go with some Matcha powder. I have been meaning to make something sweet with the Matcha other than ice cream I see popping up all over. Reading up on Mochi I found it can be very fun and innovative. Kind of like cookie making. I chose the non traditional way to make it and chose a microwavable version. I figured I could knead and shape it like fondant. Not! Nevertheless I was pleased with my results. I didn’t have potato starch to dust it with , so I used confectioners sugar. I probably could have used the Sweet Rice Flour as well.I also used Cane sugar rather than white sugar, and more than the recipe called for( about 3/4 of a cup).The result at first looked like green gelatinous slime.As it cooled down it became a little more opaque. I dusted the bites with confectioners sugar and shredded coconut. And the taste? Yummy. I could munch on these sweet starchy nibbles a lot. Maybe next time I might add the bits to a ice cream. Cheap , fun, playing around on my unexpected day off.

Coco’s Matcha Mochi

1 cup mochiko sweet rice flour(glutinous rice flour)
1 cup water
3/4 cup cane sugar
confectioners sugar or katakuriko, for dusting(potato starch)

1-2 teaspoons of matcha powder

sweetned shredded coconut

Directions

1)Mix mochiko, matcha, and sugar in a bowl. 2)Add water and mix thoroughly. 3)Put in a microwaveable dish. Cover with plastic wrap. 4)Microwave on high for 4 minutes. Remove plastic wrap. Cool until it gets to a workable temp.
5) Shape, roll, or cut into desired shapes.Mochi will be very sticky so dust with katakuriko or confectioners sugar to prevent mochi from sticking everywhere. I used a pastry scraper to cut it cleanly.Roll around when cooled in coconut and more sugar.

Check out the Update for the Tamale Open. Prize now available.