Caramel Cake with Caramel Butter Frosting

I must admit, this month's Daring Baker's challenge did not move me to quick action at first because, i am hesitating on the sugar overload I could cause my family. While I was reviewing the recipe I have a feeling this is indeed the start of the sugary sweet Christmas season in December. I've never done this before so I'm equally up for the challenge!

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

Preheat oven to 350F

Butter 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 SYRUP

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup water
1 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


Personal Notes:

1. Judging from the sweetness of the caramel, I actually cut down on the amount of sugar added to the caramel cake. Instead of 1 1/4 cups, I only used 3/4 cups.

2. I did not have Kosher salt so I just used refined salt without adjusting the amount. At first i thought I should reduce considering that refined salt maybe more salty but I ended up following the same amount. I think I could not taste the contrast so if I am to do this again, I would add a bit more salt.

3. My cake is a bit dense, if I am to do this again, I would love it to rise better like a true cake. So likely I would add a couple more baking powder.

4. My total baking time is around 45 minutes and in between i think i opened the oven 3 or 4 times. I was very worried about the cake not rising and the middle portion is still wet even after 25minutes!

5. After putting the caramelized butter frosting, I squeezed some Hershey's chocolate syrup on top just to make it more attractive as a dessert.

Finally, this cake would not be a joy without friends to share it with. This Friday, I was invited to a dinner and get together with friends ( and a good old one, my previous boss). I brought this cake to wrap-up the evening with something sweet. The cake paired well with freshly brewed coffee and more than anything, the good company of friends just made it even more pleasant. Cheers!



Credits:

1. Recipe source courtesy of Shuna Fish Lydon (http://eggbeater.typepad.com/), as published on Bay Area Bites (http://blogs.kqed.org/bayareabites/).

2. The main host of this month's Daring Baker's challenge is Dolores(http://culinarycuriosity.blogspot.com/) with the help of Alex (Brownie of the Blondie and Brownie duo: http://blondieandbrownie.blogspot.com/), and Jenny of Foray into Food (http://forayintofood.blogspot.com/). Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go (http://glutenagogo.blogspot.com/) also provided thoughts on a gluten free alternative for this recipe.

3. Special thanks to my cousin-in-law, Weng, for the big help as well in the kitchen. I made the cake first and before i could start with the frosting, I realized we ran out of vanilla extract in the kitchen. She saved the day by helping to find the nearest grocery the following day.

Philippine's Food Showcase at SAS

The Singapore American School (SAS) just held their annual Foodfest yesterday (Nov 08) and I was actually impressed with the Philippine booth. Not that I love my own country but compared to the other booths that day, it offered a lot of food choices, and the most elaborate booth with the creative "Bahay Kubo" (house made of coco palm leaves) well decorated with Christmas lanterns. The Filipino kids were also generous in entertaining the audience with a couple of Filipino ethnic dance. I feel "at home" once more with the display of "Pancit" (fried noodles), "Adobo" (stewed pork or chicken in vinegar), "Kare-Kare" (Stewed beef oxtail w/ shrimp paste), Pork Barbecue, Turon (banana fritters), "Lumpia" (spring roll), "Leche Flan" (egg custard w/caramel) and not to mention, "Puto" (steamed rice cake with cheese) which we actually donated for the booth.

We had a taste of other cultures too. I love the chickpea masala from the Indian booth. My husband loves the guacamole with chips from the Latin America booth and my son just loves to eat everything :-).

This is our son's first year in SAS (he's enrolled in the Early Childhood program) so I think I have a couple of Food fests to go; I am excited to attend next year already and maybe bring some food again for the Philippine booth.

Penne with Tuna

I was reading the local paper one Sunday and this recipe caught my attention. I thought it is relatively easy and I have all the ingredients at home. This is also a great quick fix for lunch. I normally bring home cooked lunch in the office so I prepared the pasta Sunday evening and mixed the rest of the ingredients the next day.

The original recipe as printed from the Straits Times is from Judy Koh, managing director of "Creative Culinaire" in Singapore.

Ingredients:
90 g penne pasta
90g tuna in brine
30 g snow peas, blanched in boiling water
20g sun-dried tomatoes, sliced
1 tsp lemon juice
1/8 tsp black pepper
3 cherry tomatoes

Method:
1. Bring a pot of water to a boil and cook pasta till firm to the bite before draining;
2. Toss the cooked pasta, tuna, snow peas, sun-dried tomatoes and black pepper in a bowl. Drizzle the lemon juice and top with cherry tomatoes.

What I've done differently is, I blanched "dow meow" (instead of snow peas), a commonly available bean sprouts here in Singapore. I also sprinkled parmesan cheese on top.

I like the complete meal in this pasta - carbo, protein and fibre! It is easy to prepare, ideal for those manic Monday's for working moms like me.

Banana & Jackfruit Fritters

This is a favorite afternoon snack in the Philippines. This is so simple, you just need to slice the banana in halves , insert jackfruit slices in between, wrap in a spring roll wrapper (easily available in the grocery), and then cook deep-fried. You can also sprinkle brown sugar as you fry the fritters to give it some sugar coating but I choose to keep this plain to bring out the natural flavor of the fruits inside. When choosing bananas, use the cooking variety, we call these "saba" bananas back in the Phillippines. In Singapore, you can find this variety in the wet markets. Use ripe jackfruit slices; the more yellow it is, the sweeter it gets.

Easy Fruit Fridge Cake

This is one dessert that is super easy and delicious, you will love to serve this in any occasion. I call this "fridge cake" because you need to leave this in the freezer at least for 6 hours before serving. The basic recipe is just thick cream + condensed milk. Layer it with graham crackers and alternate with fruit slices.

First, prepare the fruit slices. I normally use mangoes for this recipe but today I am using peach slices which you can readily buy from the grocery in cans. Drain the peach slices and check that it is appropriately sliced (at least 1 cm)so that the flavor will blend well with the cream and milk. Second, mix the thick cream and milk. I normally favor more cream vs. the condensed milk, so my rule of thumb is 2:1. Third, crush the Graham biscuits to prepare for the layer. I used yellow plain biscuits branded "Sunflower" biscuits from the Philippines. I normally put the biscuits in a Ziploc bag and roll over with a rolling pin until all biscuits are uniformly crushed. Choose a square pan that fits well in your fridge. Spread the biscuits at the bottom to form your first layer. Add in the cream & milk mixture, then top with the fruit slices. You can repeat as many layers as you like, at least 3 layers would be good enough.

As promised, this dessert is easy as 1-2-3. Try this at home and drop me a feedback!

We Love Pizza!

Making pizza for the family has always been fun and gratifying ( it is always a sure winner in the family!). I was thrilled when the October challenge for Daring Bakers was none else than making pizza dough to your liking of toppings (wow, easy!).

The basic pizza dough recipe was taken from "The Bread Baker's Apprentice" by Peter Reinhart. We were instructed to leave the dough overnight and try the traditional toss to shape the pizza.

I kind of ended in the short cut method. The very minute my son sensed I am going to make pizza, he demanded right away to have pizza for dinner (i just can't resist the pleading eyes:-). I am pleased how the dough has risen perfectly, I can tell that this is going to be a good one. I used half of the dough to instantly gratify the craving of the family , I saved the other half and promised to come back to it using the tossing method.

I used ready made tomato sauce for my pizza base. My family's favorite is ham and cheese so I topped the pizza with shredded ham, mozzarella cheese, olives, and red capsicum. Baked it for 18-20mins @ 180C and voila! homemade pizza to go.

Here's the basic pizza dough recipe:



BASIC PIZZA DOUGH:">Original recipe taken from “The Bread Baker’s Apprentice” by Peter Reinhart.

Makes 6 pizza crusts (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter).

Ingredients:
4 1/2 Cups (20 1/4 ounces/607.5 g) Unbleached high-gluten (%14) bread flour or all purpose flour, chilled
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

1. Mix together the flour, salt and instant yeast in a big bowl (or in the bowl of your stand mixer).

2. Add the oil, sugar and cold water and mix well (with the help of a large wooden spoon or with the paddle attachment, on low speed) in order to form a sticky ball of dough. On a clean surface, knead for about 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and the ingredients are homogeneously distributed. If it is too wet, add a little flour (not too much, though) and if it is too dry add 1 or 2 teaspoons extra water.

After forming the dough, i cut it into two, left the other half in the freezer while the other half, i lightly greased a deep dish to let rise the dough. After an hour, i punched it and knead again for 5 minutes and let rise for another 15minutes before using.

I also used a pizza pan with holes underneath so that the crust will be crispy. Voila! the result is a truly crispy, yummy ham&cheese pizza.

Woodlands Terrace and the Salmon Belly in Butter Chive Sauce

I had a great food discovery this weekend; thanks to my neighbor and colleague at work who showed us (together with other friends) the long street of food factories along Woodlands Terrace. The bonus is, it is only a 10minute walk from my place making this now one of my favorite place to shop on the weekend.

We visited a couple of food outlets like "Old Chang Kee" famed for their juicy squid balls, the popular salmon branded "Fassler" ( we are avid fans of their smoked salmon ), a delicatessen place supplying NTUC, a dimsum place called "Lim Keng" and "Melvados" who supply breads, cakes, and ice cream to hotels in Singapore.

I bought a couple of stuff but my most memorable would be the "Fassler" place. I am surprised to see a big selection of seafood (not only salmon) cutlets. My favorite is the bag of frozen scallops fresh in their shells. The first thing I did when I reach home is thaw the scallops, placed some sun-dried tomatoes, (which is so yummy courtesy of Melvados), sprinkled mozzarella cheese on top and baked them at 180C for 15-20minutes. I also bought frozen clam chowder soup which paired well with the wholegrain bread i bought from Melvados (cheap at $4.00 for a big loaf). Wow, i think i had one of my favorite Saturday lunch after a long time. I wish i had taken a photo; we were all thrilled to eat, we finished the big platter of scallops in a short time.

In the same food outlet, i also bought salmon belly and butter chive sauce. The salmon looks so fresh right after thawing. I instantly knew baking would be the right way of cooking these yummy belly pairs to bring out the natural oil from the fish. I added a pinch of salt, rosemary, pepper, and the butter chive sauce. You can leave this in the oven for 15-20 minutes at 180C. We just had this for lunch today and again, another big hit in the family.

The Swedish Bun

I bought paper muffin cups at the grocery one day and came across this delectable recipe at the back of the packaging. This bun is a sure delight at home, it pairs very well with a smooth cup of coffee to perk you up in the morning. My mother-in-law has been baking this for us and I am such a big fan!

Ingredients :
1 envelope active dry yeast
1/4 cup of warm water
115 g of butter
1 1/2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
crusted seeds from 20 cardamon pods
6 cups sifted all-purpose flour

Filling:
100g butter
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 tbs cinnamon
1 egg,beaten

1. In a mixing bowl, dissolve the yeast with the warm water;
2. Melt butter in a saucepan, stir in the milk and pour the lukewarm mixture into the yeast;
3. Stir in the salt, sugar and cardamon (although in our case, we did not put any cardamon seeds, we opted to keep it plain so that the cinnamon flavor from the filling will stand out)
4. Gradually add the flour and work the dough until smooth and well blended; cover the bowl and let rise for 1 hour;
5. Stir together the butter, sugar, and cinnamon for the filling.
6. Turn the dough on lightly floured surface and knead well. Divide into 3 portions. Roll each portion into rectangle 9x12 inches each;
7. Spread with filling and roll to max diameter 2 inches (50mm);
8. Cut roll in max 1-inch pieces and place in paper cup
9. Leave to rise till double;
10. Brush with beaten egg and bake in preheated 200C oven for about 10-15minutes.

The average yield for this recipe is 30-40 buns. I suggest you halve the ingredients if you have a smaller family. But I guarantee you will crave for more, so be prepared for more...

My First Daring Baker Challenge - Choco Eclair!

I was introduced by a colleague at work on the Daring Bakers blogroll and instantly it gave me some inspiration to go back again to my baking routine (at least once a month). My baking skills has been put on the side for sometime now due to other priorities (as usual, work is the biggest culprit!). It has been a long time also since I last posted so here is my resurrection to Blogger dashboard...

The August challenge is to make Chocolate Eclairs. The first time I read the mail i was both excited and worried. Excited because, I LOOOOVE chocolate eclairs! Worried because, the steps seem to be complicated and my confidence in baking has never been that high. For awhile I thought, being "daring" could be too ambitious but, I've never really done any baking so, why am I thinking too much?

There are 3 components in completing this recipe a.) bake the cream puff dough b.) make the chocolate pastry cream and c.) prepare the chocolate glaze. So I started out with planning (btw, this is one of my better skills) what ingredients to buy and what equipments to use. We just moved to another condo unit and it doesn't have any oven so, 3 months ago, we bought a 5-in-1 convection/convention/microwave /steamer/griller. Baking choco eclairs would be my chance to finally encounter my fear of using this machine (God knows i'm the worst person to operate these gadgets).

The challenge host specifically instructed to follow the same pastry recipe and to have something chocolate (whether the cream filling or the glaze). As a freshman in this blogroll, I decided to follow exactly the given recipe and maybe just sprinkle some nuts on top to create a difference (the recipe is based on Pierre Herme's "Chocolate Desserts" and i'll tell you more about it in a little while). So I have the ingredients, the equipment, the recipe, and the positive attitude that I can conquer!

It took me 2 days to actually complete. The first day is an "opportunity for improvement" and the second, is the final verdict. My hours in the kitchen was equally challenged by the tug-of-war I'm having with my toddler because he wants to be the daring baker himself ( i regret i didn't have a video on this one). Going back to day one, I had a couple of shortcomings on the following (1) My puff pastry is too small. It is too small in fact that i cannot slice it into half to put the choco pastry cream inside. I followed the suggested step of using a pastry bag fitted with a plain tip nozzle to create chubby finger shaped pastry but somehow I created tiny fingerlings:-) (2) My choco pastry cream is like choco water with floating eggs! I did not get the technique of "tempering" (mixing raw eggs with hot milk) and also I thought the solution is still very hot (that's why the floating eggs) that I did not bring it back to low heat to dissolve the cornstarch and thicken the sauce. The worse thing is, I have been so unfit that i cannot withstand whisking the solution vigorously (it says without stopping, how could any human possibly do that?).

I had to avenge my frustration the following day so I woke up early and decided to start again. Luckily, i had an early foresight for the worse case scenario so I put aside 1/2 portion of the puff dough in the freezer ( told you, planning is one of my better skills) . My focus on day 2 is to make the pastry cream right. After careful tempering and vigorous whisking (whew!), I finally got it! I feel so elated that I almost shouted "Eureka!". The shape and size of my pastry dough has also improved. Instead of using the pastry bag with the nozzle, I placed the dough in a clean sandwhich bag, pushed it on one edge, cut the tip and drawn the right shape of the dough to the baking sheet. I was also proud with how the dough "puffed" up considering that, I don't know how even was the temperature in the oven. While waiting for the cream puff and also cooling the choco cream, i worked on the choco glaze (while my son was busy licking the chocolate). When everything is done, the final step is to assemble the product so, I opened up the cream puff into half, piped in the choco cream, placed the other half of the cream puff on top, dipped in the glaze (i dipped it upright to avoid the mess), placed the almonds on top of the glaze, chilled it in the fridge while i looked for batteries to ready my camera for my first daring bakers blog and whooah! here come's my son with (at the speed of lightning) already enjoying his first chocolate eclair...

P.S. As I am on a deadline to post this by today, I opted to just blog here the experience rather than outline the recipe itslef. If I have the time, I will re-post this to include the more detailed recipe. If you're dying to get the recipe :-), a better alternative would be, to join the gang at Daring Bakers!