Daring Bakers: Bakewell Tart

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

I'm not a huge fan of crusts or tarts in general so I quartered the crust and thirded the frangipane. Luckily, I had the right amount of everything because it gets kind of annoying when the small containers start to take over the fridge. I used strawberry jam for 2 tarts and left it plain for one tart because I wasn't sure how much I would like the strawberry and almond together. I remember making frangipane with TWD and really enjoyed the almond filling. Instead of creaming, I used a mini attachment for my handmixer that works like a food processor since there was so little filling and I didn't want the ingredients to stir around the bottom of the mixer bowl. This is how Dorie makes it and it's great because there is no curdling. You're left with a nicely emulsified thick almond cream. The bakewell tart didn't really change my mind about tarts, but I'm more of a cake and cookie girl.

Daring Bakers: Apple Strudel

I don't know if I should even call my apple strudel a strudel because it was more like 'tough and chewy crust wrapped apples'. This was definitely the hardest DB challenge I've participated in, but it was so much fun! It took me an really long time to gently stretch the dough and try to maintain its rectangular shape. It was a little frustrating to see one end of the dough stretch out so much and the other side not having enough dough to stretch, but it felt so good to be concentrated and focused. I was so proud of myself for getting the dough to stretch to 60x60 cm. If I could have somehow transferred some of the extra dough on one side over to the other, maybe I would have been able to stretch to 90. Hopefully next time I can get those nice layers!

The May Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Linda of make life sweeter! and Courtney of Coco Cooks. They chose Apple Strudel from the recipe book Kaffeehaus: Exquisite Desserts from the Classic Cafés of Vienna, Budapest and Prague by Rick Rodgers.

Daring Bakers: Tuiles

I couldn't start off the first recipe of the year incomplete. Lately, school's been starting to get really busy so I didn't get a chance to shape the tuiles into pretty butterflies. Since I didn't want to go plain, I added sesame seeds seeds and spread the batter across the baking sheet. I think I may have spread the batter too thick, but they still ended up nice and crisp!

This month's challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Don't forget to check out the DB's Blogroll!

Daring Bakers: Caramel Cake

I went into this month's DB challenge a little nervous (suprising?). We were basically making a white cake (with caramel).. something that has never turned out right for me! Either I'm looking for all the wrong things, I can't bake vanilla cakes or something is seriously wrong with every recipe I've tried. It annoys me insanely everytime I waste a perfectly gorgeous butter/sugar/egg emulsion. Luckily, this recipe was a little more forgiving and I was able to get away with even a not so pretty batter. That was such a relief considering the streak of caramel I had on the top of some cupcakes. Actually, it was more like a streak of caramel sugar crystals. Since I made the caramel sauce in advance, I had to microwave it to get it flowing again. The only problem is when the ever so slightly warm caramel hits the cool butter, you get melting butter and sugar crystals! Luckily, it all came together after the eggs were added, even though there were streaks of crystalized caramel.

Now for the tricky part, alternating dry and wet. If there's anything that's emphasized in virtually all recipes it is 'don't overmix'. To me, that translates into don't mix at all, or something close to that. To give you an idea of what I do, I add the flour at stir and stop the machine immediately so I can start pouring the milk, then I start the machine to add the next batch of flour and stop the machine to dump the rest of the milk followed by the rest of the flour. As I'm typing this out, I'm starting to realize how silly it sounds.. between the 10 seconds the machine is actually stiring, no wonder why I have patches of flour in some areas and puddles of liquid in others. Yet, I still get the feeling that if I let the machine run, I'm overmixing!


As for the frosting, as soon as I saw powdered sugar, it was already a warning for me. It's hard enough for me to eat frosting, but when there's powdered sugar involved, that's a signal for pasty, grainy or it may be a stretch to say this, but uncooked flour. How can I explain this better.. you know the taste and feel of a sauce or pie with added flour that isn't cooked through, well the raw flour taste is what I'm talking about. I wish there was a way to cook the cornstarch in powdered sugar, maybe then it will be less pasty.. but who knows I could be totally wrong with that theory I have! I started off slowly and gradually added the sugar starting with 1 cup and stopping when I got to 1.5 cups (how could this possibly take 4 cups of sugar!). There was no way I could handle any more sweetness, but the frosting was so liquidy, I was left with an icing. I decided to make a half batch of SMBC to frost the cupcakes I was serving to people and use this icing for the challenge. I ended up combining the two frostings and made a powdered-SMBC frosting duo. It was nowhere near as melt in your mouth as SMBC, but it covered up the pastiness of the icing. Everyone seemed to love the frosting, but I was really happy about the cake. It was really moist even the next day and suprisingly soft considering that all purpose flour was used. I can't wait for next month's challege.. I hope it's something sweet!

Thanks to Dolores of Chronicals in Culinary Curosity and her co hosts Alex of Blondie and Brownie and Jenny of Foray into Food for this month's SWEET DB challenge!

Here's a link to the original recipe Caramel Cake by Shuna Fish Lydon

Daring Bakers: Pizza

Would I dare miss another round of DB.. NO! I'll admit, I was really close to skipping another month, but the guilt was starting to build. Plus, there really shouldn't be an excuse.. I mean, we only have a month to complete the challege. I remember not too long ago when I couldn't believe that people who joined DB weren't completing their challenges. I even volunteered to check blogs for those who weren't participating... oh my, how things have turned around. I guess it's a good thing I didn't end up becoming a blog checker for incomplete DB challenges or it would have been just a tad embarassing. Since I had the slightest urge to skip yet another month of DB until the very last minute, I didn't think of any cool toppings. With nothing except for zuchinni and canned pineapple, I just had to use both. I guess if I was going for something different, leftover pumpkin puree could do, but that would just be nasty.. at least I think.


This was the second time I made pizza dough, but it was really different from the first time. I prefer how the dough in this recipe rests in the fridge overnight. That meant I wouldn't spend the day wondering how much longer it would take the yeast to work or poke at it every so often. I made my own pizza sauce using a can of diced tomatoes, some crushed garlic, basil and sugar.

Tossing the dough, that sounded like fun and it was except that I didn't exactly do it. I wanted to, but just as I slipped the dough over my knuckles and that in itself was extremely difficult to do, the dough was stretching.. a lot! Maybe there was too much liquid, but this was sticky and stretchy. There was no way, this could make it without tearing. Realistically, I don't think it was even possible to toss it at all because of how quickly it was stretching.


I only have one pizza pan, so I decided to bake one using a nine inch cake pan. That way I could have one thin and one thick crust pizza. Both were good, but if you haven't noticed, I forgot the cheese on the thick crust. Yep, that's what happens when you're in a rush. Sorry for the bad pictures, but I was trying to get these taken before my battery died on me. Thanks to Rosa for such a fun challenge. I think next time I make pizza dough, I'm going to try and find a food processor type recipe. It would totally save me 5 minutes of freaking out while the KA bounces around the counter and makes funny noises, which I have to admit is the slightest bit heartbreaking. I can't imagine what would happen if my standing mixer broke down on me. I guess I'll just have to run over to costco and get that professional one that is even bigger than the artisan!

Rosa included a gluten free version too!
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 - FOR GF: 4 ½ cups GF Flour Blend with xanthan gum or 1 cup brown rice flour, 1 cup corn flour, 1 cup oat flour, 1 ½ cup arrowroot, potato or tapioca starch + 2 tsp xanthan or guar gum
1 3/4 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Instant yeast - FOR GF use 2 tsp
1/4 Cup (2 ounces/60g) Olive oil or vegetable oil (both optional, but it’s better with)
1 3/4 Cups (14 ounces/420g or 420ml) Water, ice cold (40° F/4.5° C)
1 Tb sugar - FOR GF use agave syrup
Semolina/durum flour or cornmeal for dusting

DAY ONE

Method:
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.

NOTE: If you are using an electric mixer, switch to the dough hook and mix on medium speed for the same amount of time.The dough should clear the sides of the bowl but stick to the bottom of the bowl. If the dough is too wet, sprinkle in a little more flour, so that it clears the sides. If, on the contrary, it clears the bottom of the bowl, dribble in a teaspoon or two of cold water.
The finished dough should be springy, elastic, and sticky, not just tacky, and register 50°-55° F/10°-13° C.

Or

2. FOR GF: Add the oil, sugar or agave syrup and cold water, then 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.

3. Flour a work surface or counter. Line a jelly pan with baking paper/parchment. Lightly oil the paper.

4. With the help of a metal or plastic dough scraper, cut the dough into 6 equal pieces (or larger if you want to make larger pizzas).

NOTE: To avoid the dough from sticking to the scraper, dip the scraper into water between cuts.

5. Sprinkle some flour over the dough. Make sure your hands are dry and then flour them. Gently round each piece into a ball.

NOTE: If the dough sticks to your hands, then dip your hands into the flour again.

6. Transfer the dough balls to the lined jelly pan and mist them generously with spray oil. Slip the pan into plastic bag or enclose in plastic food wrap.

7. Put the pan into the refrigerator and let the dough rest overnight or for up to thee days.

NOTE: You can store the dough balls in a zippered freezer bag if you want to save some of the dough for any future baking. In that case, pour some oil(a few tablespooons only) in a medium bowl and dip each dough ball into the oil, so that it is completely covered in oil. Then put each ball into a separate bag. Store the bags in the freezer for no longer than 3 months. The day before you plan to make pizza, remember to transfer the dough balls from the freezer to the refrigerator.

DAY TWO

8. On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the desired number of dough balls from the refrigerator. Dust the counter with flour and spray lightly with oil. Place the dough balls on a floured surface and sprinkle them with flour. Dust your hands with flour and delicately press the dough into disks about 1/2 inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle with flour and mist with oil. Loosely cover the dough rounds with plastic wrap and then allow to rest for 2 hours.

Or

8. FOR GF: On the day you plan to eat pizza, exactly 2 hours before you make it, remove the number of desired dough balls from the refrigerator. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and sprinkle with a gluten free flour. Delicately press the dough into disks about ½ inch/1.3 cm thick and 5 inches/12.7 cm in diameter. Sprinkle the dough with flour, mist it again with spray oil. Lightly cover the dough round with a sheet of parchment paper and allow to rest for 2 hours.

9. At least 45 minutes before making the pizza, place a baking stone on the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven as hot as possible (500° F/260° C).

NOTE: If you do not have a baking stone, then use the back of a jelly pan. Do not preheat the pan.

10. Generously sprinkle the back of a jelly pan with semolina/durum flour or cornmeal. Flour your hands (palms, backs and knuckles). Take 1 piece of dough by lifting it with a pastry scraper. Lay the dough across your fists in a very delicate way and carefully stretch it by bouncing it in a circular motion on your hands, and by giving it a little stretch with each bounce. Once the dough has expanded outward, move to a full toss.

Or

10. FOR GF: Press the dough into the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough).

NOTE: Make only one pizza at a time.
During the tossing process, if the dough tends to stick to your hands, lay it down on the floured counter and reflour your hands, then continue the tossing and shaping.
In case you would be having trouble tossing the dough or if the dough never wants to expand and always springs back, let it rest for approximately 5-20 minutes in order for the gluten to relax fully,then try again.
You can also resort to using a rolling pin, although it isn’t as effective as the toss method.

11. When the dough has the shape you want (about 9-12 inches/23-30 cm in diameter - for a 6 ounces/180g piece of dough), place it on the back of the jelly pan, making sure there is enough semolina/durum flour or cornmeal to allow it to slide and not stick to the pan.

Or

11. FOR GF: Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

12. Lightly top it with sweet or savory toppings of your choice.

Or

12. FOR GF: Place the garnished pizza on the parchment paper onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for about 5-8 minutes.

NOTE: Remember that the best pizzas are topped not too generously. No more than 3 or 4 toppings (including sauce and cheese) are sufficient.

13. Slide the garnished pizza onto the stone in the oven or bake directly on the jelly pan. Close the door and bake for abour 5-8 minutes.

Or

13. FOR GF: Follow the notes for this step.

NOTE: After 2 minutes baking, take a peek. For an even baking, rotate 180°.

If the top gets done before the bottom, you will need to move the stone or jelly pane to a lower shelf before the next round. On the contrary, if the bottom crisps before the cheese caramelizes, then you will need to raise the stone or jelly.

14. Take the pizza out of the oven and transfer it to a cutting board or your plate. In order to allow the cheese to set a little, wait 3-5 minutes before slicing or serving.

Daring Bakers: Eclairs

This month's challenge was a lot of fun and so delicious that I didn't need any help finishing them.. I practically ate all of them myself! It was amazing how something that was beaten, mixed and smeared around the pot so much would result in such a delicate pastry. If only this was the case for layer cakes, then I would never have to worry about toughness or chewiness. After piping out four eclairs, I realized that there just wouldn't be enough so I decided make the rest as puffs. Many daring bakers were complaining about their choux pastry deflating so I cranked up the oven temperature to 425 hoping that they would puff up like popovers. Well.. let's just say that it worked, but only for one. The rest deflated as soon as they were removed from the oven so I ate them as is while they were still warm. Suprisingly, they were really addicting plain and the eggy taste didn't bother me one bit. In fact, I loved it! My sole surviving choux pastry was left to cool while the second batch of puffs were in the oven.


Luckily, none of the puffs deflated (probably due to their smaller size).. although I kind of wished some of them did so I could snack on a few more. I was almost tempted to skip the pastry cream and glaze all together and eat them warm. Then again, it would be such a shame not to enjoy them properly filled and glazed.



For the pastry cream, I omitted the chocolate and added vanilla extract. I was a little worried it would turn into vanilla flavoured scrambled eggs, which happens every time I made vanilla pudding. Something must have gone right because the pastry cream was so good. I could have eaten that on its own too.


Here is my only surviving eclair in it's complete form.. there weren't too many of those! Since I ate so many puffs, I thought I had way too much pastry cream so I started to eat some of that. I must have eaten way too much because some of my puffs couldn't be filled and were only glazed.


3 eclair shells, 4 filled and glazed puffs and a whole lot of pastry cream later, I was starting to feel a little sick. I love how each component on its own is so good and how tempting it is not to wait for all the shells to cool, pastry cream to cook and chocolate sauce. If I didn't have a little more self control, I probably would have eaten this as I completed each component, but it was definitely worth the wait. Thanks to Meeta and Tony for choosing such a fun and delicious recipe that will be made again!

Pierre Hermé’s Chocolate Éclairs
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• Cream Puff Dough (see below for recipe), fresh and still warm

1) Preheat your oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Divide the oven into thirds by
positioning the racks in the upper and lower half of the oven. Line two baking sheets with
waxed or parchment paper.

2) Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a 2/3 (2cm) plain tip nozzle with the warm cream puff dough.
Pipe the dough onto the baking sheets in long, 4 to 41/2 inches (about 11 cm) chubby fingers.
Leave about 2 inches (5 cm) space in between each dough strip to allow them room to puff.
The dough should give you enough to pipe 20-24 éclairs.

3) Slide both the baking sheets into the oven and bake for 7 minutes. After the 7 minutes, slip the
handle of a wooden spoon into the door to keep in ajar. When the éclairs have been in the
oven for a total of 12 minutes, rotate the sheets top to bottom and front to back. Continue
baking for a further 8 minutes or until the éclairs are puffed, golden and firm. The total baking
time should be approximately 20 minutes.

Notes:
1) The éclairs can be kept in a cool, dry place for several hours before filling.

Assembling the éclairs:

• Chocolate glaze (see below for recipe)
• Chocolate pastry cream (see below for recipe)

1) Slice the éclairs horizontally, using a serrated knife and a gently sawing motion. Set aside the
bottoms and place the tops on a rack over a piece of parchment paper.

2) The glaze should be barely warm to the touch (between 95 – 104 degrees F or 35 – 40
degrees C, as measured on an instant read thermometer). Spread the glaze over the tops of
the éclairs using a metal icing spatula. Allow the tops to set and in the meantime fill the
bottoms with the pastry cream.

3) Pipe or spoon the pastry cream into the bottoms of the éclairs. Make sure you fill the bottoms
with enough cream to mound above the pastry. Place the glazed tops onto the pastry cream
and wriggle gently to settle them.

Notes:
1) If you have chilled your chocolate glaze, reheat by placing it in a bowl over simmering water,
stirring it gently with a wooden spoon. Do not stir too vigorously as you do not want to create
bubbles.

2) The éclairs should be served as soon as they have been filled.

Pierre Hermé’s Cream Puff Dough
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 20-24 Éclairs)

• ½ cup (125g) whole milk
• ½ cup (125g) water
• 1 stick (4 ounces; 115g) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
• ¼ teaspoon sugar
• ¼ teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (140g) all-purpose flour
• 5 large eggs, at room temperature

1) In a heavy bottomed medium saucepan, bring the milk, water, butter, sugar and salt to the
boil.

2) Once the mixture is at a rolling boil, add all of the flour at once, reduce the heat to medium
and start to stir the mixture vigorously with a wooden spoon. The dough comes together very
quickly. Do not worry if a slight crust forms at the bottom of the pan, it’s supposed to. You
need to carry on stirring for a further 2-3 minutes to dry the dough. After this time the dough
will be very soft and smooth.

3) Transfer the dough into a bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using your
handmixer or if you still have the energy, continue by hand. Add the eggs one at a time,
beating after each egg has been added to incorporate it into the dough.
You will notice that after you have added the first egg, the dough will separate, once again do
not worry. As you keep working the dough, it will come back all together again by the time you
have added the third egg. In the end the dough should be thick and shiny and when lifted it
should fall back into the bowl in a ribbon.

4) The dough should be still warm. It is now ready to be used for the éclairs as directed above.

Notes:
1) Once the dough is made you need to shape it immediately.

2) You can pipe the dough and the freeze it. Simply pipe the dough onto parchment-lined baking
sheets and slide the sheets into the freezer. Once the dough is completely frozen, transfer the
piped shapes into freezer bags. They can be kept in the freezer for up to a month.

Chocolate Pastry Cream
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by PierreHermé

• 2 cups (500g) whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 6 tbsp (75g) sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch, sifted
• 7 oz (200g) bittersweet chocolate, preferably Velrhona Guanaja, melted
• 2½ tbsp (1¼ oz: 40g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1) In a small saucepan, bring the milk to a boil. In the meantime, combine the yolks, sugar and cornstarch together and whisk in a heavy‐bottomed saucepan.

2) Once the milk has reached a boil, temper the yolks by whisking a couple spoonfuls of the hot milk into the yolk mixture.Continue whisking and slowly pour the rest of the milk into the tempered yolk mixture.

3) Strain the mixture back into the saucepan to remove any egg that may have scrambled. Place the pan over medium heat and whisk vigorously (without stop) until the mixture returns to a boil. Keep whisking vigorously for 1 to 2 more minutes (still over medium heat).Stir in the melted chocolate and then remove the pan from the heat.

4) Scrape the pastry cream into a small bowl and set it in an ice‐water bath to stop the cooking process. Make sure to continue stirring the mixture at this point so that it remains smooth.

5) Once the cream has reached a temperature of 140 F remove from the ice‐water bath and stir in the butter in three or four installments. Return the cream to the ice‐water bath to continue cooling, stirring occasionally, until it has completely cooled. The cream is now ready to use or store in the fridge.

Notes:
1) The pastry cream can be made 2‐3 days in advance and stored in the refrigerator.

2) In order to avoid a skin forming on the pastry cream, cover with plastic wrap pressed onto the cream.

3) Tempering the eggs raises the temperature of the eggs slowly so that they do not scramble.

Chocolate Glaze
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1 cup or 300g)

• 1/3 cup (80g) heavy cream
• 3½ oz (100g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 4 tsp (20 g) unsalted butter, cut into 4 pieces, at room temperature
• 7 tbsp (110 g) Chocolate Sauce (recipe below), warm or at room temperature

1)In a small saucepan, bring the heavy cream to a boil. Remove from the heat and slowly begin to add the chocolate, stirring with a wooden spoon or spatula.

2) Stirring gently, stir in the butter, piece by piece followed by the chocolate sauce.

Notes:
1) If the chocolate glaze is too cool (i.e. not liquid enough) you may heat it briefly
 in the microwave or over a double boiler. A double boiler is basically a bowl sitting over (not touching) simmering water.

2) It is best to glaze the eclairs after the glaze is made, but if you are pressed for time, you can make the glaze a couple days ahead of time, store it in the fridge and bring it up to the proper temperature (95 to 104 F) when ready to glaze.

Chocolate Sauce
Recipe from Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Hermé
(makes 1½ cups or 525 g)

• 4½ oz (130 g) bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1 cup (250 g) water
• ½ cup (125 g) crème fraîche, or heavy cream
• 1/3 cup (70 g) sugar

1) Place all the ingredients into a heavy‐bottomed saucepan and bring to a boil, making sure to stir constantly. Then reduce the heat to low and continue stirring with a wooden spoon until the sauce thickens.

2) It may take 10‐15 minutes for the sauce to thicken, but you will know when it is done when it coats the back of your spoon.

Notes:
1) You can make this sauce ahead of time and store it in the refrigerator for two weeks. Reheat the sauce in a microwave oven or a double boiler before using.
2) This sauce is also great for cakes, ice-cream and tarts.

Daring Bakers: Filbert Gateau

Finally.. my first challenge as a Daring Baker is completed! Ever since I started blogging, I've had the opportunity to try new desserts and learn new techniques, but this filbert gateau was at a whole other level. I actually didn't complete this until late July because I didn't really know where to start... praline paste? buttercream? the ever so delicate sponge?! Although there was a lot of recipe re-reading and not to mention, a whole day's worth and more dedicated to this gateau, it was totally worth it. The most frustrating part was trying to skin the hazelnuts, which was like a marathon spread over a couple days. Some of them were so stubborn that even after multiple toasts the skins still remained stuck on.

I started off with the praline brittle, thinking it would be easy.. haha. After patiently waiting 10, then 20 minutes for the sugar to caramelize and nothing happened, I spooned in some water (what was I thinking!). Rather than speeding up the process, there were random chunks of sugar everywhere. The only way this could be salvaged was by turning the 'brittle' into the sugar syrup that I flavoured with the Jamaican rum suggested by the recipe. For my second attempt, I cranked the heat up to medium and the sugar slowly melted into a beautiful caramel. This time, the sugar was ever so slightly burned, but it actually added a nice deep butterscotchy flavour.

The cake part was not as scary as I anticipated, but how could I not be worried. The most crucial part was done by hand, no KA could do the folding component for me. I tried to be as light handed as possible and repeated the 'down through the middle, scrap up from the bottom, twist and up' until everything was incorporated. For the buttercream, I only made 1/4 of it because I didn't want any leftover. I can't stand all frosting except for cream cheese, whipped cream and 7 minute icing. This on the other hand was suprisingly delicious! It didn't taste like a stick of butter, but was smooth, silky and melt in your mouth with the occasional crunch from the praline brittle. By mistake, I added double the amount sugar because I forgot that I was making 1/4 of the recipe instead of 1/2. I'm actually glad I screwed up on that because it still had the perfect amount of sweetness. Since there was so little frosting, there was barely any left for decorating so I had to compromise by piping dots on the bottom instead of continuing with the stars.


After all that work, I was a little hesitant to cut into it, but was tempted to taste it because I've never eaten a cake made with nuts before. Flavourwise, this has to be the best cake I've ever eaten. It was so nice to taste the hazelnuts, rum, buttercream and chocolate ganache all in one bite. The texture was a little coarse, but that was probably from underprocessing the nuts and because my mesh strainer didn't catch all the bits. For the bits that were leftover, I just topped it on my cake (I could not waste any hazelnuts, especially since I spent forever skinning them!) It might take a super special occassion for me to make this again, but the buttercream on the other hand.. I'm going to have to experiment with different flavours. Next time I'll definitely have to find already skinned hazelnuts!