NOTHING SAYS EXCESS . . . II (Baked Goods)

Inspired by a series of posts by Mike G a few months ago, I thought I would share a few pictures from my season of cakes. The season began back in November with TPA's Mom's 60th birthday party for which I made two cakes. Pictured below is a four layer sour cream butter cake with chocolate icing and brown sugar buttercream trim.



The second cake was a lovely vanilla cheesecake with a crust made from homemade oatmeal cookies and paired with a caramel apple sauce. This was an excellent recipe. The cake was unadorned with the sauce instead served on the side, so it was extremely important that no crack appear. Baking it in a water bath, I let it cool in the bath as well with the oven door slightly ajar. It had an amazing texture and a picture perfect top. So don't ask why I forgot to take a picture.

The next baking was for Thanksgiving. Now I love pumpkin, but pumpkin pie not so much. Accordingly, each year, I seek out new sweet uses for pumpkin: creme brulees, cheesecakes, ice cream, etc. This year, having more time on my hands to devote to a cake as Mike's mom hosted Thanksgiving I made a Pumpkin-Walnut Cake with Butterscotch frosting. The cake started and ended with a walnut cake layer, sandwiching the pumpkin layer. The cake was iced with Butterscotch buttercream and decorated with rosettes topped with candied walnuts. Here is the finished cake paired with my other dessert, an apple crostata. The next picture is the last piece that weathered the trip to Frankfort and back as well as a few days in my fridge.




The Christmas holidays always find my kitchen to be a baking haven and this year was no exception. The first major project was a 5 tiered Peanut Butter Mousse tart topped with chocolate ganache and decorated with gold leaf and chocolate leaves. This major project was served at party for 75 thrown by my son's godmother and her husband. The crust was essentially a peanut butter cookie dough rolled to 1/8'' thick. The mousse, peanut butter and whipped cream, and the ganache a mixture of bittersweet and milk chocolates. This was a big hit.





Christmas this year was spent in New York with my parents. I packed up 8 out of 10 of the cookies/confections I made (forgetting the Quince Thumbprints much to my chagrin) and borrowed my mom's kitchen to make a chocolate caramel cheesecake and another apple crostata. The cookie/confection selection this year in addition to the thumbprints was: sweet and spicy almonds, Earl grey truffles, lemon macaroons, chocolate dipped shortbread, peanut butter and jelly squares, cornmeal nut biscotti, apricot-coconut icebox cookies, pecan-cocoa nib cookies and chocolate mint sandwich cookies. The cookies and the cheesecake are pictured below.




We returned home from New York just in time for TPA and his niece's birthday. Being that she is 10, a simple classic was in order. Devil's Food with Brown Sugar Buttercream. Where was my camera again?

Our last holiday celebration was the weekend of Epiphany. My parents came in from New York and TPA's mom up from Frankfort to enjoy our not-Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving like dinner. We enjoyed our Heritage turkey quite a bit this year, serving it with sweet potatoes baked with apples, spinach gratin, popovers and classic gravy. To finish, I made a Meyer Lemon Buttermilk Tart.



Afterwards, we headed to a close friend's birthday party, which was held at Think Cafe on Western, for which I brought an almond dacquoise iced with bittersweet chocolate buttercream rimmed with crushed almond pralines and decorated with buttercream rosettes topped with rough praline triangles.




Now I'm on a diet.

Do you have the recipe for the cheesecake with the oatmeal cookie crust. It sounds absolutely wonderful.

My wife makes this "pineapple party cake" which I will post the recipe for. Its 4 layers of yellow cake with a streusel topping on two of the layers, then filled with a whipped cream filling that has pineapple in the middle. You need to let it sit in the fridge for a day or two to be really good. I am drooling just thinking about it......

Wow, your creations are beautiful masterpieces! I second the request for the cheesecake recipe if you don't mind sharing! I love baking, but I haven't taken on the challenge of layered cakes and frostings yet. Can I become your apprentice?!

Can I spend the holidays at your house next year?

Thank you for your compliments and Pucca/Kevin T., I will PM you the recipe for the caramel apple cheesecake. It can be found in Regan Daley's "In the Sweet Kitchen" a truly excellent and comprehensive book. The two secrets to the cake not cracking were baking in a water bath (the obvious one) and letting it cool to room temperature in the oven by leaving the door slightly ajar for about 2 hours. My understanding supported by my own experimentation is that cheesecakes crack when the moisture dries out too quickly. Retaining a moist environmnent and cooling the cake slowly are essential to a crack free surface.

Hi MAG - -

Would you be willing to PM me the almond dacquoise recipe? I'm new to LTH forum but love to bake, and this cake looks fabulous!

Thanks!

Sorry for the delay, but here it is. It's an adaptation of a Marcel Desaulniers' recipe from "Desserts to Die For". Oddly, as I usually think his recipes are fantastic, I didn't like any of his base recipes, so I substituted my own tried and true ones, but the flavor combination is his.

Mocha-Almond Dacquoise
INGREDIENTS:
Dacquoise
2 cups blanched almonds
1 1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
6 large egg whites
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Espresso Buttercream:
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
6 ounces pasteurized egg whites, preferably Organic Valley
2 cups unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon instant espresso powder, dissolved in ½ teaspoon boiling water
Almond Praline:
1 ½ cups toasted sliced almonds
2 cups sugar
METHODS:
Dacquoise: Preheat oven to 300º F. Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Trace 2 10-inch circles onto a piece of parchment. Place the parchment traced side down onto a baking sheet. Combine the almonds, 2/3 cup sugar and cornstarch in a food processor and process until the nuts are almost finely ground. In the bowl of a stand mixer, whip the egg whites and salt on medium speed until white and frothy. Increase the speed to high, gradually add the sugar and whip until the egg whites hold a firm peak. Fold in 1/3 of the almond mixture into the egg whites, folding once or twice. Add remaining mixture and extract and fold until just combined. Fill a large pastry bag fitted with a ½-inch plain tip. Pipe two 10-inch rounds onto the parchment circles starting in the center and moving outwards. Bake for about 30 minutes or until firm. The circles will be lightly colored. Leave on the pans to cool.
Espresso Buttercream: Mix sugar and egg whites into bowl of stand mixer. Set bowl over pan of simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and mixture is very warm, approximately 5 minutes. Put the bowl on the stand mixer fitted with the whisk and beat on medium speed until stiff peaks form and the mixture is cool, approximately 10 minutes. While the mixer is running on medium, add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time. Add vanilla. The mixture will look curdled; don’t worry, it will come together. Reduce speed to low and beat until smooth. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Add the dissolved espresso into the chocolate and fold into the buttercream.
Almond Praline: Spread the nuts over a baking sheet lined with silpat or parchment. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and 1 teaspoon of water. Whisk to combine. Over medium high heat, let the sugar liquefy whisking occasionally. With a brush dipped in water brush the sides to remove any crystals while the sugar is liquefying. As soon as the sugar has liquefied, stop stirring and allow it to turn light brown. As soon as it has caramelized, pour it over the almonds and allow to harden at room temperature.
Assembly: Peel the cake layers from the parchment carefully and trim into even 10-inch circles. Place one on a cardboard round or platter and top with a thick layer of buttercream. Top it with the second layer. Cover the top and sides with buttercream and refrigerate for ½ hour. In the meantime, take ¾ of the praline and crush medium fine in a food processor. Coat the sides with the crushed praline. Put about ½ cup of butter cream in a pastry bag fitted with a star tip. Pipe 16 rosettes on the top of the cake. Top each rosette with a piece of praline.