Strawberry Jam & Strawberry Birthday Cake

Strawberry Jam, originally uploaded by bakerette.

I was shopping at the supermarket and found some local strawberries that looked yummy and were quite cheap. I decided to buy 6 small boxes and make strawberry jam. My husband loved strawberry jam and we usually buy "bon maman" because it tastes so natural and is more of a preserve than a jam. I used about 3 pounds of strawberries, 4 cups of sugar, a couple of squeezes of lemon juice and a splash of balsamic vinegar. The vinegar is a Nigella Lawson tip which she claims makes the strawberries strawberrier if that is a possibility. I loved the jam and it was strawberrily delicious...not sure if the balsamic contributes but I'll use it from now on anyway!
So this brings us to the next half of the title, the Birthday Cake. It was Husband's b-day on the 12th of April, and since he loves strawberries and strawberry jam, I made him??? Yep Strawberry cake. I used the Dorie Greenspan recipe "Perfect Party Cake" from the last Daring Bakers Challenge. I liked the cake a lot and, so I filled the layers with the homemade strawberry jam and a strawberry swiss meringue butter-cream and decorated it with fresh strawberries. Of course I don't always have the time to take good pics for my blog so since I was busy making all the other birthday goodies that day , all I have is a washed out pic taken with my other, less advanced camera...

Raspberry Meringue Pie

I made this pie when a close friend came over yesterday. I know that meringue is traditionally used with a lemon pie but honestly I didn't have lemons on hand so I decided to make homemade raspberry jam and use it as the pie filling. The pie crust is Pate Brisé and and it's topped with swiss meringue. The raspberries were juicy and sweet and the crust very crumbly and the meringue just added another layer of flavor and texture.
Recipe will follow soon :)

As promised here is the recipe:

For the crust:
(Pâte Brisée)

2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks of butter (226 grams)
1/4 cup ice cold water

In the bowl of a food processor, combine salt and flour, add butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, with the machine still running add the water through the feed tube , in a slow steady stream. The dough should not be wet sticky. Do not process for more than 30 seconds. Turn out dough onto a clean surface and divide in half, wrap each piece in clingfilm and pat into a disk. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour or overnight. Dough can be frozen up to one month.

Roll out to 1/4 inch thick and press into tart mould. Refrigerate for 30 mins. To blind bake, place round piece of parchment larger than the dish and fill with dried beans. Bake for 15-20 mins at 375℉ or 180℃.

For the raspberry jam:

3 cups fresh or frozen raspberries,
1.5 tbs. lemon iuce
3/4 cups of sugar
1 tbs cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt

mix all together and simmer for 10 mins till the mixture thickens.

For the Swiss Meringue:

4 large egg whites
3/4 cups of sugar
pinch of salt

In a heatproof bowl of an electric mixer combine ingredients and place over a saucepan of simmering water (water should not touch bowl) whisk till mixture is whitish and frothy and very warm to touch. sugar should be dissolved. Move the bowl to the stand mixture and whisk till mixture form soft but not dry peaks. Pipe meringue as desired and either use a torch to brown the meringue or place under broiler or light grill.

Perfect Party Cake

birthdaycake, originally uploaded by bakerette.

I just joined the Daring Bakers and even though I am officially not required to bake the March challenge since I joined in April, I was so excited to get started that I decided to bake the March Challenge anyway!
My daughter's Nanny's birthday was yesterday and so I thought it would be a good excuse to bake this cake...It's a recipe from Dorie Greenspan's book: Baking From My Home To Yours. The recipe is versatile enough that it can be filled and topped with almost anything. I made it using two 6 inch pans and then filled the cakes with strawberry preserve and swiss meringue buttercream. Covered the whole thing in swiss meringue buttercream and then topped it with pink tinted white chocolate shavings. (I got the idea to use chocolate for the topping from Tartlette, I really loved the idea of mixing white chocolate with pink coloring to obtain this very pretty topping. The original recipe calls for coconut and I hate coconut...)
We also don't have buttermilk here in Dubai so I substituted it with whole-milk and 1 tsp of vinegar.

Here is the original recipe:

Words from Dorie:
Stick a bright-coloured Post-it to this page, so you’ll always know where to turn for a just-right cake for any celebration. The original recipe was given to me by my great dear friend Nick Malgieri, of baking fame, and since getting it, I’ve found endless opportunities to make it – you will too. The cake is snow white, with an elegant tight crumb and an easygoing nature: it always bakes up perfectly; it is delicate on the tongue but sturdy in the kitchen – no fussing when it comes to slicing the layers in half or cutting tall, beautiful wedges for serving; and, it tastes just as you’d want a party cake to taste – special. The base recipe is for a cake flavoured with lemon, layered with a little raspberry jam and filled and frosted with a classic (and so simple) pure white lemony hot-meringue buttercream but, because the elements are so fundamental, they lend themselves to variation (see Playing Around), making the cake not just perfect, but also versatile.

For the Cake
2 ¼ cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract

For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut

Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.

To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Whisk together the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).

To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in more lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.

To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.

Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.

Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.

Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.

Fresh Berry Party Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.

Miniature Cake

smallcake, originally uploaded by bakerette.

I''ve been wanting to try to make a miniature 2-tiered cake for a while for many reasons. One reason is it's quicker than the bigger version and you still get a good canvas for fun decorations without having to wait to bake and assemble the larger cakes. This small cake was made using a great recipe I found by Mich Turner in her book "Fantastic Party Cakes". It's a non-flour based cake using almond meal or "ground almonds" instead of flour and so it doesn't expand too much in the oven, is very moist without adding any syrup to it and is firm enough (like brownie texture) to cut shapes out of. I tried this recipe a few weeks ago because I wanted to make small heart shaped chocolate cakes (unfortunately I didn't take pics) I cut out the hearts and saw that alot of cake was leftover from the cutting so i just tossed in a container and put it in the fridge and knew that I could make truffles of something out of it. The batter was so tasty that it seemed a waste to throw out....next morning i woke up and it was all gone..my hubby had attacked it at night...and LOVED it. I knew it would be the perfect filling for the these miniature wedding cakes. First I cut out 2 circles of each size for each individual cake, so I had 4 circles in total, each circle is almost 1 inch thick. I filled them & crumb-coated them with chocolate ganache and then left them in the fridge till they were set. Next I rolled out some marzipan and coated each small cake with a thin layer. I left the cakes out to dry for a day. Finally I used sugarpaste with some green food-coloring to cover the marzipan after wetting it lightly with boiled water. I then placed one tier oven another and secured a light green ribbon on each. Finally I used chocolate sugar paste for th ribbon. Now I tried making chocolate MMF and ended up with a rock solid lump that nearly destroyed my stand mixer. So I used some melted chocolate and mixed it with sugarpaste and left it for 24 hours. Then kneaded it with some vegetable shortening to get it softer as it seemed too dry. It still cracked and wasn't an ideal medium but it's impossible to get chocolate sugarpaste here in Dubai.

Here is the recipe for the Chocolate Almond Cake:
100g. unsalted butter diced
flour for dusting
140g. chocolate (70% cocoa solids)
6 large eggs (separated)
140g. ground almonds
1tsp almond extract
85g. golden caster sugar (you can use regular golden sugar)

-Preheat oven to 170 degrees C
-Line a 23cm tin with non-stick baking parchment, grease and dust sides with flour
-melt unsalted butter with chocolate in a bain-marie or microwave and let cool slightly
-stir in the egg yolks, almonds, and almond extract
-whisk egg whites till soft peaks form and add sugar bit by bit, mixing very well
-stir 2 tbs of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until combined and gently fold in the rest
-spoon into prepared tin and bake for 30-35 mins until well risen and firm.

(the cake may rise so high and then deflate-this is totally normal, it shouldn't be too thick and should be very dense and chewy).

You can serve this cake with some crème fraîche and dusted cocoa powder or using it to create miniature cakes.

Sugar Cookies

I just got these brand new cookie cutters in the mail and I couldn't wait to try them out. It's not easy finding decorating accessories in Dubai so I was very eager when I finally located my package at the post-office. I had to try these Bikini Cookies because I first saw them in Peggy Porschen's book and thought they were an amazing idea.. they taste amazing too. I was a bit careless with the polka dots coz I got kind of tired as I was doing a lot that day. I also think these would make great favors for a bridal shower or just a treat for a girl's night in...I can't wait to try out the rest of the cutters. I'll keep you posted :)

Pretty little cupcakes

I made these cupcakes with a vanilla sponge basic recipe, drenched them with sugar syrup and then dipped them in poured fondant. I topped each with 2 fondant flowers and leaves. I really enjoyed making these because the colors were very girly and I loved matching and playing around with my new fondant shaping tools. They really tasted yummy and everyone at home commented on how cute they looked!

Chocolate macarons

It is rumored that chocolate macarons are the most difficult to make. But since my newfound success with both almond and pistachio macarons, I decided to be brave. I didn't have dutch processed cocoa which is cocoa used by most pastry chefs. Cocoa powder is naturally acidic and can deflate the meringue after mixing, but I braved on with the regular 100% cocoa powder I bought from Jeff de Bruges here in Dubai...and you know what? acid or alkaline, they worked out fine....These are filled with a chocolate ganache filling...

For the recipe, use the basic recipe I posted earlier and just add 25g. cocoa powder to the dry ingredients.