Daring Bakers Challenge- Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting

After a few months break from the Daring Bakers Challenges, I am back with the November challenge of the Caramel Cake. I was intrigued by this recipe for several reasons, the caramel sauce that went into the cake itself and also the caramel browned butter frosting. Overall the cake was great, nicely balanced- not too sweet and the cake had a wonderful texture. With only my husband and I around, I was hesitant to make an entire 9" cake so I used some small cake pans to not only make the cake for the challenge but play around with some other ideas that came to mind. With the rest of the batter I came up with a wonderfully simple caramel poached apple cake finished with a little strussel on top requiring very little else. I'll share the details at the end of the post. As you can see I was inspired by the apple theme and also used apple chips to decorate the top of the cake.



Dolores of Culinary Curiosity co-hosted this months challenge with Alex of Brownie and Blondie and Jenny of Foray into Food. The recipe was given to us by a fellow blogger Shuna Fish Lydon at Eggbeater

CARAMEL CAKE WITH CARAMELIZED BUTTER FROSTING
as published on Bay Area Bites

FOR THE CAKE:
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 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, and cream the mixture 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.

FOR THE 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.

FOR THE 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.

This is the variation I had mentioned up at the top. I took some of the leftover caramel syrup and mixed it with equal parts apple juice and added 1 tsp of mulling spices to the pan and gently poached some apple quarters until they were tender but still firm. Ideally these should sit in the poaching liquid overnight or at the very least allowed to sit in the poaching liquid until both the pears and liquid are completely cool. After that I put some cake batter into the pan (filled about 1/3 of the way up the pan) and then placed the apples on top and then sprinkled some strussel on top (optional). I made one cake without the strussel and worked out as well. With the fruit it no longer needed the frosting making it a little more casual and not quite as sweet. This cake was definitely a keeper and the frosting as well!



***I found that I may not have cooked the syrup down quite as far as I should have, I found that the bottom of my cake was a little dense and I have a feeling it may have been from a little too much liquid in the batter. When I was boiling my syrup I temped the syrup at 220 F and next time I would go up to 224 F and I think that would eliminate the problem. For those without a thermometer just follow the original directions using your fingers as your guide!

Plum Danish Braid

Fresh danish and iced coffee make a wonderful afternoon treat. This is the June Daring Baker Challenge, and in typical fashion, it's due today and I finished it this morning. The recipe came from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking. I have this book and like it a lot, so it was a lot of fun to have a push to try this recipe. I make a lot of danish and croissant at work, and don't usually make it at home, but it was so nice this afternoon, after a day of being lazy and hiding out at home, to sit down to danish that was still warm from the oven.
The trick about any sort of laminated doughs is incorporating the butter in evenly. It's important that the butter and dough are the same temperature, it is evenly spread over the dough and also rolled out consistently. As I was going through my lamination's I had some spots where the butter was colder than the rest and didn't get rolled in evenly. To be honest, until the danish went into the oven I didn't have very high hopes for it. I had made a fresh plum filling using diced plums which I tossed in some cornstarch and a little brown sugar. I cooked the filling in a saucepan adding some plum butter I made last summer to give some more body and flavor to the filling. After it had cooled, it was thick and had a bright tart flavor but was still sweet- the essence of a good plum. It stayed in the pastry nicely, and I was pleasantly surprised when I checked on my danish to see that all of the filling had stayed inside and the braid had held together nicely. It was a very warm day, the house was at the perfect temperature for proofing dough- but too hot for having the oven on! The sacrifices of a baker!
Below I have posted the directions as given for the challenge. Included is a recipe for an apple filling for the braid ( I wasn't measuring when I made my plum filling this morning). The filling is very flexible and you could do all sorts of things- but you do want to make sure the filling is fairly thick, too much moisture will interfere with the dough baking and also run out of the braid. While we did a braid for the challenge, you can use this dough for all sorts of danish shapes. I have the other half of my dough frozen for a later use. This may seem intimidating but freshly made pastry is unparalleled and worth all the work! If you have ever thought about making your own puff pastry this is a good place to begin. The lamination's (rolling the butter into the dough) are less for danish and it isn't solely dependent on the layers of butter for it's leavening (like puff pastry) because of the yeast it will still rise- it's pretty forgiving and a good place to start!

DANISH DOUGH (from Sherry Yard's The Secrets of Baking)

Makes 2-1/2 pounds dough

Ingredients
For the dough (Detrempe)
1 ounce fresh yeast or 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
Zest of 1 orange, finely grated
3/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
2 large eggs, chilled
1/4 cup fresh orange juice
3-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt

For the butter block (Beurrage)
1/2 pound (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour

DOUGH
Combine yeast and milk in the bowl of a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed. Slowly add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice. Mix well. Change to the dough hook and add the salt with the flour, 1 cup at a time, increasing speed to medium as the flour is incorporated. Knead the dough for about 5 minutes, or until smooth. You may need to add a little more flour if it is sticky. Transfer dough to a lightly floured baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Without a standing mixer: Combine yeast and milk in a bowl with a hand mixer on low speed or a whisk. Add sugar, orange zest, cardamom, vanilla extract, vanilla seeds, eggs, and orange juice and mix well. Sift flour and salt on your working surface and make a fountain. Make sure that the “walls” of your fountain are thick and even. Pour the liquid in the middle of the fountain. With your fingertips, mix the liquid and the flour starting from the middle of the fountain, slowly working towards the edges. When the ingredients have been incorporated start kneading the dough with the heel of your hands until it becomes smooth and easy to work with, around 5 to 7 minutes. You might need to add more flour if the dough is sticky.

BUTTER BLOCK
1. Combine butter and flour in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and beat on medium speed for 1 minute. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the paddle and then beat for 1 minute more, or until smooth and lump free. Set aside at room temperature.
2. After the detrempe has chilled 30 minutes, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Roll the dough into a rectangle approximately 18 x 13 inches and ¼ inch thick. The dough may be sticky, so keep dusting it lightly with flour. Spread the butter evenly over the center and right thirds of the dough. Fold the left edge of the detrempe to the right, covering half of the butter. Fold the right third of the rectangle over the center third. The first turn has now been completed. Mark the dough by poking it with your finger to keep track of your turns, or use a sticky and keep a tally. Place the dough on a baking sheet, wrap it in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Place the dough lengthwise on a floured work surface. The open ends should be to your right and left. Roll the dough into another approximately 13 x 18 inch, ¼-inch-thick rectangle. Again, fold the left third of the rectangle over the center third and the right third over the center third. No additional butter will be added as it is already in the dough. The second turn has now been completed. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Roll out, turn, and refrigerate the dough two more times, for a total of four single turns. Make sure you are keeping track of your turns. Refrigerate the dough after the final turn for at least 5 hours or overnight. The Danish dough is now ready to be used. If you will not be using the dough within 24 hours, freeze it. To do this, roll the dough out to about 1 inch in thickness, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and freeze. Defrost the dough slowly in the refrigerator for easiest handling. Danish dough will keep in the freezer for up to 1 month.

APPLE FILLING
Makes enough for two braids

Ingredients
4 Fuji or other apples, peeled, cored, and cut into ¼-inch pieces
1/2 cup sugar
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 vanilla bean, split and scraped
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
4 tablespoons unsalted butter

Toss all ingredients except butter in a large bowl. Melt the butter in a sauté pan over medium heat until slightly nutty in color, about 6 - 8 minutes. Then add the apple mixture and sauté until apples are softened and caramelized, 10 to 15 minutes. If you’ve chosen Fujis, the apples will be caramelized, but have still retained their shape. Pour the cooked apples onto a baking sheet to cool completely before forming the braid. (If making ahead, cool to room temperature, seal, and refrigerate.) They will cool faster when spread in a thin layer over the surface of the sheet. After they have cooled, the filling can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Left over filling can be used as an ice cream topping, for muffins, cheesecake, or other pastries.

DANISH BRAID
Makes enough for 2 large braids

Ingredients
1 recipe Danish Dough (see below)
2 cups apple filling, jam, or preserves (see below)

For the egg wash: 1 large egg, plus 1 large egg yolk

1. Line a baking sheet with a silicone mat or parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll the Danish Dough into a 15 x 20-inch rectangle, ¼ inch thick. If the dough seems elastic and shrinks back when rolled, let it rest for a few minutes, then roll again. Place the dough on the baking sheet.
2. Along one long side of the pastry make parallel, 5-inch-long cuts with a knife or rolling pastry wheel, each about 1 inch apart. Repeat on the opposite side, making sure to line up the cuts with those you’ve already made.
3. Spoon the filling you’ve chosen to fill your braid down the center of the rectangle. Starting with the top and bottom “flaps”, fold the top flap down over the filling to cover. Next, fold the bottom “flap” up to cover filling. This helps keep the braid neat and helps to hold in the filling. Now begin folding the cut side strips of dough over the filling, alternating first left, then right, left, right, until finished. Trim any excess dough and tuck in the ends.

Egg Wash
Whisk together the whole egg and yolk in a bowl and with a pastry brush, lightly coat the braid.

Proofing and Baking
1. Spray cooking oil (Pam…) onto a piece of plastic wrap, and place over the braid. Proof at room temperature or, if possible, in a controlled 90 degree F environment for about 2 hours, or until doubled in volume and light to the touch.
2. Near the end of proofing, preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Position a rack in the center of the oven.
3. Bake for 10 minutes, then rotate the pan so that the side of the braid previously in the back of the oven is now in the front. Lower the oven temperature to 350 degrees F, and bake about 15-20 minutes more, or until golden brown. Cool and serve the braid either still warm from the oven or at room temperature. The cooled braid can be wrapped airtight and stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 days, or freeze for 1 month.

Cheesecake Pops

I first have to apologize for the lack of posts lately, but our kitchen remodel has been keeping us very busy (not to mention challenged to cook post worthy items). I think if it weren't for the Daring Bakers I probably would have even fewer postings in the last month!
This month's theme was Cheesecake pops. The recipe can be found here. This recipe is an adaptation of from a book by Jill O’Connors called ”Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey.” These are a little time consuming to scoop and roll into balls, but a fun way to eat cheesecake. These are great for parties because the portioning is taken care of and I think the sticks lend themselves to creative serving ideas. In my picture I had a cup filled with rock salt, and stuck them in the salt. I always love small portions of food because I usually find myself satisfied after a few bites, and this was definitely the case with the cheesecake. It was also a nice ratio of chocolate to cheesecake. On the outside I rolled them into two different toppings. The lighter more fine coating was some leftover candied peanuts that were finely crushed and the other was Feullitinne - a somewhat speciality item, but essentially the same as a ground up sugar ice cream cone. These were a lot of fun, and the cheesecake recipe came out very creamy and subtle which makes it the perfect base for all sorts of fun toppings!

Please be checking back to my blog, as our kitchen is almost finished and I will be cooking a lot more now (and posting more items).

Perfect Party Cake

This was a Daring Baker Challenge that came from Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours. This is a great book that I had briefly from the library but is definitely going on my cookbook wish list. It's got lots of great recipes and this cake definitely showcases that! As an instructor teaching pastry this mixing method sort of goes against what we teach, but being the obedient daring baker that I am, I followed the directions to a T and of course it came out great! One of the great things about this club is you are forced to try things that you may have otherwise amended or not done at all, and you end up discovering new and great recipes! With all that said, I debated long and hard about whether I was going to participate in this challenge or sit it out. Why? We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel and don't really have one at the moment! Luckily for me I have plenty of kitchens at work that I'm able to use, so I baked the cake and made the frosting there, then took it home with me! The space was tight and a little difficult to decorate, it's not my best but I still managed! Of course after given permission to change the flavors and frosting I did... maybe just habit, always having to make it my own, although those flavors would have been really good. I couldn't bring myself to make more buttercream- I'm around it all day at work. I was inspired by a dessert I had made at one of the restaurants I worked at. It was a Earl Grey Ice Cream Roulade. It was a chocolate sponge rolled up with earl grey ice cream and I garnished it with candied orange. The flavors worked so well together that I wanted to recreate them in the cake. I have since learned (unfortunately too late) that I didn't use enough tea, apparently to flavor a cake with tea it takes a lot! You can't detect tea in any part of the cake- I had it in the cake, and also in the frosting/ filling which was a whipped ganache. I covered the top with candied orange, which still worked well with the chocolate, regardless of the tea.
























Here is the recipe for the cake used in the challenge, it made a great white cake. I didn't include the tea I put into the cake (the little dark specks you see) because that still needs some work. I used a earl grey whipped ganache as the frosting and filling, which I also am not going to post at this time, I would like to get the right proportion of earl grey before posting that recipe. Directions for the candied orange on top can be found here, from my earlier post. The only difference is I cut the strips very thin and drained the syrup from the zest, but didn't let it dry out at all, instead put it on the cake still moist and very soft (if it was really hard or chewy the texture wouldn't match well). As you can see I also used a different pan, a loaf pan that I trimmed down and sliced into three layers. You can do either without adjustment to the recipe. You could still use two loaf pans. This is a great white cake recipe and would encourage you to try it!
Perfect Party Cake (taken from Baking From My Home To Yours)
2 1/4 cups cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk
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



Getting Ready
Center 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.
Put 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).