BBQ Recap & Sweet Links

A couple of weekends ago, my fiancé and I hosted an end of summer BBQ. (I know, I'm very behind on posting.) This summer has gone by so fast and so much of our free time has been spent on wedding planning that we wanted to get in one last summer celebration before the seasons change.

It was also the last BBQ at my house which was somewhat bittersweet. But we did it right – great friends and great food made for a great night!

We provided the meat and fixings, refreshments and desserts. Oh did we have desserts...but more on that later!

We asked guests to bring a salad or side dish to share and we had an overflowing table of amazing and delicious dishes. We have some very talented friends and I definitely need to track down some of the recipes!

Unfortunately I didn’t get a picture of everything, but some of the highlights were:

Broccoli, Almond and Grape Salad – It might sound odd, but it was wonderful
Cha Cha Chicken Canapes – These were all gone by the end of the night
Deviled Eggs – A classic; they were gone immediately
Fruit Salad – Very refreshing
Roasted Vegetables – Delicious; they balanced out the sweets, or so I like to tell myself
Homemade Baked Beans – Perfect for a BBQ
Baked Jalepeno Cheese Dip – This is one of my favorites.
Pioneer Woman’s Bacon Jalepeno Poppers – Of course!

I’m sure I’m forgetting some of the fabulous dishes, so my apologies, they were all great and there were just too many to keep track of.

Also, my fiancé did an excellent job at the grill!

To finish off the menu, we had a selection of desserts.

Everybody had their personal favorites; which is the whole point of offering a selection of desserts. Even some of the items that I wasn’t thrilled with found a fan in the crowd. Below is a list of the desserts (with links to the recipes) and my editorial thoughts.

Italian Cream Cake (from Pioneer Woman’s Friend) – I was very much looking forward to this and thought it would be my favorite. Sadly, however, I wasn’t as thrilled with it as I anticipated…it was really, really sweet; perhaps a tad too sweet. I used unsalted butter in the recipe (because I always use unsalted butter for baking) but I’m wondering if salted butter would have balanced out some of the sweetness…the recipe did not specify.

Better Than Crack Brownies (from How Sweet Treats) – This were a crowd favorite, they were delicious and not very hard to make at all. If you like peanut butter and chocolate, this is a must try.

Chewy Lime and Coconut Sugar Cookies (from Two Peas and their Pod) – These were my favorite! I love coconut and the hint of lime gave them the perfect fresh and tropical taste. Very good!

Brown Butter Pound Cake Ice Cream Petit Fours (from July Daring Bakers Challenge) – I liked how the pound cake turned out; I wasn’t thrilled with the dark chocolate glaze. These were definitely not my favorite, but they did find a few fans that loved the dark chocolate glaze.

Enjoy!

Daring Bakers: Brown Butter Pound Cake Ice Cream Petit Fours

The August 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Elissa of 17 and Baking. For the first time, The Daring Bakers partnered with Sugar High Fridays for a co-event and Elissa was the gracious hostess of both. Using the theme of beurre noisette, or browned butter, Elissa chose to challenge Daring Bakers to make a pound cake to be used in either a Baked Alaska or in Ice Cream Petit Fours. The sources for Elissa’s challenge were Gourmet magazine and David Lebovitz’s “The Perfect Scoop”.

I chose to go with the Ice Cream Petit Fours. I thought it’d be a safer bet than the Baked Alaska; in my mind the Baked Alaska would be tougher and after last month’s challenge I really didn’t want to risk a second disaster in a row…plus I don’t have a kitchen torch L

It was my first time to brown butter and I think it went alright, next time I’ll probably stop cooking the butter just a tad earlier, but it turned out fine.

Since last month’s challenge also included ice cream, and since my attempt didn’t quite make it that far, I did get to save myself a step this month and use the ice cream I made last month. I think it was a bit more than what was required this month because my layer of ice cream ended up much thicker than the pictures from the examples, but that’s okay.

Ice Cream without an Ice Cream Maker

I also did a terribly job cutting the petit fours into neat little squares, some were so uneven they couldn’t stand up on their own. Oh well…

Uneven Petit Fours in the Freezer

I chose to use the Agave Nectar in my chocolate glaze; I’m not sure if it was that or just the cocoa content of the dark chocolate I chose, but it was very dark chocolate-y…a bit too much so for me, but others liked it.

I served the Ice Cream Petit Fours at a BBQ last weekend; more details from the BBQ will be posted later. Unfortunately, because there were so many wonderful things to choose from (I was afraid the petit fours wouldn’t turn out); there were plenty left.

Apologies for the lack of pictures, it's partly due to my lack of hands and partly due to lack of time (preparing for the BBQ).

If you want to try them, give me a call and I’ll give you some from my freezer OR you can try making them yourself! Here are the recipes (my commentary italicized):

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Brown Butter Pound Cake Ice Cream Petit Fours

Vanilla Ice Cream

(Note: I did not use this recipe, I used the recipe from last month's challenge.)

1 cup (250ml) whole milk

A pinch of salt

3/4 cup (165g) sugar

1 vanilla bean, split lengthwise OR 2 teaspoons (10ml) pure vanilla extract

2 cups (500ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream

5 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon (5ml) pure vanilla extract

1. Heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams. Scrape out the seeds of the vanilla bean with a paring knife and add to the milk, along with the bean pod. Cover, remove from heat, and let infuse for an hour. (If you do not have a vanilla bean, simply heat the milk, salt, and sugar in a medium saucepan until the liquid steams, then let cool to room temperature.)
2. Set up an ice bath by placing a 2-quart (2 litre) bowl inside a large bowl partially filled with water and ice. Put a strainer on top of the smaller bowl and pour in the cream.
3. In another bowl, lightly beat the egg yolks together. Reheat the milk in the medium saucepan until warmed, and then gradually pour ¼ cup warmed milk into the yolks, constantly whisking to keep the eggs from scrambling. Once the yolks are warmed, scrape the yolk and milk mixture back into the saucepan of warmed milk and cook over low heat. Stir constantly and scrape the bottom with a spatula until the mixture thickens into a custard which thinly coats the back of the spatula.
4. Strain the custard into the heavy cream and stir the mixture until cooled. Add the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon [5ml] if you are using a vanilla bean; 3 teaspoons [15ml] if you are not using a vanilla bean) and refrigerate until thoroughly chilled, preferably overnight.
5. Remove the vanilla bean and freeze in an ice cream maker. If you don’t have an ice cream maker, you can make it without a machine. See instructions from David Lebovitz: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/archives/2007/07/making_ice_crea_1.html

Brown Butter Pound Cake

19 tablespoons (9.5 oz) (275g) unsalted (sweet) butter

2 cups (200g) sifted cake flour (not self-rising; sift before measuring) (You can make 1 cup of cake flour by placing 2 tablespoons of corn starch in a 1 cup measure, and filling to the top with all purpose flour.) - I used the corn starch method, I couldn't find cake flour anywhere!

1 teaspoon (5g) baking powder

1/2 teaspoon (3g) salt

1/2 cup (110g) packed light brown sugar

1/3 (75g) cup granulated sugar

4 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 325°F/160°C and put a rack in the center. Butter and flour a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan.
2. Place the butter in a 10” (25cm) skillet over medium heat. Brown the butter until the milk solids are a dark chocolate brown and the butter smells nutty. (Don’t take your eyes off the butter in case it burns.) Pour into a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, 15-30 minutes.
3. Whisk together cake flour, baking powder, and salt.
4. Beat the brown butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar in an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing well, and then the vanilla extract.
5. Stir in the flour mixture at low speed until just combined.
6. Scrape the batter into the greased and floured 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) square pan. Smooth the top with a rubber spatula and rap the pan on the counter. Bake until golden brown on top and when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25 minutes.
7. Cool in the pan 10 minutes. Run a knife along the edge and invert right-side-up onto a cooling rack to cool completely.

Chocolate Glaze

9 ounces (250g) dark chocolate, finely chopped

1 cup (250 ml) heavy (approx 35% butterfat) cream

1 1/2 tablespoons (32g) light corn syrup, Golden syrup, or agave nectar (I used agave nectar)

2 teaspoons (10ml) vanilla extract

Stir the heavy cream and light corn syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add the dark chocolate. Let sit 30 seconds, then stir to completely melt the chocolate. Stir in the vanilla and let cool until tepid before glazing the petit fours.

Assembly Instructions

1. Line a 9”x9” (23cmx23cm) pan with plastic wrap, so that no sides of the pan are exposed and so there is some extra plastic wrap hanging off the sides. Spread 1 ¾ to 2 cups (450ml to 500ml) ice cream into the pan. Cover with more plastic wrap and freeze several hours.
2. Once the brown butter pound cake has completely cooled, level the top with a cake leveler or a serrated knife. Then split the cake in half horizontally to form two thin layers.
3. Unwrap the frozen ice cream. Flip out onto one of the layers of cake and top with the second layer of cake. Wrap well in plastic wrap and return to the freezer overnight.
4. Make the chocolate glaze (see above.)
5. While the glaze cools, trim ¾” (2cm) off each side of the ice cream cake to leave a perfectly square 7.5” (19cm) ice cream cake. Cut the cake into twenty five petit fours, each 1.5”x1.5” (4cmx4cm).

6. Glaze the petit fours one at a time: place a petit four on a fork and spoon chocolate glaze over it.
7. Place the petit fours on a parchment-lined baking sheet and return to the freezer for one hour.

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Enjoy!

Daring Bakers: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake AKA My Baking Disaster

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s World – Life and Food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.

Unfortunately, my recipe was a complete bomb and not so much of a bombe (sorry, I couldn't resist).

Here's what it was supposed to look like:

Pictures from Sunita

The recipe called for homemade everything. I made the ice cream, without an ice cream maker. (I haven't tasted it yet, but that part appeared to work.)

Then I made the swiss roll cake and that's where everything went terribly wrong. The eggs didn't beat up like they were supposed to...I stood there for over 20 minutes and they just weren't getting the right consistency; I think my hand mixer maybe didn't have enough power or something (the recipe said prep should be about 10 minutes and I was already way past that). I decided to move forward anyway.

The recipe said that it should bake for 10-12 minutes. I didn't know if my oven temp was off, but it was not setting up at all...I had it in there for over 30 minutes. (See update below!)

I thought maybe it was supposed to be like that, so I took it out and tried to flip it onto a kitchen towel...but sure enough it wasn't done and it didn't work at all.

I've narrowed the cause of the failure to one or more of the following factors:

* I halved the recipe (but the ratios were the same so that should have been fine)

* The eggs didn't reach the right consistency before folding in the flour and chocolate (this is most likely the cause)

* My oven temp is off

* I maybe could have been a bit more focused on the recipe instead of trying to multi-task, but things have been so busy lately I had to squeeze it in on Sunday night to meet the deadline

***UPDATE: As I was finalizing this blog post I realized my error. I didn't see that the recipe provided two different baking temps (one C and one F). I obviously used the wrong one! Clearly I should not have been multi-tasking and should have read the recipe more closely.***

Oh well, you can't win them all :( And now I know. It's a rather embarrassing error, but these things happen in real life.

I'll have to revisit this recipe sometime in the future. Maybe after I get a stand mixer, I have a little more time and I set the oven temp correctly.

For those of you that want to take a stab at it, the recipe is below.

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Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

(inspired by the recipe of the same name from Taste of Home)

For the recipe with step-by-step photos visit Sonita's site: http://sunitabhuyan.com/

The Swiss Rolls
Preparation time- 10 minutes
Baking time- 10-12 minutes
Rolling and cooling time- at least 30 minutes
Filling-5-8 minutes
Filling and rolling- 5-10 minutes

Ingredients
6 medium sized eggs
1 C / 225 gms caster sugar /8 oz+ extra for rolling
6 tblsp / 45gms/ a pinch over 1.5 oz of all purpose (plain) flour + 5 tblsp/40gm /a pinch under 1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted together
2 tblsp /30ml / 1 fl oz of boiling water
a little oil for brushing the pans

For the filling
2C / 500 mls/ 16 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla pod, cut into small pieces of about ½ cm (or 1 tsp vanilla extract)
5 tblsp / 70gms/2.5oz of caster sugar

Method
Pre heat the oven at 200 deg C /400 deg F approximately. Brush the baking pans ( 11 inches by 9 inches ) with a little oil and line with greaseproof baking paper. If you have just one pan, bake one cake and then let the pan cool completely before using it for the next cake.
In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar and beat till very thick; when the beaters are lifted, it should leave a trail on the surface for at least 10 seconds.
Add the flour mixture, in three batches and fold in gently with a spatula. Fold in the water.
Divide the mixture among the two baking pans and spread it out evenly, into the corners of the pans.
Place a pan in the centre of the pre heated oven and bake for about 10-12 minutes or till the centre is springy to the touch.
Spread a kitchen towel on the counter and sprinkle a little caster sugar over it.
Turn the cake on to the towel and peel away the baking paper. Trim any crisp edges.
Starting from one of the shorter sides, start to make a roll with the towel going inside. Cool the wrapped roll on a rack, seam side down.
Repeat the same for the next cake as well.
Grind together the vanilla pieces and sugar in a food processer till nicely mixed together. If you are using vanilla extract, just grind the sugar on its own and then add the sugar and extract to the cream.
In a large bowl, add the cream and vanilla-sugar mixture and beat till very thick.
Divide the cream mixture between the completely cooled cakes.
Open the rolls and spread the cream mixture, making sure it does not go right to the edges (a border of ½ an inch should be fine).
Roll the cakes up again, this time without the towel. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge till needed, seam side down.

The Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation time-5 minutes+freezing
I have made the ice cream without an ice cream maker.

Ingredients
2 and ½ C / 625 ml / 20 fl oz of whipping cream
1 vanilla bean, minced or 1 tsp/ 5 ml/ .15 fl oz vanilla extract
½ C / 115gms/ 4 oz of granulated sugar

Method
Grind together the sugar and vanilla in a food processor. In a mixing bowl, add the cream and vanilla –sugar mixture and whisk lightly till everything is mixed together. If you are using the vanilla extract, grind the sugar on its own and then and the sugar along with the vanilla extract to the cream.
Pour into a freezer friendly container and freeze till firm around the edges. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

The Hot Fudge Sauce

Preparation time-2 minutes
Cooking time-2 minutes

Ingredients
1 C / 230gms/ 8 oz of caster sugar
3 tblsp / 24gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tblsp /15gms/ 1 oz of cornflour/cornstarch
1 and ½ C /355ml /12 fl oz of water
1 tblsp /14gms/ 1 oz butter
1 tsp/5 ml / .15 fl oz vanilla extract

Method
In a small saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cocoa powder, cornflour and water.
Place the pan over heat, and stir constantly, till it begins to thicken and is smooth (for about 2 minutes).
Remove from heat and mix in the butter and vanilla. Keep aside to cool .

The Chocolate Ice Cream
Preparation time- 5 minutes + freezing

Ingredients
2C/ 500 ml whipping cream
1 C/230gms/8 oz caster sugar
3 tblsp/ 24 gms/1.5 oz of natural unsweetened cocoa powder

Method
Grind together the sugar and the cocoa powder in a food processor .
In a saucepan, add all the ingredients and whisk lightly.
Place the pan over heat and keep stirring till it begins to bubble around the edges.
Remove from heat and cool completely before transferring to a freezer friendly container till firm around the edges. If you are using an ice cream maker, churn the ice cream according to the manufacturer’s instruction, after the mixture has cooled completely.
5. Remove from the freezer, beat till smooth and return to the freezer. Do this 3-4 times and then set completely.

Assembly

1. Cut the Swiss rolls into 20 equal slices ( approximately 2 cms each ).
2. Cover the bottom and sides of the bowl in which you are going to set the dessert with cling film/plastic wrap.
3. Arrange two slices at the bottom of the pan, with their seam sides facing each other. Arrange the Swiss roll slices up the bowl, with the seam sides facing away from the bottom, to cover the sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till the slices are firm (at least 30 minutes).
4. Soften the vanilla ice cream. Take the bowl out of the freezer, remove the cling film cover and add the ice cream on top of the cake slices. Spread it out to cover the bottom and sides of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and freeze till firm ( at least 1 hour)
5. Add the fudge sauce over the vanilla ice cream, cover and freeze till firm . ( at least an hour)
6. Soften the chocolate ice cream and spread it over the fudge sauce. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 4-5 hours till completely set .
7. Remove the plastic cover, and place the serving plate on top of the bowl. Turn it upside down and remove the bowl and the plastic lining. If the bowl does not come away easily, wipe the outsides of the bowl with a kitchen towel dampened with hot water. The bowl will come away easily.
8. Keep the cake out of the freezer for at least 10 minutes before slicing, depending on how hot your region is. Slice with a sharp knife, dipped in hot water.

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Good luck and be sure you have the right oven temperature set ;)

Summer Cupcake Series - III

It is week III of the Summer Cupcake Series, if you missed the first two weeks you can catch up with the links below:

Week I - Tropical Cupcakes

Week II - Watermelon Cupcakes

One of my favorite summer sounds is hearing the ice cream truck; it just doesn't seem like summer without ice cream. (I'm not a huge ice cream fan, but I do it enjoy it from time to time.)

In honor of ice cream as a long standing summer tradition, I wanted to share with you my Cupcake Cones.

I made these about 4 years ago for a friend's birthday.

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Cupcake Cones

1 box mix or recipe for your favorite cake

~24 ice cream cones (with a flat bottom so they can stand up)

2 cans or 1 recipe of your favorite icing

Your favorite ice cream toppings (sprinkles, nuts, coconut, etc.)

Make the cake batter according to mix instructions or recipe.

Place the cones in a cupcake pan (if they have a flat bottom they should stay standing, however if you're worried about moving the pan and having them fall you can scrunch up some foil and place them in each cup of the pan around the cone for extra support).

Fill each cone with batter about 1/3 to half full. Because most cones are skinnier on the bottom the cake should bake up to fill the top of the cone, but if you fill it too full the cake will bake over the sides of the cone (you can do a test cone first if you're worried about overflow).

Bake according to mix intstructions or recipe for cupcake times. Let cool.

Once the cupcakes are cool, you can start decorating. I filled a pastry bag with icing and I used a larger star tip to get the ice cream swirl effect, but you could use any size or shape tip you prefer. (You don't even have to use a pastry bag, you could just use a spatula to ice the cupcake cones. I just prefer the swirl look.)

On top of the icing, sprinkle on your favorite toppings. I just used colored sprinkles for half of mine and left the other half plain. But you really could use anything, whatever your favorite ice cream topping is, just sprinkle it on top of the icing (although, hot fudge might not work so well).

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These are great for parties for any age because they are so fun and festive. Plus with these you don't have to worry about the hot summer day melting away your dessert (unless it's so hot the icing melts, but then you probably should find some shade and get out of the sun anyway).

Enjoy!