A Touch of the Blarney

For the past couple of years my friends have been having a cooking competition.  This year, since I have nothing better to do, I'm going - and, as a judge.  The theme of this year's smackdown was - meatballs!  I didn't want to show up empty-handed so I figured I'd make something "Irish" to bring.  This is when I realized how I am SO not Irish.  I don't think I've ever eaten an authentic Irish meal.  (This is a lie.  I did in Killarney.  Some stew of sorts, but thats neither here, nor there...)  Since baking is my thing,  Irish Soda Bread sounded like the most logical choice.

The crust of the traditional loaf

I think I've tried it once in my life - and I wasn't a fan.  I really am not even sure what it is.  Cue research.  An authentic, traditional soda bread has only four ingredients: flour, salt, baking soda and buttermilk.  It should have a tender crumb with a rough-textured, crunchy crust.  Of course, it has been Americanized.  How?  By adding sugar, butter, and inclusions!  (Caraway seeds and raisins.)  Let's make it sweeter and fattier - Céad míle fáilte to America.

The Americanized version.

I decided to make a variation of each.  The traditional version was way to bland for me, plus, I am not really a fan of buttermilk as a featured flavor.  The crumb and crust, however, were spot on.  The Americanized version appealed to my palate a lot more.  It still had a delicate crumb and crunchy crust but, with some sweetness and a decent bit of butter, had a lovely anise scent and flavor from the caraway seeds.

Caraway Seeds & Raisins.

Would I make it again?  Eh, maybe next St. Patty's Day...

Erin go bragh!

P.S.  Congrats to Lindsay for making the most least-offensive meatball!!

A Visit To The Winery

Last weekend I got to celebrate the birthday of a good friend from high school.  We had a bus pick us up at 10am (you know you're getting old when the party starts so damn early!) to escorted us to Renault Winery in South Jersey.  We took part in a wine tasting and tour before heading across the street to dine at Joseph's Restaurant. 

I was honored when the birthday girl, Lauren - or Smitty as we call her - asked me to make her cake.  When I asked her what she wanted, her response was, "I love purple."  Hmmmm.

Since we were headed to a winery, I wanted to incorporate that into the theme, but not in the presentation - a cake with grapes just reminds me of a retirement party, wedding in Napa or an eightieth birthday party.  (FYI, Smitty has a loooooong way to go before we celebrate that!)  So, I thought it would be fun to incorporate the wine into the flavor of the cake. The biggest problem is that I don't like wine.  It's just not something I enjoy.  Every now and then I find a dessert wine or late-harvest Riesling that I like, but that's not often.  I wasn't about to let that stop me.

I knew I didn't want to flavor the cake itself or use the wine as a soaking syrup.  Unless it's a geniose, no thank you.  That left the filling.  I thought about a red wine ganache, but feared that would be too heavy.  I decided to try a red wine buttercream.  In order to maintain the consistency that I wanted, I would have to change the property of the wine.  Adding straight up liquid to the buttercream would not do me any favors.  The most logical solution was to make a jam with the wine as a base.  (Side note: I have a new found addiction for canning so this was right up my alley!!)  Once the jam was complete - and cooled - I added it to the buttercream and made a test cake, but I wasn't thrilled.  It was too fruity and the wine notes were just not coming through.  In order to maintain the concentrated flavor, I spread it on the vanilla cake and topped it with a layer of vanilla buttercream.  It still fell flat - very one note and blah.  I was at a momentary loss, however, when in doubt - add nutella! 

I made another batch of vanilla cake, spread a layer of the jam on it and topped it off with a layer of nutella buttercream - GREAT SUCCESS!! 

As far as the decorations, I covered the cake with purple fondant and applied hand-painted "sequins" in various shades of purple and silver to create a broken mosaic.  Since ombre is in fashion, I figured it would be fun! 

Red Wine Jam - adapted from Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving

3 1/4 cups dry red wine (use something you like but keep it cheap!)
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
50 grams fruit pectin
4 1/2 cups sugar.

Prepare six 8-oz jars.  (Google how to do this!!)

In a large bowl, carefully whisk together the sugar and pectin, set aside.
In a large, deep stainless steal sauce pan, combine the wine, lemon juice, vanilla pulp and bean.  Bring to a simmer and turn off heat.  Let steep 30 minutes. 
After steeping, remove the bean and bring the wine mixture to a boil over high heat, stirring frequently.
Add the sugar mixture in one addition, stirring constantly.
Allow to come to a full boil, stirring constantly, for two minutes.
Remove from heat.
Skim off foam, if any, and quickly pour into prepared jars leaving 1/4 inch of head space.
Wipe rim, apply center lid and screw band down until fingertip-tight.
Process the jars for 10 minutes in boiling water.
Remove jars, cool, and store in a cool, dark place.

Be sure to label!  These bad boys have a shelf life of a year.  Enjoy!

Hail to the King...

I've always wanted to make a King's Cake, but whenever I think of it, the season has passed.  The cake is typically served on the Epiphany (12 days after Christmas) through Mardi Gras.  It is rare to come across this cake in the Northeast - it's more of a Gulf Coast kind of goodie.  The cake was supposedly brought to that region from France and Spain where it is associated with Carnival (also known as Mardi Gras.)  When I saw that this cake was featured in The New York Times Dining Section this past week, I decided I should finally make it!  

The cake is usually "stuffed" with a trinket.  The traditional trinket is a bean, however, nowadays, a plastic infant is inserted into the cake after it is baked.  Whoever gets the slice with the trinket is king (or queen) for a day!  Another tradition is that the person who gets the trinket is responsible for bringing a King's Cake to the next appropriate occasion.

Because there are so many different countries that make their own version of the cake, it is hard to figure out what the original cake may have been.  To my knowledge, the most traditional version is a yeast "cake" rolled with a cinnamon sugar (think cinnamon roll,) shaped into a ring and glazed with icing and sprinkles.  At some point, fillings were added - the most popular being a cherry/cream cheese mix.  Other variations I've come across include chocolate, praline or straight-up pie filling.  Being that there were so many options, I decided to make it non-traditional and made a cream cheese filling.  As far as the sprinkles go, the colors - purple, green and gold - are the traditional colors of Mardi Gras.  And, coincidentally, there are three colors - one for each of the three Kings that visited Jesus.

The recipe reads as an enriched bread recipe and the characteristics are the same, so I'm not sure why it's a cake. I guess cake is more regal than bread?  With that said, who cares what is called!

The dough is rolled into a rectangle with the filling spread on top and rolled.  The log is then shaped into a ring and scored with a razor.  This gives it cool looking grooves and, more importantly, controls the shape of the cake during baking.

Fresh out of the oven.

Getting the sprinkles together while the cake is cooling.  Did you know - you can dye sugar by adding a drop of food color and mixing well.  Do this by hand, but be sure to wear a glove.

The finished King's Cake!!  By the way, I didn't bother putting a trinket in it.  We all know I'm the King. ;)

Hot Chocolate

I'm in Chicago for a few days to meet up with a couple of friends and there is such an amazing food scene here  Choosing which restaurants to visit is not easy!  Being my first night in town, I wanted to hit up Hot Chocolate.  This cute restaurant is the home of Chef Mindy Segal.  She is this year's recipient of the James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.  Located in a "hipsterish" segment of the city, the restaurant creates a very comfortable, trendy ambiance.

I had a cosy seat in the corner of the restaurant. My server, Dan, was phenomenal. He was extremely knowledgeable and offered a lot of information about where their food was sourced and what I needed to try.

I started my meal with the Mac & Cheese. How could I resist - its in a category of its own on the menu. Usually when I order a Mac & Cheese, I am disappointed, however,  this one was so good, I finished it all and practically licked the crock bowl clean. It was super creamy and came
straight from the broiler with a charred top! 

For my meal, I ordered the house-ground burger. It was topped with organic bacon and 4-year aged cheddar on a sesame seed bun and served with cottage chips and slaw.   It didn't wow me like that Mac & Cheese, but it was a darn good burger!

Picking dessert was so difficult. I was instantly drawn to the skillet souffle and doughnuts, (see descriptions below) but ultimately decided on the study.

Skillet souffle
Gooey, chocolate skillet souffle, salted caramel ice cream, pretzels

Doughnuts
Brioche doughnut squares, hot fudge and caramel corn

Study
Flavor of the season we choose to reflect upon and handcraft together to present you with an experience in textures and temperatures

This seasons study was on cherries - one of my favorites!  The cherries come from Mich Clug Farms. (Check out their site http://mickklugfarm.com/)

The tasting was the following...

Cocktail
Classic Manhattan spiked with cherry liquor

Sundae
Vanilla bean ice cream
Sour cherry sorbet
Balaton
Cherry jubilee

Custard
Brown butter cherry clafoutis

Cake
Black forest cake
White chocolate cream
Port wine cherries

Cookie
Tart dried cherry and pistachio biscotti

Words cannot begin to express how great this tasting was. I spent ten minutes trying to decide what my favorite component was, but even the biscotti blew me away!!   It was the perfect texture (for me anyway) and had a hint of sweetness from the cherries.

The black forest cake was beautifully presented and plain-old delicious! The sundae was very good, too. The sourness of the sorbet coupled with the sweetness of the ice cream and cherry sauce paired perfectly.

If I had to choose a standout, it would be the clafoutis. It is probably the component I was least looking forward to (with the exception of the cocktail, since I'm not a drinker) that I wasn't expecting it to BE SO GOOD!  It was served in a mini mason jar and was nice and warm allowing the tiny scoop of brown butter ice cream which started to melt on the warm custard. Amazing, amazing, AMAZING!!

As I was preparing to leave, Dan informed my that Chef was sending a little something extra for me to try.  A sampling of Lemon Chess, Banana Butterscotch and Salted Caramel Ice Cream were placed in front of me and I was super excited!  All three were packed with flavor and were the perfect ending to a perfect meal.  Chef Mindy came over to introduce herself and we chatted for a few minutes.  What a nice lady and amazing chef!  No wonder her motto is, "Eat seasonally, drink chocolate, and always save room for dessert!"

You Get What You Get

This weekend was another crazy one for us at Layers NYC!  Our first cake was for a graduation and featured the ever-so-popular Hello Kitty.  Check out the Layers NYC page or Emma's blog to learn more about it!

Our second cake was for a close friend of the family, Michelle.  She planned a surprise party for her fiance, Billy, and wanted a cake in the shape of his favorite bottle of booze - The Macallan.

We were pretty excited about making the bottle., but we knew the cake needed another element to add some texture.  I decided to make a "box" to house the cake.  After whipping up a batch of pastiage (similar to fondant but it dries out completely), I created "wood" pannels.  When dried, the box was assembled and Emma did an awesome job coloring the piece

The cake - vanilla on vanilla - was covered in fondant and given a shiny coat and a label in the likeness of the one on the actual Macallan's bottle.  Special thanks to Christine for creating the art used to make it!

After the cake was made, we slipped it into the box. 

Cheers!

The finished cake.

Detail of the box.

Venting

Every time I tell myself I am going to blog more frequently, it inevitably fails.  It's usually for a good reason.  The past few months have been CRAZY!  I have been working on a special business project and it's been eating - no pun intended - at my (already limited) free time. 

Instead of blogging about something I made, this is going to be more of a rant.  Why is everyone settling for mediocre food?  We live in a time when you can get your hands on pretty much anything - European dairy, organic fruits and vegetables, caviar, amazing chocolates, etc.  With the internet, you can get your hands on anything you desire.  Yet, most people just don't care. 

As I work hard to perfect my craft, I wonder - are people going to even want to eat this stuff?  I can spend weeks perfecting a recipe and sourcing the best ingredients to make the best cake possible.  Once I get it right and bring it somewhere, it sits next to a stale King Kullen cake and no one even wants to try it.  For some reason the box mix cake with it's artificially flavored "buttercream" icing is a hit.

Now don't get me wrong, every now and then even I enjoy a slice - like when I'm craving cake and it's the only option - but why is this the acceptable norm?  There is a bakery on every corner in NYC, and, a lot of the stuff out there is good, if not amazing! 

I'll stop here for now, but, if you made it to this point, all I ask is that you open your mind to new, higher quality foods.  Next time you're at a nice restaurant, try something different - not the molten cake or the creme brulee!  Ask the server what's their favorite.  90% of the time it's the best thing on the menu.  This rule goes for savory food, too!  Also, when you go to the bakery supermarket or are purchasing something with a label, check to make sure you are familiar with ALL the ingredients.  EVERY baked good can be made without a stabilizer, preservative or artificial flavoring.  If you see one of those things listed, move along - it's an unnecessary addition and is probably tastes bad.  If you ever have a question, ask me! 

Thanks for reading.

Sweet Eats in Breckenridge

Usually I blog about things that I make, but this blog (and the next couple) will be about some of the goodies I've come across on my travels.  This week, I am in Breckenridge, Colorado.  What a beautiful city!  Yesterday, after walking over two miles along Historic Main Street, I wanted a treat.  A friend recommended Mary's Mountain Cookies.  The place is a hole-in-the-wall.  I was a little disappointed by the selection.  A lot of peanut butter based cookies, and I'm not the biggest fan. 

The three cookies that appealed to me the most were (from left to right) the chocolate caramel, German chocolate, and COW (cranberries, oats, and white chocolate,)  My favorite was the COW.  It had the perfect amount of inclusions for my taste.  The German chocolate cookie was ok but I was satisfied with the single bite.  The caramel chocolate was my least favorite BY FAR!  There was something about the base that was off - too much leavening, perhaps.  My only other critism is that the cookies weren't chewy enough for me.  I like my cookies borderline RAW!



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This afternoon I decided to eat lunch out.  I came across a bakery - La Francaise French Bakery - hidden (literally) on Main Street.  When I walked in, I was pleasantly surprised by the presentation of the pastries in the case.  I ordered Le Turkey and Brie which was served on a house made baguette.  It was delish!  I was especially impressed with the authenticity of the baguette. 

On the way out I grabbed a cinnamon brioche (bottom left corner of the picture.)  It's basically a cross between a cinnamon roll and brioche.  It was pretty good, but didn't blow me away.  I will definitely be back to try something else and grab a baguette!