Sunday, August 29, 2010

Lemon, Lime and Orange Soufflé

Souffle sounds intimidating to a lot of bakers. At least to me. Before I found this foolproof recipe from Ben O'Donoghue, I had many inconsistent results.

Although I say foolproof, you need to have a certain discipline to make souffles. There are measurements and steps that need to be adhered to strictly in order to achieve the result. The egg whites need to be whipped to the correct consistency and the the brush strokes (when brushing the butter on to the ramekins) need to be upward.

Take me for example, I had a failed batch of souffles on the day I baked these souffles because I used expired egg whites straight from the fridge that I couldn't whip to the consistency needed. Oops....

You can use this recipe as the base and use different type of juices or fruit purees and I am sure your guests will be extremely impressed.

Lemon, Lime & Orange Soufflé Recipe
(Adapted from Raspberry Souffle in Serving The Menu Again by Ben O'Donoghue and Curtis Stone)
Serves 8

Ben O'Donoghue - "The souffle is one the trickiest desserts to make because its success depends on so many factors. This recipe is pretty foolproof and looks and tastes fantastic - one to pull out when you need to impress."

Ingredients

Base:
50 ml lemon Juice
50 ml lime Juice
400 ml orange juice
(You can replace the above with 500ml of other fruit juices or purees)
125 g / 4 1/2 oz caster sugar
4 tsp cornflour
Water

Souffle Mix:
10 egg whites (room temperature)
Pinch of salt
100 g / 3 1/2 oz caster sugar
200 g / 7 oz butter, softened, enough to grease the moulds
100 g / 7 oz caster sugar, enough to coat the moulds
Icing sugar, for dusting
Creme anglaise or ice cream, to serve

Method
  1. To make the base, place the fruit puree and sugar in a saucepan over a medium heat. Stir to dissolve the sugar and bring to the boil. Mix the cornflour with just enough water to make a smooth paste. Once the fruit puree reaches boiling point, reduce the heat to low and whisk the cornflour paste into the fruit puree a little at a time. Whisk for 1 minute and do not allow mixture to boil again. Remove from the heat and set aside. Chill to cool completely.
  2. Preheat the oven to 180C / 350F.
  3. Place the egg whites into a very clean, very large mixing bowl, add the salt and beat at high speed until soft peaks form. Add the sugar, a little at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Do not over whisk or the egg whites will break down and be unable to hold the air required to life the souffle.
  4. Place the fruit puree base into a very large bowl and whisk until smooth. Add a little of the egg white mixture and stir in to loosen the consistency. Gently fold in the remaining egg white.
  5. Brush the bases of 6 x 1-cup capacity ramekins with the softened butter, then, using upward strokes (this is very important), brush the sides. Chill in the refrigerator until set, and then repeat. Sprinkle in a little of the caster sugar, turning the ramekins to coat the base and sides. To fill the moulds, use a palette knife to spread the souffle mixture around the sides while holding the ramekin at a 45-degree angle. Fill the middle and smooth top top, without allowing any mixture to stick to the rim or run over the sides.
  6. Place in the oven and bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden and well risen. Serve immediately dusted with icing sugar, and with creme anglaise or ice cream on the side, if you like.

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Thursday, August 26, 2010

Baked (Bombe) Alaska with Popcorn Ice Cream, Caramel Mud Cake and Persian Fairy Floss - Daring Bakers' August 2010 Challenge

Where do you usually seek inspiration for a new recipe? For me, inspiration can stem from anywhere - a picture, a conversation, a letter, a great day out. It can come from any of the senses - what I have seen, heard, felt, smelled or eaten.

For this Baked Alaska, the inspiration came from Twitter. When this month's Daring Bakers' Challenge was announced, I had no idea what I wanted to do. While procrastinating, I went on Twitter and whinged about my frustration. Mardi from eat.live.travel.write replied to my tweet and said, "Baked Alaska is so 1970s."

There it was, the magic word - the 70s!! Mr J was by my side and I asked him, "What do the 70s means to you?"

Being a big fan of Bruce Springteen, his immediate response was - "Greetings from Asbury Park" (Read more about Asbury Park HERE).

That was it!! I grasped the idea and ran with it - The 70s, Carnivals and Carousels, to me it is all about popcorn and fairy floss.

I went back to my half a tub of homemade Popcorn Ice Cream that I still had in my freezer. I love my popcorn with caramel. My next mission was to find a dense caramel cake for the base of the Baked Alaska. I googled for it and found this fabulous Caramel Mud Cake. All sorted. The meringue recipe provided by the DBC host is brilliant. It gives me a great fluffy, good body meringue to work with. Blow torching the meringue is the funnest moment. I then gave the finishing touch to the Baked Alaska by surrounding it with Vanilla Pashmak (Persian fairy floss).

How do you like this 70s inspired, whimsical and magical Baked Alaska?

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”.

Bombe Alaska Recipe

Ingredients

Popcorn ice cream (recipe HERE)
Caramel mud cake (recipe HERE)

For Meringue:
8 large egg whites
½ teaspoon (3g) cream of tartar
½ teaspoon (3g) salt
1 cup (220g) sugar

Method

  1. Line four 4” (10cm) diameter bowls or tea cups with plastic wrap, so that plastic wrap covers all the sides and hangs over the edge. Fill to the top with ice cream. Cover the top with the overhanging plastic wrap and freeze for several hours, or until solid.
  2. Level the top of the caramel mud cake with a serrated knife or with a cake leveler. Cut out four 4” (10cm) diameter circles from the cake. Discard the scraps or use for another purpose.
  3. Make the meringue: Beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed in an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Beat in the sugar gradually in a slow stream until stiff peaks form.
  4. Unwrap the ice cream “bowls” and invert on top of a cake round. Trim any extra cake if necessary.

  5. Pipe the meringue over the ice cream and cake, or smooth it over with a spatula, so that none of the ice cream or cake is exposed. Freeze for one hour or up to a day.
  6. Burn the tips of the meringue with a cooking blow torch. Or, bake the meringue-topped Baked Alaska on a rimmed baking sheet in a 500°F/260°C oven for 5 minutes until lightly golden. Serve immediately.

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Monday, August 23, 2010

Lime and Coconut Madeleines

What happens when East meets West? Sometimes it can end up with a great marriage and sometimes it can explode into a disaster. Have you ever tried a recipe from a certain region and married it with some ingredients from a distinctively different continent and then end up with some amazing flavours?

Madeleines are undeniably French. Lime and Coconut creams are notably associated with the Tropics. It plays a trick on your mind, the first look at these madeleines makes you think FRENCH, but the first bite into them transports you to a tropical island. I wholeheartedly believe Rachel Grisewood of Manna from Heaven has to be a genius to create such a brilliant recipe.

The beauty of madeleines lies in the distinctive shell shape with contour lines and the lovely hump. Doesn't beautiful food always seem to taste better?

Lime and Coconut Madeleines Recipe
(Adapted from Manna from Heaven by Rachel Grisewood)
Makes 24

Rachel Grisewood - "Of course Marcel Proust would have taken a teensy bite of a small madeleine when writing Remembrance of Things Past. I always feel rather literary and French when I serve madeleines. If you make miniature ones, they are the most sophisticated of petits fours."

Ingredients

200 g (6 1/2 oz) butter, plus extra for greasing
200 g (6 1/2 oz) icing (confectioners') sugar, sieved, plus extra for dusting
Finely grated zest of 2 limes
3 egg whites (75 g / 2 1/2 oz)
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100 ml (3 1/2 fl oz) coconut cream
80 g (2 3/4 oz) ground almonds
210 g (6 3/4 oz) plain (all purpose) flour
1 tsp baking powder

Method
  1. Melt the butter in a small saucepan, remove from the heat and leave to one side to reach room temperature. Set the oven to 160C (315F). Use a pastry brush to grease 24 madeleine moulds with a little extra melted butter.
  2. Combine the sugar and lime zest in a large mixing bowl and whisk in the eggwhites, vanilla and coconut cream. Fold in the butter, ground almonds, flour and baking powder. Spoon a couple of teaspoonfuls of the mixture into each mould. Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10-15 minutes, or until puffed and golden. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. To serve, dust lightly with icing sugar. These madeleines would be nice dipped into a rather sticky sweet wine.

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Sunday, August 22, 2010

Caramel Mud Cake with Popcorn Ice Cream

After the success of pairing popcorn ice cream with salted butter caramel sauce, I was looking for a caramel cake recipe that goes well with the popcorn ice cream. After a brief search on the Internet, I found this Caramel Mud cake recipe on Taste. This cake is very caramelly, dense but not overly sweet which is exactly what I was looking for.

This cake is also one of the many components that I used for my for this month's Daring Bakers' Challenge. It is going to be whimsical, magical 70's themed and will be revealed on 27 August 2010. So, stay tuned!

Caramel Mud Cake Recipe
(Adapted from Taste.com.au)
Serves 8

Ingredients

Melted butter, to grease
200g butter, cubed
200g white chocolate, chopped
200g (1 cup, firmly packed) dark brown sugar
180ml (3/4 cup) hot water
1 tbs golden syrup
2 tsp vanilla essence
2 eggs, at room temperature
150g (1 cup) plain flour
150g (1 cup) self-raising flour
Icing sugar, to dust
Popcorn ice cream (recipe HERE), to serve

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 160°C. Brush a round 22cm (base measurement) cake pan with melted butter. Line base and side with non-stick baking paper.
  2. Place butter, chocolate, sugar, water, golden syrup and vanilla essence in a heavy-based saucepan. Stir over medium-low heat with a wooden spoon for 5 mins or until chocolate melts and mixture is smooth. Set aside for 20 mins to cool.

  3. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Sift combined flours over chocolate mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.
  4. Pour mixture into pan and bake in preheated oven for 50-60 mins or until a skewer comes out almost clean.

  5. Stand cake for 20 mins before turning onto a wire rack to cool.

  6. Dust with icing sugar and serve with popcorn ice cream.

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Thursday, August 19, 2010

Recipe Shout-Out (9)

This is my 9th Recipe Shout-Out to show my thankfulness to everyone who has been inspired and tried the recipes I have posted on my blog.

Dear readers, please take a few minutes to check out these brilliant bloggers and their beautiful creations:



Sweetest Kitchen - Popcorn Ice Cream with Caramel Sauce


Inspired from Popcorn Ice Cream with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce


Gourmet Baking - Cherry Clafoutis


Inspired from Cherry Clafoutis


Sweetest Kitchen - Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake




Richard Elliot's Blog - Sher Ping Pancakes


Inspired from - Chinese Savoury Pancakes (Saobing / Sher Ping)



Richard Elliot's Blog - Moroccan Kefta Mkaouara




Elle Girl - Flourless Chocolate Cake


Inspired from French Flourless Chocolate Cake


Sauleta Virtuve - Dutch Apple pie



The Church of Groove - Popcorn Ice Cream with Salted Butter Caramel Sauce




My "Sous-Vide" Life - Magnolia Cupcakes with Ferraro Rocher Chocolate




A Table For Two - Twice-Cooked Pork Belly





Ok! Let's Do This - Lemon Currant Muffins


Inspired from Blueberry-Lemon Cake



Kurious Kitteh Kooks - (Coconut) Ice Mouse





My Sugar Art - Sicilian Orange Cake


Inspired from Sicilian Orange Cake



Cake Walk - Spicy Fried Tofu




Linzers in London - Chocolate Mug Cake


Inspired from Gluten-Free 5 Minute Chocolate Mug Cake



My Sugar and Spice and All Things Nice - Steamed Bun (from Momofuku)


Inspired from Momofuku's Pork Buns



Foodie Call - Claypot Chicken Rice with Chinese Sausage






Daily Doses of Sugar - Portuguese Custard Tarts





Coolinarika - Cheesecake Mousse




Food & Whine - Butter Chicken


Inspired from Butter Chicken



Epicurean Escapism - Five-Minute Chocolate Mug Cake




Mrs Multitasker - Pepper-Roasted Garlic and Lemon Chicken





Quinn's Cooking with Love and Passion - Classic Nasi Lemak with Chicken Curry Kapitan


Inspired from Kapitan Chicken Curry



Quinn's Cooking with Love and Passion - Thai Pineapple Fried Rice




Bright Morning Stars - Spinach Chicken Curry




Bright Morning Stars - Delicious Chicken Curry




Dishing Up Delights - Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream





Just The Tip - Cinnamon Chicken and Pine Nut Pastries





The Little Baker SF - Tri-Flavoured Dutch Almond Butter Cake




Bisous A Toi - Tiramisu


Inspired from Tiramisu



On Cloud No Nine - Anthony Bourdain's FRench Style Roast Chicken with Herb Butter


Inspired from Anthony Bourdain's Poulet Roti



Fitter... Happier...More Productive - Dark Chocolate Vegan Scones




Little Blue Hen - Sicilian Citrus Cupcakes


Inspired from Sicilian Orange Cake



Sauleta Virtuve - Honey Castella Cake

Inspired from Honey Castella / Kasutera Cake (Japanese Sponge Cake)



Scrumdelicious - Vietnamese Baked Banana Cake




Burned Apples - Dutch Apple Pie




Ella & Ish - Thai Pineapple Fried Rice



Little Things - Apple Pannenkoeken


Inspired from Appel Pannekoeken (Dutch Apple Pancakes with Caramelised Sugar)



I want to Bake in Pictures - Flourless Chocolate Cake


Inspired from Flourless Chinese Five Spice Chocolate Cake


Swallow or Spit: Food Porn for Amateurs - Peanut Butter Chocolate Fondant




Home Cooking with Sonya - Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake

Inspired from Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake



The Witchy Kitchen - Vegan Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Tart

Inspired from Peanut Butter and Chocolate Chip Cookie Cake


Eat Well Eat Green - Passionfruit curd





Citrus and Candy - Braised Cabbage




Please also check out my previous Recipe Shout-Outs:

Recipe Shout-Out (8)
Recipe Shout-Out (7)
Recipe Shout-Out (6)
Recipe Shout-Out (5)
Recipe Shout-Out (4)
Recipe Shout-Out (3)
Recipe Shout-Out (2)
Recipe Shout-Out (1)

If you have tried my recipes, please send me an email at almostbourdain[at]gmail[dot]com to let me know so I can include your blog on my next shout out.

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