Daring Bakers Challenge: Swiss Swirl Ice Cream Cake

This month's challenge was a perfect summer dessert - ice cream cake - but as usual it was far from easy . . . In fact, it took me three days to complete it. Three days! Well, OK, I admit that most of that time occurred while I was sitting around waiting for the thing to freeze in the freezer. But still. This is no last minute, throw-together kind of thing.

First we had to make the Swiss Swirl cake. It was a homemade version of Little Debbie's Swiss Roll. The cake was easy enough to mix together. It was sort of like an angel food cake. Whipped egg whites with flour, sugar, and cocoa powder folded in. I baked two small pans of the cake. As soon as they came out of the oven I plopped it into a sugared towel and rolled it up. I let these rolls rest for about an hour. Then I whipped some sugar, vanilla, and whipped cream for the filling. When I wanted to fill the cakes I tried to unroll them but they seemed to have memorized their shape too well. They didn't want to budge from their swirly position and ended up cracking. Urgh! I smeared the cream in the best I could and tried to patch them back together. I probably should have refrigerated or frozen them at this point to make them keep their shape better but I didn't. I was too excited to move onto the next step. I sliced them up and layered them into a bowl lined with plastic wrap. I put this in the freezer and let it harden.

Then I got to work on my chocolate ice cream. I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe. It's a cooked custard that gets chilled and then frozen in an ice cream maker. Once it was frozen I smeared this onto my frozen cake slices. Then I put it in the freezer.

Next was the fudge layer. I followed the recipe given in the Daring Bakers challenge. It made a lot! More than I could fit in my bowl plus it never really thickened properly. Oh well. It was going to be frozen anyway. I poured half of this in and froze it.

Finally I worked on my vanilla ice cream. Again I used a Cooks Illustrated recipe. Once the custard was frozen in the ice cream maker I poured it into the remaining space in my bowl and, you guessed it, PUT IT IN THE FREEZER!

When it came time to serve it I had to coax it out of the bowl with a warm towel. It didn't look so spectacular thanks to the broken swirl cake but, once I sliced it, it looked a lot better. It tasted great, though. My husband declared it the best Daring Bakers recipe yet. And it got high marks from all the Naval Academy grads who ate it with us.

To check out the recipes or to find out about becoming a Daring Baker yourself check out their website at The Daring Kitchen.

Beef Rendang

I'm no expert on Malaysian food but this recipe for Beef Rendang was downright delicious. It appeared in a Cooking Light issue this spring and I had my eye on it. Once it got a few reviews on MyRecipes I knew I would make it but I would need to tweak it.

First, instead of purchasing 2 pounds of chuck roast, I purchased 3 lbs. This way, when I cut away all the fat, I still had plenty of meat left to eat. Then, instead of simmering it on the stove once all the ingredients were together, I popped it in the oven with the lid on. At 325 degrees, I braised it for 2 hours. The meat was perfectly tender and the flavor more roasted than boiled. Plus, I didn't have to babysit it on the stove.

This is a really yummy dish. Check it out!

Daring Bakers Challenge: Chocolate Pavlova with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

This was a pretty easy Daring Bakers challenge . . . only because I've gotten lots of practice whipping egg whites over the past six months that I've been a Daring Baker. First, though, I made the creme anglaise which was an important component of the sauce, yeah, that white stuff on top of all that chocolate. Creme anglaise is a custard, but a runny one, so it is a bit forgiving. It consists of egg yolks, sugar, vanilla, and lots of cream. In fact, it's really like a vanilla ice cream base. I made this first because it was supposed to chill, or so I thought. After the creme anglaise was chilling in the refrigerator I made the meringue. This was pretty straightforward, as well. I chose to make one large meringue so I had to bake mine longer to dry it out but otherwise all was going well. Finally I made the chocolate mascarpone mousse. Mascarpone and whipping cream is combined with melted chocolate, orange zest, and orange juice. Yum!

Finally, I pulled out the creme anglaise and tried to combine it with some mascarpone. It was not working! All I was getting was lumpy creme anglaise. As I looked at the recipe I noticed that it seemed to say I should have combined the custard with the mascarpone while it was still warm. Hmmmm. Confusing directions. But I got out my trusty beater and whipped that stuff into submission. There were very few lumps left when I was done with it. After folding in some whipped cream the sauce was ready to go too.

Now, I was supposed to bring this dessert to a party and I was going to assemble it when I got there BUT my son got sick so I had to send the dessert with my husband. Not wanting to burden him with the assembly I smeared the mousse onto the meringue and sprinkled it with berries at home. The only thing he had to do was dribble the sauce on . . . which I think he did pretty well. I did get a taste of it brought home to me and it was very yummy. Definitely impressive. Something I may actually make again. Someday.