November 2014 Daring Bakers Challenge: Paris-Brest

The November Daring Baker’s challenge took us for a ride! Luisa from Rise of the Sourdough Preacher challenged us to make Paris-Brest, a beautiful pastry celebrating the Paris-Brest bicycle race. 

This was for me a great challenge as I always enjoy making choux pastry and everything that has to do with it. It seems though that I have to post late once more as my computer decided not to work lately.

The Daring Bakers October 2014: Sachertorte

The October Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to us by Korena of Korena in the Kitchen. She took us to Austria and introduced us to the wonders of the Sachertorte.

Sachertorte is one of my favourite cakes. I discovered a recipe when I was a teenager and I made it a lot of times. I hadn't made it for a lot of years and this challenge travelled me a little back to time.I really enjoyed making it and I didn't face any problems and I really enjoyed tasting it again. It is really a chocolate cake with marmalade, covered with chocolate but I don't know what is that something that it has, that makes me like it so much. The only thing I did differently from the original recipe is that instead of a chocolate glaze, I used a chocolate ganache which I am sure that it never disappoints me and because I wanted a softer texture on the top. So, here is the recipe and on the link you will find the original recipe given along with some history of the Sachertorte.

May 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: PÃO DE QUEIJO

This month's Daring Bakers' Challenge took us on a trip to beautiful Brazil! Renata of "Testado, Provado & Aprovado!" taught us how to make Pao De Queijo, tasty cheese buns that make the perfect snack or treat, and that will make your taste buds samba!

I am posting this challenge very late but better late than ever. I have been very busy lately with work so , I haven't had time to concentrate and bake something. These little ”cheese breads” were very very easy to make and after I made them I was wondering why it took so long for e to make them.

Anyway, the recipe I chose was the fake pao de queijo, since it's impossible to find tapioca starch here in Sweden or at least I haven't found anywhere. These ones are made with potato starch, something very easy to find here, they are very tasty and ridiculously easy and fast to make. If you want to try and make them I would advise you to make at least the double amount, since it yielded only 9 small cheese balls to me. You can also take them to a next a level and fill them with extra cheese or cheese and ham, I think I will try this next time I make them. I used parmesan cheese and they had a very nice taste and they were as salty as needed going great with the chicken soup we ate them with. So, here is the recipe, it is the one provided from the Daring Bakers challenge host. If you want to try the real ones with tapioca you can also find them to the Daring Bakers site.

April 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: Easterbreads-Tsoureki

The April Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Wolf of Wolf’s Den . She challenged us to Spring into our kitchens and make Easter breads reflecting cultures around the world.

So, I'm finally able to post this recipe since my computer fell down last week and didn't work properly.

My Easter bread is called tsoureki. It is a brioche-like bread consumed on Easter in Greece, it exists on every bakery in Greece, decorated with a dyed egg on the top. Well, we don't only eat it on Easter but we also eat it at Christmas, with a Christmas decoration and you can also eat it whenever you want, as it is, or with marmalade, nutella or whatever you like on it, as a special breakfast or along with your coffee or tea.

The main spices are mahlepi (mahlab) and mastic but some people put vanilla and cardamom instead. The traditional one though, is with mastic and mahlepi which give it a unique aroma. The most important thing about this recipe, and well, every tsoureki recipe, is to use strong flour or else you will not have this special texture, but it will feel more like common bread. 
 It would also be better, if you use a stand mixer for this one, as it needs about 20 minutes kneading. It would be pretty impossible to knead by hand and very tiring with a hand mixer. Also, if you don't have the spices as they are not that easy to find outside Greece, you can use vanilla or cardamom or both. The recipe is once more from Stelios Parliaros, the ultimate pastry chef in Greece. Here it is:

February 2014 Daring bakers challenge: Beautiful breads: Cherry jam and almond paste bread

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste?

Well, this challenge was surely challenging for me as I hadn't tried this before. I am pleased with the result even though I know it is not perfect. But, if you saw how it looked before I put it in the oven and the mess around it in the kitchen, you wouldn't believe it would look like that after it was baked. So, no complaints here. The taste of the bread was very nice although it felt a little dense for me, so I think it needs the sweetened condensed milk that is suggested on the original recipe and I did not use. Overall, I would make this again and experiment with more recipes and different fillings and of course try to master the shapes. The recipe I used was the recipe given at the challenge with a different filling and very small adjustments.

January 2014 Daring Bakers challenge: Baumkuchen

The January 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Francijn of "Koken in de Brouwerij". She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).

This was an interesting challenge. I hadn't heard of this cake before, so, it was nice to try something different and unknown. What was more interesting is the baking technique. You start baking one layer of the cake and then you add one layer at a time and bake it and when you cut the finished cake you can see the different layers. They look kind of the lines that you see inside a trunk and that is why it is called Baumkuchen (tree cake). You normally do that on broiler and because I don't have in my oven I was a bit worried that I will end up with a half-burnt cake but in the end it turned out perfect. The consistency and the taste were both amazing. I used the given recipe with some small changes and I loved how soft the cake turned out and I liked that it has marzipan since I love almonds. Here is the recipe then:

December Daring Bakers Challenge : Whoopie pies

The December Daring Bakers' Challenge had us all cheering - the lovely and talented Bourbonnatrix of Bourbonnatrix Bakes was our hostess and challenged us to make fun, delicious and creative whoopie pies! Delicious little cake-like cookies sandwiching luscious filling in any flavors we chose... What else is there to say but "Whoopie!"