Crème Brûlée Recipe

Delicious crème brûlée has always seemed very fancy, very expensive and very complicated to me. Crème brûlée is really a multi-faceted sensory experience. The warm amber colours of the carmelized sugar lures your attention, the glass-like snap of the sugar as you break through to the custard below dances in your ears, the sweet yet slightly burnt taste dazzles your taste buds and finally the lingering creamy taste of the egg custard wraps around your tongue....perfection.

Until now, I had only ordered it in a restaurant. But that all changed when Santa left a little kitchen blow torch in my stocking! Last weekend, I finally got up the nerve to try to create my own crème brûlée at home. It was....spectacular! And more importantly...easy! 

It is a great dessert as the custard can be prepared and baked the day before your dinner party leaving you more time and space for creating the rest of your meal. Just before serving you can torch the sugar layer and voila your guests will impressed will your culinary abilities and their tastebuds will forever remember your delicious creation. Whether or not you tell them just how easy it was, I leave up to you.

Ingredients

2 c whipping cream
1/2 vanilla pod, split, seeds scraped out (or a few drops vanilla extract)
1 tsp vanilla extract
4 egg yolks
1/3 c caster sugar or berry sugar
Raw or turbinado sugar


What to do

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Pour the cream into a heavy-bottomed.
• Split the vanilla pods down the middle with a sharp knife.
• Scrape out the seeds with the knife and add the seeds and the pod and the vanilla extract to the cream and milk mixture. Stir well to combine.
• Bring cream and vanilla to a simmer over medium heat. Don't bring to a full boil. You just want to scald it.
• Pour the caster sugar into the bowl with the yolks. Gently whisk together the egg yolks and the caster sugar until combined.
• When the cream and milk mixture  has come up to a simmer, pour it through a seive into a large bowl. Discard the pod.
• Add 1/4c of the hot cream to the yolk/sugar bowl and mix well. Adding a little bit of the cream will bring up the temperature of the yolks and prevent them from scrambling!
• Add the rest of the cream and gently stir. (not too hard as you don't want to incorporate a lot of air into the dish).
• Ladle the brûlée mixture into 4 dishes. There will be air bubbles on top of the ladled egg mixture. Turn on your torch (following all safety rules) and quickly run the flame over the custard dishes. This will instantly remove the bubbles!
• Place the crème brûlée dishes into a deep baking tray or roasting pan and pour hot water into the tray, until the water reaches halfway up the sides of the dishes. The water bath will help the custard to cook evenly. Do not get water into the dishes!
• Place the pan into oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until set but still with a little wobble in the middle (like Jell-o).
• Cool for one hour and then place in fridge. This can be done the day before.
• When ready to serve, sprinkle raw or turbinado sugar on top of the brûlées. Pour off any extra. Wipe any stuck sugar off the sides of bowls. Heat the surface with a mini-blowtorch until the sugar melts and carmelizes. On a few patches slightly burn the sugar a bit more so extra crunchy bites form.

Valentine Cakes - Princess Doll Cake and Gumball Heart Cake

Happy Valentine's Day!
Just wanted to share a couple cake's I made for the kid's cake raffle today! Both are super easy to make - you just need the right pan and a little imagination. Although I made the icing (vanilla buttercream), I used a couple of doctored up cake mixes. The heart cake is chocolate fudge with added orange flavouring and the Valentine Princess cake is a simple yellow cake with added pudding mix.

Brownie Cake Pops - Valentine Hearts

Cake pops are everywhere these days but let's face it - they are sooo cute! I especially like brownie cake pops because the denser cake makes for a better taste and feel in your mouth. And my biggest tip is to go light on the icing - too much just turns it all to mush - you want it to taste more like a brownie!

Ingredients
1-1/2 c butter, unsalted
2-1/4 c sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 c flour
1 c cocoa
1/2 tsp salt


1-1/2 c prepared icing
1 package candy melts or similar
30, 5 or 6 inch lollipop sticks


What to do

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
• Over low heat, melt butter in a saucepan.
• Add sugar and stir until well combined and some sugar dissolves. It will still be thick and 'sugary' looking.
• Cool the mixture to room temperature.
• Place in large mixing bowl.
• Add eggs one at a time and beat until well combined- about 4 minutes.
• In another bowl, sift together.
• Add dry ingredients to butter mixture and stir until just combined.
• Pour batter into pan and smooth with spatula.
• Bake for 30-35 minutes.
• Don't over bake!
• Cool completely before moving on.

• Once cool, crumble brownie into large chunks and place in food processor. You may want to do this in batches.
• Pulse brownies until it has consistency of grainy sand.
• Place in large bowl.
• Add 3/4 c of icing and mix until well combined. You may have to add a bit more. You need the mixture to hold together when rolled into a ball. But try not to add too much or pops become too sweet.
• Refrigerate mixture preferably overnight but at least 2 hours.
• To make a heart shape I used one half of a boiled egg shaper for bento boxes. But you could also use a small cookie cutter or shape them by hand. They shouldn't be more than a couple of inches in size.
• Place hearts on a cookie sheet and refrigerate again for a few hours or overnight.

• Melt your candy melts according to directions.
• Dip one end of lollipop stick into melted candy.
• Place dipped stick into bottom of heart...about 2 cm deep.
• Dip heart while holding onto stick into melted candy to cover heart completely.
• Place cake pop stick end into styrofoam or place in a heavy glass so they can dry.
• Once candy is dried, use a food writer pen or icing in a decorating bag with a thin tip to write your messages.
• Dry as in previous method or place on cookie sheets until ready to eat.

Makes approximately 30 cakes pops.

Chipotle Chocolate Oat Cake

You can see the oaty goodness in every bite. And a hint of chipotle heat sneaks up on your taste buds too.

I love oats. I love chocolate. I love chipotle. I love this cake! It combines all of these things into one delicious, not too sweet dessert that leaves a little heat in your mouth that makes you go back for more.

It's great on its own or with frosting and sprinkles. You can up the chipotle to 1/2 tsp if you can take the heat!



My 7 year old (& future food blogger) getting in on the action! So cute.

Ingredients
1/2 c butter
1 c boiling water
1 c large flake oats


1-1/4 c brown sugar
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla


1/4 c cocoa powder
1 c flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp chipotle powder


What to do

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
• In large bowl, combine oats, butter and boiling water.
• Let stand 10 minutes, stirring a few times
• Stir in eggs, sugar and vanilla.
• In small bowl, sift flour, cocoa, chipotle, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
• Add to oat mixture and mix to combine.
• Pour into a greased 8x8 pan.
• Bake 30-35 minutes until wooden tooth pick comes out clean.
• Cool completely.
• Frost anyway you like!



Sprinkles add a dash of happiness to any cake!



Baby Shower Cupcakes & Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache Recipe

I made these for a friend's baby shower many moons ago...I found the instructions here on Wilton's website. I think they turned out well....and they were fun to make. Of course, if I had to make 40 of them, I wouldn't think so...they definitely take time and really who could eat that much fondant??!! Instead, I made plain cupcakes and placed a baby themed candy on each one.

To be honest I don't remember what recipe I used for the cupcakes but I do remember the incredibly easy chocolate ganache frosting recipe.

Chocolate Sour Cream Ganache

from The Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum


(Make about 2-1/2 c)


Ingredients
12 oz dark chocolate (I use Lindt)
400g sourcream , at room temperature!
What to do
Break the chocolate into small pieces and carefully melt in sauce pan over low heat or in the microwave.

Gently stir to incorporate the sourcream.

NB: Stores 3 days at room temperature.

Reindeer Cake Pops

Ingredients
1 9-inch round or square cake, I used chocolate
3/4 c icing, I used store bought vanilla
24, 6-inch lollipop sticks
1 package chocolate melting candy
30 or more pretzels, I used chocolate covered ones
red smarties
edible ink pen
small candies for eyes
patience
Styrofoam to stick pops into so they stand up


I'd be totally lying if I said these were easy! They are not. The crumbling of the cake and forming the little balls of cake mush is easy and the melting of the candy coating isn't too hard either. Coating the deer heads takes a little finesse and a few practice runs. BUT those damn antlers put me on Santa's naughty list for sure -thanks to the expletives that came out of my mouth while trying to find a way to easily attach them to the heads!! Hopefully, Santa will forgive me!


 
(The Christmas tree cake pops that I made last year were waaaaay easier to make so I recommend that recipe if you are nervous or a cake pop virgin.)
 
These are adapted from Bakerella's beautiful reindeer cake pops.
 
What to do
 
1. Crumble cake by hand into a sand like consistency (if you have a few hard end pieces that don't want to crumble, eat them - or use a food processor).
 
2. For me the key to cake pops is adding the right amount of icing - too much and you end up with a sickly, sweet ball of mush. But add the right amount and they will be loved by kids and adults! I start with 1/2 cup of icing and mix it in with a silicone spatula. Often I will end up adding another 1/4 cup of icing so that the mixture is just "wet" enough to just stick together when formed into a ball.
 
3. Using a 1 inch cookie scooper, I form the cake mixture into 20-24 balls (I also use kitchen latex gloves so it isn't so messy) and place them on a cookie sheet.
 
4. Refrigerate the balls for at least 20 minutes but preferably an hour so that they harden up a bit.
 
5. Melt candy coating according to directions. (gotta be honest and say that I melt them over very low direct heat.)
 
6. Add 2 tbsp of vegtable shortening - this will thin the candy coating a little. If it is still too thick add a bit more shortening.

7. Get your lollipop sticks out. Take one stick and dip one end in the candy coating (1cm or 1/2 inch) and then poke it into the cake ball. Push it in so it is at least 3/4 of the way into the ball. Place back on cookie sheet. Repeat with the remaining balls.

8. Place all of the balls back in fridge for 15 minutes.

9. Get a piece of styrofoam ready.

10.Remove from fridge and, one-at-a-time, dip the cake pops into the candy coating. Make sure the whole ball is covered. Gently tap off any extra coating.

11. Place the coated cake pop into the styrofoam so it stands up and can dry. Repeat with all of the remaining balls.

12. The candy should dry rather quickly or you can place them back in the fridge until you are ready to finish them.

13. Here is where you will learn from my frustration. To affix the antlers, cut pretzels in half (or not - I did both ways - half and full). Now, using some melted candy coating, place some of it on a spoon or in a little bowl. You want it to start to firm up a little - this way it will dry rather quickly and you won't be stuck holding the antlers on those cute little heads for an eternity while it dries. I tried sticking the antlers through the chocolate with limited success - sometimes the pressure cracks the coating. So, once the coating starts to firm up, dip the end of an antler into the coating and using it as "glue" stick it to the cake ball head.

14. For the eyes, I used some small white round sprinkles I had on hand. To add the pupil I used a black colored edible ink pen.

15. The nose is a red smartie. Both are added using a little bit of candy coating glue, just like the antlers.
 
 

My "Mummies" Favorite Gingerbread Cookies

Halloween is almost here! The kids and I sat down and decorated a bunch of gingerbread cookies last weekend. I didn't want to make royal icing so instead I used some premade Wilton icing that I had on hand. Since I only had white and red, we were limited in design options but the kids didn't seem to mind as they piled Halloween coloured sprinkles on top of everything!

The mummy and ghost and skeleton cookies are easy to create and don't take a lot of time or precision! My kind of cookie....especially when you have 60 cookies to decorate. The recipe below is simple and delicious. If you roll them thinner you will get a crispy gingerbread cookie but I like them softer so rolled them out to 6mm instead.

Happy Halloween!



Ingredients
1/2 c shortening
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 large egg
1/2 c fancy molasses
2-3/4 c all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda


What to do 

• In a large mixing bowl, beat shortening and sugar together for 4 minutes until light and creamy.
• Add and beat in egg and molasses.
• In another bowl, whisk together all dry ingredients.
• With a wooden spoon and in 3 additions, add the flour mixture to the shortening bowl.
• If dough is stiff, use your hands!
• Divide the the dough in two.
• Flatten dough into discs between pieces of wax paper and refrigerate for at least an hour.
• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
• Roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness (6mm).
• Using 3 inch cookie cutters, cut out shapes.
• Place on cookie sheets lined with silpats or parchment paper.
• Freeze for 20 minutes.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes.
• Let cool for 5 minutes and then transfer to wire racks to cool completely before decorating.
• Makes about 30 cookies.

DIY Fruit Leather

I'm not a big fruit leather fan, but my kids love it! So, when I made a big batch of apple-pear sauce, I put some aside for this recipe. After the sauce was made, all I had to do was pour it in a thin layer and dry it out. The drying process is a bit long as its done at a low temperature but what else is there to do on a rainy fall afternoon?

My daugther says the store bought variety is sweeter but she liked the cinnamon flavour in this version so in her opinion it's better than the prepackaged variety.

Ingredients

• 3 cups apple sauce (homemade or store bought)

If store bought add:

• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1 tsp vanilla

 

What to do

• Preheat the oven to 170 degrees F  - if your oven doesn't go that low 200 degrees F is fine.
• Cover a baking sheet with a silpat.
• If using commercially prepared sauce, combine it wiht spices and vanilla in a large bowl.
• Spread evenly over silpat (up to 1/4 inch thick). Place the pan in middle rack of oven.
• Bake for 5 to 7 hours. Fruit is dry when the surface is no longer tacky, it's smooth.
• Cool completely.
• Remove fruit leather from pan and silpat.
• Cut into strips or shapes with cookie cutters.
• Roll the pieces with plastic wrap or parchment.
• Store in an airtight jar.
  

Apple-Pear Sauce

Have you ever made your own apple sauce? If not, put it on your to do list and DO IT! Homemade sauce is infinitely better than anything you buy at the grocery store. Even better, you can make it anyway you like - with sugar, without sugar, smooth, chunky, flavoured with cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, vanilla ...or not! It really doesn't take long and it goes with so many things. Try your own sauce on top of oatmeal, ice cream, in smoothies, on its own, with pork or with french fries (sounds crazy, I know).

I made a big batch of apple and pear sauce the night before last and it's almost gone. The kids have had it for dessert and with their breakfast! I also made extra so I could make some fruit leather which I will post soon.

Side story: My son started kindergarten last week at a school where he didn't know anyone in his grade. I was a little worried about him making friends as he can be a little shy. I'm happy to report that last night he told me he found a new buddy. We had been coaching him to go up to kids he wanted to befriend and ask them to play at recess. When he was telling me about his new friend, he exclaimed with delight that he didn't have to go up to him because the boy came up and asked if he wanted to be friends! So cute. Even cuter ...when I asked him his new friend's name his response was "I don't know, I forgot to ask ...but we're still friends!!"  Don't you just love kids and how they think?!

Apple Pear Sauce

Ingredients
4 medium to large apples
5 Bartlett pears
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c water
1/8c - 1/4 c brown sugar (depending on sweetness of your fruit)
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/4 tsp nutmeg

What to do

• Peel, core and chopped apples and pears into large chunks.
• Place in large pot or dutch oven.
• Add sugar, water, vanilla and spices.
• Bring to boil over medium heat.
• Reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes.
• For chunky sauce, mash with a hand held masher.
• For a smooth sauce puree in a blender AFTER if has cooled or use an immersion blender.
• Refrigerate and use within 5-7 days.

Butterfly Birthday Cake and Vanilla Frosting Recipe

My daughter turned 7 a few weeks ago. I swear we just brought her home from the hospital yesterday! I'm not sure where time goes but my daugther has certainly made the most of it. I don't think a minute  goes by without her posing a question about something she's seen, heard or imagined! But her curiosity

has helped her grow.

I love this time of her life - over the past year she's learned to read chapter books, to write and create stories, learned to ride a bike, almost "mastered" water skiing, tells terrible knock-knock jokes, tries to be nice to her little brother ("tries" is the key word), and has accomplished so much more that it would take pages to list. Of course, she's still my little girl and I don't want her to grow up too fast but I am very proud of her (well...except maybe the time she spilled nail polish all over her bed trying to paint her nails).

For her birthday, she wanted a butterfly theme...butterfly cake, butterfly decorations, butterfly shaped sandwiches etc. And homemade strawberry lemonade, tea sandwiches and watermelon - she leaves nothing to chance! She also wanted outdoor fun - bobbing for apples, the limbo, potato sack races, three-legged contest and more!

 

This is the cake. It's a 9-inch layer cake and a 6-inch layer cake stacked and iced with buttercream. I forgot to take a picture of the inside of the cake which was coloured in pink and purple swirls. I searched high and low for edible rice paper butterflys and finally found great ones on ETSY. They arrived in time even though a postal strike had just ended and I LOVE them. Take a look at her site as she also offers other shapes. The kids adored them and couldn't believe they could actually eat them!

This recipe has been used in my family for a long time but I also found a similar recipe on Martha's site recently! Although basically just butter and sugar, it doesn't taste too sweet or heavy. You can also add colour gels if you want to colour your frosting.

Easy Vanilla Frosting for 2 dozen cupcakes

3-1/2 c - 4 c powdered sugar, sifted

2 c unsalted butter, room temperature
pinch of salt
2 tsp vanilla
1/8c  - 1/4 c milk




Edible butterflys, candy flowers and pastel icing
make a seven year old VERY happy.

 

What to do

• In a large bowl (preferably a stand alone mixer) beat butter until light and creamy.
• In half cup increments add sugar and beat until combined.
• Add extract and beat until combined.
• Depending on the brand of butter I use, the amount of milk I need varies. Start with 1/8 c and add more if needed. Beat the mixture at medium speed until the frosting is perfectly smooth and creamy. I usually beat it for about 5 minutes or so.
• Add colour, if required and beat until colour is even.
• Use imediately or refrigerate (if refrigerating bring back to room temperature before using).

Daring Bakers Challenge - Candylicious!

The August 2011 Daring Bakers’ Challenge was hosted by Lisa of Parsley, Sage, Desserts and Line Drive and Mandy of What the Fruitcake?!. These two sugar mavens challenged us to make sinfully delicious candies! This was a special challenge for the Daring Bakers because the good folks at http://www.chocoley.com/ offered an amazing prize for the winner of the most creative and delicious candy!


This challenge was definitely challenging! It taught me I am not a master of candy making or tempering chocolate! I made sponge candy from Wilde in the Kitchen and burnt the first batch. The second tasted great as I also added orange extract but I enrobed it in chocolate that was not tempered correctly as you will see in the photos! I highly recommend the sponge recipe though - it's fun to make and tastes like a Crunchie bar (Canadian readers will know what I'm talking about!).


For chocolates, I made some with caramel in the centre, some with caramel and salted pecans (mmmm) and finally some with a center of fig butter (from Trader Joe's)! The flavours of the fig butter and chocolate melded well together to form a sophisticated and delicious taste. However, I don't think the chocolate tempered perfectly on any of these as they weren't as shiny as I had hoped nor did they have the right "snap". Read this article to find out how to temper chocolate - it certainly brought out my "temper"!!


It was an interesting experience though!

Tempering gone wrong!

Salted Pecan and Caramel Chocolates

Tempering Chocolate is tricky but even when it fails it tastes good!

Edible rice paper butterfly makes everything look pretty.

Fig Butter Chocolates - yum!

Fresh Strawberry Coffee Cake

Spring 2011, in Vancouver, was cold...I swear the sun went on vacation for 4 months. As a result, many crops are behind about 3 weeks or so including strawberries. But they are finally starting to appear at our local markets. Is there anything better than local strawberries?! Sweet, ruby red little bites of goodness vs the often large and bland ones we import during the fall and winter months. My 5 yr old son didn't quite know what to make of the local berries when he first saw them - smaller and often in a slightly less than perfect "strawberry shape" he thought there was something wrong with them! lol. Of course, once he popped one in his mouth all misgivings were gone.

Ingredients
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
3 tbsp melted butter, cooled a bit
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups sliced strawberries

Topping
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup butter

What to do
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Grease an 8x8 pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt.
In another bowl mix milk, eggs, and melted butter.
Add wet to dry ingredients and beat until well mixed.
Pour into prepared pan.
Place strawberries on top of batter.
In another bowl, combine topping ingredients until it looks like coarse crumbs.
Spread evenly over strawberries.
Bake for 45 minutes.