The May 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Emma of CookCraftGrow and Jenny of Purple House Dirt. They chose to challenge everyone to make a Chocolate Marquise. The inspiration for this recipe comes from a dessert they prepared at a restaurant in Seattle.

Pound cake is traditionally made with a pound of butter, flour, sugar and eggs. According to Wikipedia, there are many different styles of pound cake: Southern style pound cake is usually a staple at picnic and potlucks; British style pound cake is usually with dried fruit, therefore, it’s tenser and heavier than the American style one. French style pound cake usually contains some lemon juice or chocolate.

No matter which style of pound cake you are making, the basics are more or less the same – same ratio of flour, eggs, sugar and butter. However, it’s not easy to make a light and fluffy pound cake. I have read and heard so many different tips regarding how to make a perfect pound cake. Some people say using chilled eggs, butter and sugar, while others say using room temperature ones. I had good results with both methods, so I can’t tell you which one is correct.

The recipe I am using today is from Flour bakery cookbook. I am a big fan of Flour bakery. In this recipe, Joanne Chang showed us another tip of making pound cake – whipping  eggs and sugar until light and fluffy and then mix in melted butter and heavy cream. I really like this method and I will apply this to some of my own cake recipes as well. Thank you Joanne! You made my life easier!

I think I am getting old now.

I think I get a hang of making victoria sponge now. My victoria sponge looks prettier and prettier and taste a lot nicer than before too! Today I add some bailey’s to my victoria sponge and it came out very nice. With some simple raspberry filling. This cake is simply delicious. Nav was eating it with a big smile on his face. To me, this is the best compliment.

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake. Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant!

It’s very nice of her sharing this special coffee cake with us. It’s unusual to have meringue in the coffee cake, but the result was lovely. I made Ria’s Indian-inspired version with saffron added to the sweet yeast bread dough and garam masala and cashews flavoring the filling. I made one with chocolate chips and the other without. Nav and I both liked the one without chocolate better as the chocolate flavor was too strong. Overall, it was a nice challenge and I look forward to the next month’s challenge.

On March 28, NY Times will start the digital subscription, which means non-subscribers can only view 20 free articles a month. I am still debating if I want to subscribe to the digital version of NY Times. In the mean time, I try to read as many diner’s journal and jot down as many recipes as I can. I came across of this seed cake in my collecting recipe process. It’s very interesting to put caraway seed in the cake. Surprisingly, it’s a perfect match. The strong caraway seed flavor balance out the eggy flavor of the cake. According to the author, this cake goes best with a glass of Madeira. I think I am going to get a bottle on my way home tomorrow!

Just watched Kings of Pastry on Netflix yesterday, it s a documentary film about the finals of the M.O.F. patisserie competition in 2008. The M.O.F., Meilleur Ouvrier de France, meaning “best craftsman of France”, is the best honor one can get in his or her profession. For pastry chefs, the M.O.F. award – a blue, white and red striped collar is a signature of culinary excellence and the highest recognition.

I am not a professional chef and don’t know how to make a sugar sculpture. But that doesn’t mean I can’t use the skills and tools I have to make my cake look pretty and tasty. This sponge cake recipe is my all time favorite. It’s perfect to eat it as is, but today I want to decorate it with chocolate caramel icing. So I reduce the sugar amount in half to balance out addition of caramel icing. This icing is on the gooey side, with some toffee-like flavor in it. If you like this kind of icing, make sure give this a try!

If you like orange, you have to try this cake. Maybe I shouldn’t say “cake” to give you the wrong expectation of this dessert. The texture of this dessert is between pound cake and bread. There are so many ingredients in it, but yet it’s not overly sweet or heavy. The well balanced citrus, almond and butter flavor gives it a very unique and unforgettable taste. Because its strong character, this is the kind of cake you will either love or hate. I know you are curious if you will love it or hate it. And there’s only one way to find out…

In terms of making this cake. It’s a good test of your “mise en place” skill, which is essentially French for “everything in place”. In other words, if you have everything in place in advance, you will be able to march through the recipe without any problems.

“What’s this, nanaimo bar?” I was talking to myself when I came across of this pretty looking dessert. Oh…so it’s a kind of Canadian dessert, also a very much loved one there. Living in new england for all these years, I have never heard of it nor saw it in the recipe books before. I can never resist of new recipes. I have to give it a try!

St Valentine’s day is right at the corner. If you want to impress your loved one. You are looking at the right recipe. Why? you asked. Reason one: It has a cool name. People usually think it’s super fancy or authentic of the food with the cool name they have never heard of, and even better, don’t know how to pronounce it. Reason two: You have to make some efforts to make this dessert. There are quite a lot of ingredients in it, but each step is fairly simple. In other words, it’s easy, but not simple. As long as you pay attention, it’s almost impossible to screw this up. Unlike chocolate soufflé or chiffon cake, your effort has no guarantee of paying off. There’s nothing worse than seeing a collapse cake on a valentine’s day. So it’s a better bet to stick with a foolproof recipe. Reason three: Chocolate, chocolate, chocolate. Definitely the top choice on Valentine’s day. Made up your mind? Let’s make this Nanaimo Bar together!

Boston’s Flour bakery is one of my favorite bakery for so many reasons. Now here ‘s another reason I love Flour – their cookbook. It has ALL the recipes of the goodies I love at Flour. The recipes of my favorite pastries at Flours -raspberry crumb bars and chocolate cupcake are included in the book!! I am so grateful of the generosity of the author, Joanne Chang, for sharing these wonderful recipes with us. This chocolate chip muffin I made today is the adaption of the chocolate cupcake recipe in the Flour cook book. If you like to bake, this recipe book is a keeper. Definitely get a copy for yourself (or for your baker friends). p.s. The bakery did not pay me to say any of those…

Those muffins are AMAZING!

Come Dine with Me has become one of my favorite TV shows now. It’s very interesting to see how people with distinctive personalities, culture and socioeconomic backgrounds select their dinner menus, make their dinners and entertain their guests. This cheesefake is our best discovery from the show. (Hopefully there will be more to come).

Nav Mama's Signature Cake

I have lost count of my attempts to make sponge cake. It’s simple, but it’s not easy, at least for me it’s not. But today, I made TWO successful sponge cakes! I think I got the hang of it now !!