Monday 29 October 2007

A Real Challenge

The clocks went ahead an hour on Saturday night. Now, I am not quite such a young dog any more and as an older dog (you'll note I didn't say OLD) I don't take as kindly or as well to new tricks as I used to, and so these time changes in the spring and the autumn really are difficult for me to adjust to. I was up at 4 o'clock yesterday morning . . . and falling asleep in my soup by seven o'clock last night! I couldn't go to bed then however, and so managed to keep myself awake until about nine. I had just crawled into bed and was snuggling down into my blankets when all of a sudden my eyes flew wide open and I was wide awake!

"Oh no!" I exclaimed to my Todd, who was sitting next to my prone shape in bed, reading a book.

"What now?" he asked, in an oh my goodness, whatever is up with her now sort of a way, hoping with every inch of him that he was not going to have to get out of bed and chase annother housefly or wasp or crane fly around the bedroom.

"I was supposed to do something today, and I totally forgot!" was my reply as I sat up in bed and started to put my slippers back on.

"Well, you better get on with it." was his reply. No need to question the what's, why's or wherefore's, as he knows me all too well by now!

It had suddenly occurred to me, or so I thought, that I had missed posting my challenge for the Daring Bakers! (An online group of food bloggers who rise to meet a different and interesting baking challenge each and every month.) I had anxiously been waiting for several months to join this elete group, and now here I'd gone and missed my very first challenge post!!! I bounded down the stairs and turned the computer on, only to realize, once I had it on, that I was not late for the challenge, but indeed a day early! Yesterday was only the 28th of October, not the 29th!Whew! What a relief! I turned the computer off and went back upstairs to bed. After I told Todd what I had done, he only shook his head. Like I said . . . he knows me all too well by now!



I was so excited at the beginning of this month to finally be admitted to the Daring Bakers! I had been trolling food blogs for quite some time now and reading about their various baking exploits and wanting to join in on all the fun! Last month I finally screwed up all my courage and asked to join. Thankfully, they let me in! I could hardly wait for the newest challenge so I could get stuck in.

This month's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by Mary of Alpineberry , who not only hosted the challenge this month, but is also one of the administrators and hosts of the Daring Bakers altogether! For the challenge this month she presented us with "Bostini Cream Pie", a delicious twist on an old favourite of mine, Boston Cream Pie. I was so excited when I read the challenge as I love Boston Cream Pie and how could something with such a cute name and something that was based on such a delicious dessert not be fabulous! What a perfect way to introduce it to my British Husband, whom up til now had only ever associated the word Boston with the Boston Tea party and the ultimate defeat of the British War machine.





Mmmm... a delicious creamy custard topped with a lovely orange flavoured light chiffon cake and a tempting drizzle of rich chocolate sauce on top. What's not to like about this one???



Because there are only two of us, I decided to cut the recipe for the custard in half. I have made custard thousands of times in my culinary careeer, and quite successfully. The trick to making a good custard is not to let it boil, and not to overcook it, so that it becomes a creamy sauce and not scrambled eggs. You must be very careful to keep it at a simmer and just bring it to the boiling point, without letting it tip over. I carefully divided the recipe in two and began measuring as precisely as I could.

Was I pleased with the results? Not exactly. I felt the resulting custard was quite thin, and I did cook it for quite a long time. I didn't want to cook it any longer than I did, as then it would have turned into scrambled egg. I had opted to use Vanilla Bean paste so it did have a lovely vanilla flavour and was not bland in any way. I don't think I would use this custard recipe again though, as I do have other's that probably have more flavour and substance.



I decided to bake the full recipe of the cake, as I had learned from previous experiences in baking, that cutting cake recipes in half rarely gives the baker successful results. Besides, what person on earth can not find a use for extra cake!!!! The cake turned out lovely, although I do think that I baked it in a pan that was a tad too large. It was not as thick as I would have hoped it to be. I didn't have enough custard cups to bake individual ones, and so I had opted to bake it in an oblong pan, and then cut it into the shapes and sizes I needed afterwards. It did have a lovely flavour though and a beautiful light texture. There was just a slight hint of orange flavour running through it, that we all know goes so very well with chocolate.



The next challenge came when I set the cake that I had carefully cut out, on top of the custard that I had lovingly poured into individual bowls. ( all different as you can clearly see!) The custard was so thin and lacking in substance that the cake immediately began to sink down into it.



What to do, what to do . . . I immediately came up with the idea to cut out another piece of cake the same size and plop it right on top. Besides, I surmised, once the chocolate was drizzled over top, nobody would be able to tell it was two pieces of cake and not just one! WRONG!!! The top cake slid over the bottom one and off somewhat at an angle, so that it ended up looking a bit like the steps leading in to an abbey.



I then tried taking two pieces of cake and stacking them on top of each other in another small bowl, without the custard. Only after I had them stabilized, did I begin to spoon the custard around them. Once I had drizzled the rich chocolate sauce over top, you could not really tell it was two pieces of cake, unless you looked really closely. It was a bit too tall though in my opinion, or was I just being too pedantic?



Was this challenge a success for me? Not entirely, but neither was it an unmitigated failure either! It was fun and I think I learned a few new things in the process. It was certainly a delicious experience, even if it didn't turn out exactly the way I had wanted it to!

You can find the recipe here on Mary's post if you'd like to try the challenge out yourself. In the meantime I am off to drool over and peruse over 200 other attempts at the same delicious dessert!!!

Ahhh.... soooo many cakes .... soooo little time ...

42 comments:

  1. hahahha! You sound like me! If I had a dime for every time I got all cozy in bed and then panic struck because I forgot something.. ha!

    I love your bowls!! And regardless of the cake sinking in, I gotta tell you - it looks SO GOOD! I agree on the custard, I wasn't too fond of it either, I found it to be bland. I'd not be opposed to trying this again with a different custard recipe.. I can taste it now. Mmm! =)

    An excellent first challenge, sweetie!

    xoxo

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  2. Congratulations on your first challenge! I empathize with your semi-panic when feeling like you've forgotten something; I'm the same way. Your Bostinis look lovely, especially in all the different dishes! I'm sorry your custard came out so thin, though.

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  3. Congrats on your first challenge completed. Somehow I was amazed at how these three components had so much potential on it's own but the sum of the parts just didn't do it for me.

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  4. LOL! Better late than never! But you you met the challenge--hooray! That sweet treat looks ever so good--yum. ((HUGS))

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  5. it does look great,Marie. You did an awesome job, as usual.

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  6. I *love* the look of your ramekins - and I thought I knew the look of all ramekins John Lewis had to offer! Well done on your first challenge, and hopefully the next few months will get you finding some dream desserts.

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  7. Isn't funny- my favorite part was the custard. I thought your Bostini was beautiful.

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  8. Beautiful!Great job! I sat here in panic as I read your post thinking, OMG we never changed the clocks, but its next weekend. WHEW!

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  9. cute ramekins, looks beautiful, love the polka dot look on the picture

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  10. Marie, those look pretty good to me. Now I just have to find an excuse for making a treat like that. :D

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  11. Well done on working with the unruly dessert!

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  12. I think you did an excellent job with your first challenge Marie!! Congratulations on joining those wonderful ladies of the Daring Bakers!!! I have seen many of your delightful posts and know that you are up to the challenge!

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  13. What a delightful write-up, Marie, and I love all of the different bowls you used, and how creative you were in tackling the challenge of layering the three Bostini elements...every attempt you have photographed looks perfect to me. :-) Excellent work!

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  14. Regardless of the bumps in the road, your final snapshots look amazing. Anyone who didn't read the full post would think you nailed it without breaking a sweat : ) And I love those lil' cups!

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  15. It's always interesting for me to read about how differently the same recipe goes for everyone. Your custard was too thin, and some were very thick. Mine ended up right in the middle - I think that's why I enjoyed the custard the most. Your Bostini looks great, even though you did encounter some problems!!

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  16. Congrats! Thick or thin, I'm sure it was delicious, no? :)

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  17. I think you did a terrific job and you should definitely count it as a success! Cheers to my fellow Oct 07 DBer :)

    -jen at use real butter

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  18. Yanno, I could think of worse ways to go than to sink slowly into that custard...*sigh* And yes, the deadline sort of sneaked up on me, too. It's spelled p-r-o-c-r-a-s-tination. ;)

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  19. I found the custard a bit thin too and opted to put it in the frige. Great job :)

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  20. Congrats on completing the challenge and welcome to the DBer's! Playing with the presentations is part of the fun!

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  21. Marie,

    So glad you didn't miss the challenge. You did a great job!

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  22. Welcome to the group Marie, we're glad you're here. And congratulations on a successful (if temperamental) first challenge. They're beautiful... symmetry is highly overrated!

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  23. I didn't notice the custard being runny but it seems several people had that problem. I love you presentation...looks just ooey gooey delicious!

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  24. Yum, after all that effort and trouble it looks sensational. Well done and welcome.

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  25. I love your story. Your efforts paid off they all look wonderful!!

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  26. Love your ramekins and bowls Marie. My favourite is the stepped one. Knew you'd do a grand job with any DB challenge!

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  27. Agreed on the custard....except I goofed it and ended up with scrambled eggs. Blech!

    The cake was delicious though, eh? Yours looks wonderful, even with the 'abbey steps' as you call them. :)

    Leslie at definitely not martha

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  28. Welcome to the Daring Bakers!!! Well done! I'm glad that you didn't miss the deadline :-)

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  29. I so understood you when you said you jumped out of bed to do your post! I have done the same thing, including getting the day wrong!
    Nice work - personally, I like the two layered cake look!

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  30. Yea for you on getting this done under the wire! I love the double layers peeking out under all that cream.

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  31. It all looks so yummy - don't be too hard on yourself - it's all a learning experience :)

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  32. Lovely post and great photos. I love the description of the cake floating on the custard and then the topper piece tipping off like the steps of an abby. I only used a small amount of custard with my cakes, but next time I'll float them for fun. Glad that you joined the Daring Bakers!

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  33. Are you kidding? I love the way it looks sunk into that wonderful custard. Great one! Good to have you on board!

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  34. I had a semi-panic episode myself every time I thought of the recipe until I made it!

    I like the little dots of chocolate on the custard, it's very cute!

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  35. Welcome to the DBs! Great job on your first challenge, and love your bowls too =)

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  36. Looks great! I think the custard would taste good if it was runny or solid or some where in between.

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  37. Looks wonderful, even more so because the cake is sinking in it..jus the thought of it makes me crave one...again! Great job on your first challenge!

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  38. Your Bostinis look great despite the thin custard. I will use a different custard recipe the next time I make it too. Something more silky versus the deluxe creaminess of this custard. Love the dots of chocolate around the Bostini as well. Welcome to the group. Wendy

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  39. Such a fun story, Marie! And your bostini looks wonderful! You could use a toothpick to stick the two layers of chiffon cake together (no-one would know!) - I once used a piece of mozzarella to keep a soup garnish into place :)

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  40. Well, Marie you made me laugh and shake my head in awe. I has such an experience so often myself. Of course there have also been those times I have been a day late too.
    I would consider you experience total success if you had fun and learned something in the process and it seems you did.
    As a by product I think your Bostini look divine. So glad you've joined.

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  41. I hate that sinking feeling that I've missed a deadline and it usually happens in the middle of the night for me. Glad it was a mistake and that you had time for your 1st DB challenge- and great job by the way! They are beautiful and I love your stripey bowl too!
    xoxo

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  42. Good job on your first challenge...glad you remembered to do it :)

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