Rose's Alpha Bakers: Chocolate Pavarotti with Wicked Good Ganache

To celebrate Valentine's Day, the Rose's Alpha Bakers are baking something deep, dark, and delicious. Up this week is the Chocolate Pavarotti with Wicked Good Ganache...and Caramel Whipped Cream (I finally made the amazing caramel whipped cream from the Chocolate Cuddle Cake week!).

my finished cake with white chocolate "pearls"

time for a slice, with delicious caramel whipped cream!

I had mixed feelings about this cake. The cake was a breeze to make. And I really liked the flavor of the cake - it was very chocolatey but not overpowering - but I felt the texture was a little too crumbly. It looks more firm and dense (in the pictures) than it was and, for me, the heavy ganache needed a slightly more dense cake.

And...that brings me to my next mixed feeling - the ganache. Again, the flavor was delicious, but I thought the ganache was too stiff. It was lovely and very smooth while spreading but was too hard once it was on the cake. The texture of the cake was too soft and crumbly compared to the stiff ganache; the two didn't seem to go together. My decorating plan was to make little valentine's hearts on the top of the cake by putting drops of white chocolate on the ganache and dragging a toothpick through...but the ganache hardened immediately so I wasn't able to. I had to settle for little white chocolate "pearls" on top.

Instead of the ganache, I think this cake would be lovely with some caramel sauce on the plate and a dollop of the caramel whipped cream. Next time!

The ganache was made with both 60% and unsweetened chocolate, so it was very rich and not overly sweet. There were a few more steps than usual for Rose's ganache (melting the unsweetened chocolate first, in the Lyle's Golden Syrup) but was still very easy to make.

ingredients for the ganache

first the unsweetened chocolate is melted in the Lyle's Golden Syrup

the 60% cacao for the rest of the ganache is bashed into bits

Instead of breaking out the food processor for this little bit of ganache, I just made it by hand. The scalded cream is poured over the broken chocolate pieces and stirred gently until it's completely melted, then the other chocolate-syrup is mixed in.

the stages of ganache

gorgeous, smooth Wicked Good Ganache

The ganache sets up for several hours while the cake is made and cooled. The cake was very easy to make, as all of Rose's cake are.

mise en place for the cake

first the cocoa powder is melted in boiling water and set aside

then the white chocolate is melted and set aside

the dry ingredients are combined with the melted chocolate, oil, and butter

and mixed well

then the eggs are added

and finally, the melted white chocolate

such a lovely, smooth batter!

and, voila, chocolate cake

so pretty

time for a slice, with the caramel whipped cream

delicious!

Bye for now...

Rose's Alpha Bakers: Gingersnaps

I skipped last week's Alpha Bakers recipe, Golden Orange Panettone with Chocolate Sauce, because I'm not a fan of Panettone (no candied fruit for me, please!)...however, everyone's loaves look so beautiful and delicious that I may try it another time with orange zest and raisins. Or, I may just go all in and make my own candied orange peel, as did several of the Alpha Bakers.

Moving on to this week of the bake-through adventure with the Rose's Alpha Bakers were the quick and easy Gingersnaps, from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Baking Bible. These cookies were delicious and my British husband declared them very authentic!

lovely crackled gingersnaps

a close-up view

As promised by Rose, the cookies were chewy, not hard and crunchy as some gingersnaps are, and the cookies baked-up with a gorgeous crackly top. Add a cuppa or glass of cold milk and they were the perfect snack.

The only thing missing from the recipe (IMO) was actual, fresh ginger, so I added some! I absolutely love ginger so would have been happy with more, but having never made the recipe before I didn't want to push it. I added about 1 teaspoon. Bakers tip: use a spoon to peel ginger...saves you from worrying about cutting yourself with the knife and you don't lose any of the ginger flesh.

Overall, it was a very simple recipe. Mix up the dry ingredients, melt the Lyle's Golden Syrup and butter, add that to the dry ingredients and stir, then add the eggs and...you're done! Shape into balls and bake. Bonus? The house smelled amazing while they were baking!

Here are my photos:

mise en place...very easy!

peeling my fresh ginger

and grating it...watch your fingers!

I added the fresh ginger into the dry ingredients

the golden syrup and butter are melted together

everything all lined up and ready to mix

adding the golden syrup-butter mixture to the dry ingredients

mix until it looks like sand

add the eggs, mix again, and voila the dough is done!

roll into balls...

...and bake

the smell was amazing!!

enjoy with a nice cup of hot tea

Bye for now...

Rose's Alpha Bakers: Frozen Pecan Tart

It's week five of my bake-through adventure with Rose's Alpha Bakers. Up this week is the Frozen Pecan Tart - which I served for dessert after Christmas lunch - from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Baking Bible. The tart was a huge hit and was met with a chorus of ohhs and ahhs and a round of "you made this? It's delicious! Seconds, please."

my lovely Frozen Pecan Tart

a close up...

...and now a slice for dessert on Christmas

I let the tart warm for about 30 minutes before serving because it seemed rock solid when I took it out of freezer and I was a little unsure how a frozen tart/pie would taste (was it really not frozen through? It felt pretty solid!). But - never doubt Rose! - the filling was smooth and silky, almost like caramel. Even after 30 minutes, the tart was quite chilled - which was different than what I'm used to with pecan pie (warmed with vanilla ice cream, please) - but it was very, very good.

The tart would have been delicious with ice cream or whipped cream, but was equally good on its own. It was sweet, but not syrupy sweet like a lot of pecan pies. And - again, unlike most pecan pies I've made - the recipe made exactly the right amount of filling! With most pecan pies I've made in the past, you end up with either too much or too little filling. This recipe was perfect.

I added some leaf cutouts on surface of the tart (using these small leaf cookie cutters I bought at Amazon.com) and - other than wishing I had baked them slightly before adding to the tart so they would be a bit more brown - I really liked the decorative addition.

Here are my step-by-step photos.

mise en place for the crust

The crust was a pâte sucrée, so it's made with more sugar than a regular pie crust and has an egg yolk added to strengthen it. Pâte sucrée is a great crust for tarts because it's very sturdy and easy to roll out. I love making pies and tarts!

the heavy cream is added to the egg yolk

butter and sugar are creamed together

the flour is added to the butter-sugar mixture

then in go the creamy-eggs and everything is pulsed
until the dough is in pea-sized clumps

hello, gorgeous dough!

At this point, the recipe directions got very complicated about how to roll out the dough and lift it into the pan. It involved a pizza wheel, a 12" flan ring, and inverting the dough over the back of an 8" cake pan.

Hmmm...I normally just roll the dough larger than the tart pan and the gently work the dough onto the bottom, corners and up the sides. As much as I know that Rose never steers me wrong, I'm going to just to this my way. The main thing to remember is to not stretch the dough as you place it in the pan, otherwise it will pull back and shrink when it bakes.

measuring the dough

ta da - fits perfectly!

the dough is worked into the pan's fluted edges,
leaving no overhang

the tart shell is filled with rice and blind baked

while the tart shell is baking I made these leaf cutouts to go on top

...and now my gorgeous crust is done!

mise en place for the pecan filling

the filling is strained, giving it a silky smooth texture when baked

the pecans are laid out randomly or in a pattern, if you prefer

then the filling is poured over, gently

the leaves are laid down, edges covered and we're ready for the final bake

gorgeous!

Bye for now...