A few days before my husband’s 30th birthday, I set down James Peterson’s Baking in front of him and told him “Here, choose any cake from this book, and I’ll make it for your birthday!” He looked at the pages for a few minutes and then exclaimed “that sounds good! I’d like that one”, pointing at a 2 page spread (that also refers to 5 other recipes to be found throughout the book for different elements of the cake). It was a Chocolate Hazelnut Cake with Chocolate Filling and Hazelnut Buttercream. As I looked at the page over his shoulder, my eyes grew wider, and my jaw dropped  several inches. I could not believe what I had just done to myself!  My husband should have known that I had never made a layered cake before! How could he do this to me? Of course, I kept my mouth shut, after all I was the only one to blame for this. Truth be told, he really had no idea how difficult his choice of cake would be for me to make. He just saw the title of the cake and thought it sounded yummy!

I went grocery shopping, gathered the many ingredients, and embarked on my most ambitious baking project to date. Little did I know that it would end up taking more than 7 hours to complete! I messed up some important elements of the cake and had to start them all over, losing a lot of time in the process!

I will not even attempt to share a recipe for this here… it would take me days to put it together! I am not one to boast but  I feel I’ve earned the right to brag about this cake as  I am still amazed I managed to pull it off. I mean, look at it! Isn’t it beautiful? Ok, ok, I’ll stop now. You get the point. I am very proud of myself!

The first step was to make dacquoise discs, which are rounds of French meringue made with hazelnut powder (I processed whole hazelnuts for this).

While the dacquoise discs were baking, I made the chocolate cake. This is one of the steps I had to do all over again because after baking it, I realized that I put twice as much flour as was needed (the original recipe was for 2 cakes but I only needed one so I did everything in half but forgot to do it with the flour). I only found out about my mistake when I cut the cake in half and saw that it was way too dense and hard. I lost over an hour over this stupid mistake.

While the cake was baking, I made the hazelnut buttercream. It was the kind that required cooking a sugar/water syrup and then beating it in the egg yolks and butter. I needed 7 cups of it as it would go in between layers as well as cover the whole cake.

I’ll just let the next pictures speak for themselves, they show the cake in its different stages.

At this point I thought my cake was going to be a wreck. It looked so crooked! But thankfully, I managed to straighten it without doing too much damage!

And the final product! To decorate it, I ground up more hazelnuts to put around the cake, piped some hazelnut buttercream for the top and made chocolate shavings.

And here’s the birthday boy waiting for everyone to be served before taking his first bite!

Ingredients:

- 2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

- 1/3 cup sugar

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 1 Tbsp baking powder

- 1/2 cup cold butter

- 1 to 2 cups chocolate chips and cranberries or other combination of dried fruit and nuts (optional)

- 2 large eggs

- 2 tsp vanilla extreact

- 1/2 cup half and half or milk

For the topping:

- 2 tsp milk

- 2 tbsp sparkling white sugar (optional)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Add the butter and work it in with a fork, a pastry blender, the paddle attachment of your stand mixer or even your fingers. There will still be some chunks of butter and that’s ok!

Add the cranberries and chocolate chips if using.

In a seperate mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract and milk (or half and half). Add this to the dry ingredients and stir until moist and all the dry ingredients have been incorporated.

On a floured surface, put the dough in a ball, and divide it in half.

Round each half into a 6″ circle (and about 3/4 in thick).

Brush some milk onto each dough circle and then sprinkle the sparkling sugar.

Using a knife, bench knife or pizza cutter, cut the dough into 6 wedges and pull them apart until about 1/2 inch separates them.

Place the pan of scones in the freezer for 30 minutes, uncovered. This will help with the texture and rise.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes , until golden brown.

Let cool for a few minutes and serve warm.

Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour website.

I used one log of pre-made polenta and I would say there was enough to serve 2 or 3 so you might want to use 2 logs if you are feeding more people.

Ingredients:

- 1 tube prepared polenta

- 1.5 Tbsp olive oil

- salt, pepper

-  1/2 tsp dried oregano

Preheat oven to 450°F. Cut the polenta log in half crosswise, then cut each half into 8 wedges.

Drizzle the olive oil onto a baking sheet and set the polenta wedges on it, in one layer. Sprinkle salt and pepper, then turn the wedges over to coat the other side.

Roast for 45 to 50 minutes, turning the wedges over half way through. Set the wedges on paper towels to absorb excess olive oil, sprinkle with about 1/2 tsp oregano and serve!

Recipe adapted from Everyday Food.

Clafoutis (also spelled without an S), is one of my favorite French desserts. I used to make them all the time when I was a teenager. Although traditional clafoutis is made with cherries, I have always had a thing for pear clafoutis. It had been probably about 15 years since the last time I made one and I have lost the recipe book that I used when I lived in France so I searched the web for about an hour in order to find the perfect recipe.

I finally settled on a recipe by Ina Garten on the food network website. It sounded easy enough to make and the reviews were excellent! The only thing I did differently is that I didn’t use any pear brandy.  I did go to the liquor store but when I found out that the only pear brandy they sold costs a hefty price of $47 per bottle, I decided that I was going to have to do without! Although I am sure my clafoutis would have been more flavorful with the brandy, I can honestly say that it was wonderful without it! My daughter and I ate some clafoutis for dinner, when it was still warm out of the oven, and then had some the next morning for breakfast. It was a cold and rainy day and it brought a little sunshine into our home.

Ingredients:

- 1 tbsp butter, at room temperature

- 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp granulated sugar

- 3 extra-large eggs, at room temperature

- 6 Tbsp all-purpose flour

- 1  1/2 cups heavy cream

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1 tsp grated lemon zest (about 2 lemons)

- 1/4 tsp Kosher salt

- 2 Tbsp pear brandy (optional)

- 2 to 3 firm but ripe Barley pears

- confectioner’s sugar

Set oven at 375°F.

Butter a 10″ pie pan and sprinkle the pan with 1 Tbsp sugar. The sugar will caramelize when it bakes and it will taste wonderful!

In a large mixing bowl (or the bowl of a stand mixer with the paddle attachment), beat the eggs and 1/3 cup sugar on medium-high for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy.

While mixing on low speed, gradually add the flour, heavy cream, vanilla extract, lemon zest, salt and pear brandy if using.

Peel, quarter, core and slice the pears, then arrange them in one single layer at the bottom of the bottom of the prepared baking dish.

Pour the batter over the pears.

Bake the clafoutis for 35 to 40 minutes, until it is golden brown and the custard is firm. It will nice and puffed up when it comes out of the oven but you’ll see that it will rapidly deflate, which is totally normal.

Let cool for a few minutes, then sprinkle with confectioner’s sugar before serving!

I have a very small kitchen with very limited counter space. One time, I left a glass pie plate on a stove burner (one in the back) because I was going to use it later that day. I decided to make pasta for lunch so I set my pot of water to boil on one of the front burner… except I turned on the BACK burner, on high of course. I only found out about my mistake when, a few minutes later, the glass pie plate exploded into a thousand little pieces. Good thing I wasn’t in the kitchen when it happened… Imagining what would have happened to me gives me shudders! I spent the rest of the day retrieving pieces of glass all over the place!

Next installment will be about how I managed to get a 2nd degree burn on my upper thigh while cooking pasta. And, no, there won’t be any pictures!

Do you have any kitchen disaster stories you’d like to share?

Recipe adapted from 17 and baking.

Ingredients:

- 1 1/2 cups water
- 3/4 cup Basmati rice (or any other short-grain rice)
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 cups whole milk
- 3 bags Jasmine green tea
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1/2 cup sugar
- half of a vanilla bean or 1-2 tsp vanilla extract

Mix the water, rice and salt and set over medium-high heat until it simmers. Reduce heat to low and let simmer for about 10 minutes or until most of the water has been absorbed.

While the rice is cooking, bring the milk to a simmer in a medium sauce pan with the jasmine green tea bags in it. Make sure the tags aren’t too close to the burner! I used tape to secure them, but I think I was a little overcautious. I already almost set my kitchen on fire once and I was not going to let that happen again!  Once the milk has reached a simmer, remove the saucepan from the heat and set aside until the rice is cooked, another 10 to 15 minutes.

Add the milk, cream and sugar to the rice. Scrape the seeds off the vanilla bean with the back of a knife and add them to the rice, along with the vanilla bean.

Increase the heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened and reached a  creamy texture.

Remove from the heat and let rest and cool down for a few minutes before serving. If you have leftovers or would like to serve the rice pudding later, pour into a serving bowl or small ramekins and set plastic wrap directly onto the pudding before chilling.

A few days ago, I was looking through old cooking magazines that I brought back from France a few years  ago and stumbled upon a very interesting looking picture. It had cucumbers cut into cylinders and filled with endives, smoked salmon and lemon juice. It looked good, healthy and easy to make so I thought it would be perfect for a light lunch. I really love how original it looks! I think it would also be perfect as an appetizer for a dinner party! It was quite a success in my house and I will most definitely make this again!

Ingredients:

- 3 medium cucumbers or 2 large ones

- 3 endives

- 5 or 6 slices smoked salmon

- 2 lemons

- Fleur de sel (regular salt if you don’t have any)

Peel the cucumbers and slice them into approximately 3 inches sections.

With a small spoon, empty most of the seeds, leaving about 1/2 inch at the bottom of each one.

Chop the endives thinly and slice the smoked salmon into thin strips.

In a medium size mixing bowl, mix together the salmon and endives. Mix in the juice of one lemon.

With a small spoon, fill the cucumbers with the salmon/endive/lemon juice mix.

Sprinkle with Fleur de sel (or salt) and serve with lemon slices.

Adapted from Guide Cuisine #177 , Mars 2006.

A couple of months ago I was given a gift certificate to the King Arthur Flour online store and it took me a long time to decide what I was going to order as I would be happy to just own every single item they sell! I finally settled on this beautiful Celtic knots shortbread pan.

I love shortbread and making/eating it has now become even more exciting!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

- 1 cup confectioners’ sugar

- 2 tsp vanilla extract

- 1/4 tsp almond extract (optional)

- 2 cups flour

- about 4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 300°F.

Spray vegetable oil (I use canola oil) on two 9-inch pie pans. The first time I made this I used butter but it didn’t work too well for me. It ended up sticking to the pan after baking.  On the other hand, with the canola oil the shortbread slid right out of the pan.

In a medium mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar, vanilla and almond extracts. Beat in the flour a few tablespoons at a time. I used my stand mixer but it will be fine with a hand-held on too!

Put the dough on a floured surface and divide it in half.

Press each half of the dough into your prepared pie pans and smooth the  surface. A mini rolling pin will work wonders but if you don’t have one, you can use your fingers or even the bottom of a cup. If it is too sticky, cover it with wax or parchment paper while smoothing it.

Prick the dough with a fork to allow the steam to come out while baking. You can do it in a pretty pattern as it will still show after baking or use it for cutting the slices when the shortbread come out of the oven.

Bake the dough for about 35 minutes, or until the edges are brown and the middle is light golden in color.

Inverse on a cutting board and immediately cut into wedges.

Wait until the shortbread is at room temperature before eating it. I know, easier said than done! If you’d like, you can also dip the wedges into chocolate. I love it that way!

To melt the chocolate, use the double-boiling technique: place semi-sweet chocolate chips  into a heat-proof dish (I used a smaller mixing bowl) and set it over simmering water.

Stir the chocolate until it is completely melted.

Pour the chocolate into a cup and immediately dip each wedge in it, then set the wedges on wax paper to cool.

Enjoy!

This recipe is adapted from King Arthur Flour Shortbread recipe.