…who almost missed her own challenge and all? Yep, that would be me. I am the host of this month’s Daring Bakers challenge and I almost didn’t get the challenge done. You see, my ankle isn’t all that fond of being stood on for long periods of time, and well, this cake is a little time consuming.
Deciding what to do for the challenge is quite a daunting experience. It’s your one chance to try to pick something that will be difficult enough that people feel challenged by but not overwhelmed by. Something that taste good and they will actually eat. And something that says a little something about you the host(pink is my favorite color and strawberries are my favorite fruit).
I chose this Strawberry Mirror Cake mainly for the fact that, here in the states, it is Summer, and this cake said Summer to me. Even though it uses a ton of eggs you wouldn’t really know it. It is light and airy and scented with strawberries.
Other than standing on my ankle and it getting mad and swelling up, I had no problems with this challenge at all. I know others did though(you can read about their adventures by visiting the Daring Baker blog roll…see end of this post). Since it was time consuming, I did break it up into 2 days. Cake( froze the layers) and made the puree one day. Then did everything else the next day. I chose to make mini ones, using 4 ½ inch spring form pans. It worked out perfectly as I ate them for breakfast, lunch and for dessert with dinner
Sorry such a short post but I have a killer migraine and starring at a computer screen isn’t really helping all that much!

Strawberry Mirror Cake

3 eggs
3 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
2 TBSP sugar
2/3 cup sifted cake flour
½ cup water
1/3 cups sugar
2 TBSP kirsch or strawberry liqueur

Strawberry Bavarian Cream
2 ½ TBSP unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups strained strawberry puree(1 ½ baskets)
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
1 TBSP lemon juice
several drops of red food coloring
1 ¾ cups whipping cream

Strawberry Mirror
1 tsp lemon juice
1 TBSP kirsch
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP unflavored gelatin
Few drops of red food coloring

Strawberry Juice
1 ½ pints of strawberries(18 oz)
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water

1.Preheat oven to 450F. Butter and flour the sides of an 11-by-17 inch jelly roll pan(rimmed baking sheet). Line bottom of pan with a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit bottom pan exactly.
2.Beat eggs, egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar together in a medium bowl until thick and light. Beat in the vanilla.
3.In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, ad cream of tartar and beat until whites begin to form peaks. Add the 2 TBSP sugar and beat until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks(do not over beat).
4.Sift flour over the egg yolk mixture and fold in . Stir in one fourth of the whites. Then carefully fold in the remaining whites.
5.Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake until light brown and springy to touch(7 to 10 minutes). Cool in pan 5 minutes. Run a knife along edge to loosen. Invert cake tin to cut out 8 ¼ inch circles of cake. Wrap the cake layers, separated with waxed paper, and set aside. Cake may be frozen at this point.
6.To make soaking syrup: Combine water and the 1/3 cup sugar in saucepan; bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature; flavor with liqueur. Set aside or refrigerate in glass jar until ready to use.
7.To assemble cake: Brush sides of 10-inch springform pan lightly with flavorless salad oil or almond oil. Cut out a cardboard circle that is exactly the same size as the bottom inside of the pan; cover cardboard with aluminum foil and fit into bottom of pan. Center one layer of the cake bottom of pan. Brush the cake with some of the soaking syrup to just moisten(not drench) the cake; set aside.
8.Prepare Strawberry Bavarian Cream. Immediately pour about half of the Bavarian Cream over the first layer of cake in the pan. Set the next layer of cake on top of the cream. Pour remaining Bavarian Cream over cake and smooth top of the cream with spatula. Refrigerate until the cream sets(1 to 2 hours).
9.Prepare the Strawberry Mirror.
10.To serve: Wrap a hot towel around the outside of springform pan for a few minutes. Run a small sharp knife tip around the edge of the Strawberry Mirror to separate it form the sides of pan. Mirror will tear when sides are unlatched if it is stuck at ANY point. Slowly unlatch the pan and slide it off the cake. Slice cake in wedges and serve in upright slices.
Prep Work

Strawberry Bavarian Cream
1.Sprinkle the gelatin over the strawberry puree in a small bowl and set aside until spongy.
2.Combine egg yolks and sugar in a bowl’ beat until light. Bring milk to a boil in sauce pan. Pour hot milk into yolk mixture ans stir with a wooden spoon(it doesn’t say so but I would temper the egg mixture first to be safe). Return this mixture to the saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until your finger leaves a clear trail in sauce when drawn across the back of the spoon.(Do not boil or mixture will curdle.) Immediately remove from heat and stir in softened gelatin mixture. Pour into a stainless steel bowl places over a bowl of ice water. Stir in lemon juice and a few drops of red food coloring. Cool over ice water, stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens to the consistency of softly whipped cream.
3.White gelatin mixture is cooling, whip the whipping cream until it holds soft peaks. When the gelatin mixture resembles softly whipped cream, fold the whipped cream into the gelatin mixture.

Strawberry Mirror
1.Prepare strawberry juice.
2.Place lemon juice, kirsch, and water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy and soft.
3.Measure 1 ½ cups Strawberry juice into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer; pour over gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve gelatin. Tint to desired color with red food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell); remove from ice water.
4.When mixture is syrupy, pour a 1/16-inch layer over the top of cake. Refrigerate until set.

Strawberry Juice

Wash and hull strawberries; coarsely chop. Place strawberries in saucepan; crush to start juices flowing. Place over low heat; add sugar and water; simmer slowly 10 minutes. Pour juice and pulp through damp jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined colander and drain into a bowl for 15 minutes(Do not press down on fruit).
Adapted from Cakes and Pastries At The Academy by the California Culinary Academy 1993

To see all the different ways this mirror cake was made visit the Daring Bakers Blog Roll site to see all of the Daring Bakers.

Since my husband is so picky, I often have to try out my experiments on other people. More often than not, it is usually referees. One referee in particular gets a lot of snacks. One, he is young and has no one to bake for him. Two, he contributes money to help with the cost of the baked goods(so unlike a 20 year old…he was raised right). Three he eats pretty much anything I throw his way, with much enthusiasm(the kind I wish my husband would show). Sadly for me, he is leaving this week. He got a job offer to go work in Chicago for junior hockey and eventually I suspect the AHL and then the NHL. He is a funny kid and I will miss working with him as he usually makes the night seem to go by quicker for my husband and I.
In light of him leaving, I had a small baking frenzy, making his favorites and also trying out something new since one of my guinea pigs is leaving. I had made some mint cookies at Christmas time and I remember him really liking them so I wanted to make something mint. Well, July is not the time of year to find many mint items. However, year round there are Andes Mints. I searched the Internet and found these cookies that had lots of stars by the name. I found the exact recipe a few times with each person claiming to be their own, so I am not sure who’s recipe this really is. But I will tell you I know why it got so many stars. They are fudgy, chewy, moist and with just a hint of mint they really hit the spot. My experimental cookie went over well with B the ref…luckily since hubby wont eat them and he got the entire batch.
Tonight is my last night working with B, I wish him all the best and I hope he can find a new person to bake for him

Andes Chocolate Mint Cookies
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons water
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 large eggs
2 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
Andes mints candies, broken in half

Heat oven to 350°F.
Over low heat, combine butter, sugar and water.
Heat until melted and add chocolate chips until partly melted.
Remove from heat and stir.
Pour into large mixing bowl.
Let stand 10 minutes to cool slightly.
Beat in eggs one at a time on high speed.
Reduce mixer to low speed and add flour, salt and baking soda.
Beat until well-blended.
Chill one hour (dough is almost liquid before chilling but hardens and is easy to shape after chilling).
Roll into balls, place two inches apart on parchment paper-lined baking sheets.
Bake for 10 minutes.
Place an Andes Mint half on top.
Allow to melt slightly and spread with a spoon.

Source:  Recipezar

I always have buttermilk. I always throw out buttermilk. I always find a recipe I want to make using buttermilk after it has expired. Well, as I went to my fridge  to get a glass of milk, I glanced at the expiration date on my buttermilk….today. Crap.
Determined not to waste another $3.50 on unused buttermilk, I went sifting through my “will make someday” pile in search of any and all things made with buttermilk. What I came across were these. These muffins come from one of the few chain restaurants that I like, Mimi’s Cafe. Mimi’s is one of the few things I miss about Arizona(besides my friends). It was the site of my husband and I’s(bad English I know) first date. I ate there about once a week. It was around the corner from my apartment and they were open until 11pm. It was the only place that I know of that didn’t get upset or rush you out if you showed up to eat at 10:55pm. They have pretty good food, but it is their salads and muffins I love the most. And when you order a salad you get a muffin. And that is where my dilemma began. For I love two of their salads(one they don’t carry anymore) and two of their muffins; a carrot raisin and a buttermilk spice. I usually chose the buttermilk spice, not because it was better, but because before your meal came they gave you a bread basket. In that bread basket was a sourdough bread and a carrot raisin bread, which was pretty much the same as the muffin. So I knew each time I would be getting the carrot raisin in one form or another. Being the cheap teacher I was at the time, I would eat my salad and take my muffin home for breakfast the next day. My good friend C, who I stay with when I go down, is super sweet and goes and buys me a carrot raisin muffin for me to eat each morning I stay with her(One of these days I will make the carrot raisin bread and post it).
These are nice and moist and have just enough hint of spice so that you are not overpowered with cinnamon or nutmeg. At the restaurant they make these into Jumbo muffins, but I just made the average size ones. The recipe does tell you how to modify though if you chose to make the jumbo.

Buttermilk Spice Muffins

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter  
3 eggs  
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 1/2 cups flour  
2 teaspoons baking soda    
1 teaspoon nutmeg    
3/4 cup + 1 tablespoon buttermilk

For Topping:

1/2 cup sugar
1 cup walnuts, finely chopped  
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Grease the baking tins with butter
 
 
Method
 
Preheat oven to 375°. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and the butter together with an electric mixer. When they are thoroughly mixed, add eggs and beat one more minute.

Sift the flour into a separate bowl, together with the baking soda, nutmeg and the cinnamon.

Add the flour and the buttermilk to the first mixture, mix at low speed until smooth. To avoid lumps in the batter, add the wet and dry ingredients alternately, in small amounts.

Make the nut topping: Mix all ingredients together in a small bowl.
Grease muffin tins with butter or margarine. You can also use paper baking cups. Fill each cup 3/4 full of batter. Add a full, rounded tablespoon of nut topping on top of each muffin cup of batter. Bake immediately or the topping will sink to the bottom of the muffin.

Bake at 375°  for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown. A toothpick inserted in the middle of the muffin should come out dry. Home ovens heat differently from commercial ovens so you may need to adjust the temperature or the baking time accordingly.

Recipe yields 12 standard-size muffins, or six jumbo size muffins. If using the jumbo muffin pans, reduce the oven temperature by 25° and increase the baking time 5-10 minutes.

Adapted from: Mimi’s Cafe Website

“Like Peanuts”….and with that my 15 minutes of fame had come and gone…at the age of 3.

This just as easily could have been one of my random facts, but since I knew I was making peanut butter cookies for my hubby, I thought I would wait it out. Yes, many moons ago, my mother and I starred in a hidden camera commercial for Jif peanut butter. A routine trip to the grocery store and answering the question, “what kind of peanut butter do you use?” lead us to be seen almost daily during the soap opera time for 3 months. My mother correctly picked out Jif in a blind taste test, and we amazingly said all the right things. When I took a taste and they said what does it taste like, I said “like peanuts”(cue the salivating advertising guys). My mother thought nothing of it at the time and took her free jar of peanut butter. They never told her it was for a commercial of course until months later when they contacted her.
There are few brands I am loyal to, Jif is one of those brands. Horrible for you, as it is still one of the ones that uses trans fat, I will never switch and neither will my husband. In a way, Jif peanut butter brought my husband and I together, so much so that we gave away Jif peanut butter cookies(this recipe) in the shape of the pi symbol as one of our wedding favors. You see, my hubby and I met online(you know, the old fashioned way ). And on his profile it said he loved Jif peanut butter. He had sent me a note saying he was interested in me(and why wouldn’t he be?  ) and so when I saw he liked Jif, I simply wrote back, “I was in a Jif peanut butter commercial when I was 3.” He wrote back 3 pages. And the rest, as they say,  is history.
Every now and then I will use natural peanut butter(like in dog treats) if I feel the recipe would be better with it, but for the most part it is Jif. Mostly I think I like it because it is sweeter than the other brands there was growing up. And well, the more sugar the better. In fact, that is why I like this recipe so much, 2 cups of sugar…music to my ears. This is not the recipe I grew up on, but it is the one that I have converted everyone to. I usually under bake mine about a minute because I like them to be extra soft.

Mom’s(not my mom’s) Peanut Butter Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F.

1 cup cold unsalted butter, diced
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
3 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt

Cream butter and sugars in a mixer on high speed, scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Beat for about 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs and vanilla, then add the peanut butter and mix well. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt and mix on low speed until all the ingredients are incorporated. Increase the speed to medium and mix just until the dough is smooth.
Using a small ice cream scoop(or a tablespoon) form the dough into ½ inch balls and place on greased cookie sheet. Flatten cookies with a fork. Bake just until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Let cookies cool about 5 minutes and transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Adapted from: Caprial’s Desserts by Caprial Pence and Melissa Carey, 2001