White Christmas Victoria Sponge Cake

This was supposed to be Rose's 

White Christmas Peppermint Cake

which 

Marie made and you can see

how it is meant to be.

When she mentioned this cake

could easily be adapted to other flavors

I wondered if finally I could

duplicate my wedding cake.

Happy to say this is even better.

The cake batter Rose has us make

is a butter cake dream.

Honestly, it is the most beautiful,

fluffy batter imaginable.

Super simple to mix up, too.

Egg whites, sugar, cake flour, baking powder,

milk, salt, butter and extracts.

The frosting is divine.

Buttercream from a white chocolate custard base

transforms into a fluffy frosting.

I used Lindt Classic White Chocolate bars.

Here's where I veered off course.

The wedding cake was almond with raspberry filling

and white buttercream frosting.

I forgot to buy raspberry jam but had a new jar 

of strawberry.

I started remembering all those Great British Bake Off Victoria Sponges

and visions of Mary Berry began to swirl 'round my head.

I looked up her recipe and it's the same sort of basic ingredients,

minus the extracts  and butter ( hence "sponge")

but with choice of jams,

and powdered sugar showered over instead of frosting.

Adjusting the almond extract for the peppermint 

and spreading warmed jam

between the layers before frosting 

substituted easily.

We really love this cake

and I can see this next year made at

Christmas 

in it's peppermint form decorated with

marching soldiers among the candy cane crunch.

They've been in storage since my

children were little.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Cranberry Walnut Christmas Bread

Cranberry Walnut Christmas Bread.

This may well be the recipe 

that put me over the edge.

And it has nothing to do with the recipe.

Although I was fooled

thinking it would be a lovely, simple tea bread,

like banana, zucchini, etc.

It is not a typical tea bread.

It is a full fledged 

yeast bread.   

And a very nice one at that.

One that calls for biga

slumbering away in the frig for three full days.

Fine by me.

I forget a lot of things these days

so being instructed to purposely 

ignore ingredients was a reprieve

in the midst of holiday must do lists.

I could swear this recipe called for candied orange rind.

It's always a good sign to pull the bowl

out of the refrigerator and find bubbles.

Snipped biga in cranberry water

As the name suggests, there are cranberries in this bread,

dried not fresh, plumped in hot water.

The strained water is used to flavor and tint the dough.

Mixed together with the usual cast of bread characters:

regular and whole wheat flour, yeast, salt 

and the main characters, cranberries and walnuts,

it turned into a dense dough.

After a few warm risings,

it quickly transformed into a lovely mound.

The magic of yeast, like Drosselmeyer

waving his cape and the Nutcracker comes to life.

It is a fun dough to press and fold and slash into shape.

The aroma started to fill the cold, wintery house

with cozy warmth.

This bread surprised me.

I didn't think I would like it.

It is delicious.

I still have no idea what recipe I read

that made me think it called for 

candied orange rind and zest

to soak with the cranberries.

Which makes me wonder if

I've taken to having baking hallucinations?

Sounds good though.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Renee Fleming Golden Chiffon Cake

The Renee Fleming Golden Chiffon Cake

is a light, refreshing dessert

in the middle of gloomy weather.

It was incredibly easy to make,

probably one of the easiest of

Rose's sponge type cakes.

The egg whites folded in

so easily.

Finished late last night,

Ms Fleming was wrapped for the night,

and with an early morning wake up call,

sliced for breakfast!

The lemon curd was stirred up

while the cake was baking

and then mixed into the whipped cream today.

I only had 3/4's of a cup of heavy cream

but it suited me fine.

I love lemon curd and honestly

could have even gone down to 1/2 cup cream ratio.

The dried lemon zest was a bit off

instructions.

I heated up the oven, placed it inside

on a plate and turned it off.

It dried out while I tackled the

mountain of dishes.

Can't tell by this picture but it

dipped down as the recipe indicated.

Perfect for cradling lemon curd heaven.

More visible in this one.

This cake is 

definitely on the Bake Again list.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Posh Pie

See the camera reflection?

This is Rose's ultimate chocolate pie creation,

aptly named Posh Pie.

It's a high maintenance pie,

that's for sure.

Marie

can fill you in on all the details.

This is the only picture I took which was from

making the chocolate cookie dough for the chocolate

cookie pie crust.

It's not that this pie was particularly difficult,

it was just many different components

and a lot of chilling times.

My new deep dish pie pan

arrived today after

making this yesterday!

So I used a ten and half inch pie plate

and had enough leftover filling

to make two small parfaits layered with

Speculoos cookies and whipped cream.

There aren't any pictures of those either.

With Rose's chocolate lacquer whipped cream

Was this pie worth the time and effort?

For a special occasion, yes.

Light and airy in texture,

not too sweet.

Definitely a pie for chocolate lovers 

and truly a show stopper.

I did follow 

Kristina's

tip to cool the filling in an ice bath

and Jen's

observation about the crust sticking

to the pan.  

I used a wooden espresso tamper to

barely tap it in.

It holds up really well overnight in Tupperware

even after being sliced

I am wondering what crushed candy canes

would be like over the top or peppermint

flavored whipped cream for the holidays?

It is spectacular! 

The peppermint whipped cream 

and crushed candy canes

really hit the mark with the chocolate.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Traditional Challah

Challah

has to be one of the most

beautiful of all braided breads,

when made properly.

My challah resembled

the giant fish

Julia Child tackled.

It just kept growing!

 All the while, a challah

song kept coming to mind

but it wasn't as cute 

as this little sweet 

one.

First up making the sponge;

the most fun step in Rose's bread recipes.

Flour, water, honey and eggs whisked together

and then blanketed with flour, yeast and salt.

Time to add the rest of the ingredients:

eggs, oil, honey and vinegar.

Mixed with the dough hook until

 nice and smooth and definitely tacky.

A few steamy warm risings in between 

a quick knead, the proverbial 

business letter fold, dividing the dough

and braiding.

It baked up to the required internal

temperature

and voila!

Giant challah.

What to do with this massive loaf?

First, toast and tea.

And then a French Toast Casserole. 

It's been on my bucket list forever.

I used this recipe, 

subbing the Trader Joe's dried fruit blend

with golden raisins, cherries and blueberries,

plus one added teaspoon of orange oil.

The aroma bubbling out of the oven

was amazing.

A slight drizzle of  maple syrup

and it was delicious.

The challah texture stands up

perfectly during baking.

I had fun reading about the 

significance of challah

in the Jewish faith.

Very glad this lovely bread

is shared with the rest of the world.

Now I'm off to surprise

my brother with most

of this casserole.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Butter Spritz-less Cookies

This week's bake is Rose's wonderful

Butter Spritz Cookies.

I took the simple way out and didn't "spritz" 

the cookies, 

gently rolling them into balls then

pressing with a fork to flatten.

I swear I have a cookie press around here

but I couldn't find it which explains

cookie presses popping up in front of me

on store shelves the past few weeks.

I didn't heed the cosmic hint to buy one.

But it did make me wonder how 

many home bakers miss out on

Spritz cookies because they

don't own and never would

use a cookie press?

I know my mom,

cookie baker extraordinaire,

wouldn't but she would have

loved these cookies.

They were super simple to make,

especially since Trader Joe's had

blanched toasted almonds.

I sort of did a hybrid version of

Rose's instructions between

the food processor and mixer method.

My mini Cuisinart was the perfect size

for blitzing the sugar and almonds together.

I finished the recipe in the mixer;

flour, cornstarch, pinch of salt,  Irish butter, egg, 

vanilla and almond extracts.

Heeding Marie's warning to watch the baking time

closely, they came out perfectly.

This cookie is the quintessential

biscuit for a

Nice Cup of Tea and a Sit Down.

~

The Baking Bible

by 

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Pumpkin Pecan Pie

Happy Thanksgiving!

Rose's Pumpkin Pecan Pie

is literally two pies in one

and already garnering rave reviews.

I wasn't sure about the step of cooking

the pumpkin mixture first but

it's brilliant.

It takes the pumpkin and spices to a deeper depth

of flavor while reducing moisture

from the canned pumpkin.

I like it so much I'm making a plain pumpkin pie

today by this method.

I was too tired to go across town and buy a

deep dish pie pan at William Sonoma

so used a springform pan instead.

It worked but the dough did slip

down, as Rose warned.

My son, 

who doesn't care for pecan pie,

wanted to know what the caramel layer was.

"Pecan pie."

"But this is so freaking good and I don't like pecan pie."

Ah, the miracle of muscavado sugar and Lyle's Golden Syrup!

I don't do Black Friday sales 

but for a deep dish pie pan, I'll be off and elbowing

my way through the crowds.

This is a repeat recipe.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Hazelnut Praline Cookies

Rose's Hazelnut Praline Cookies

are the perfect accompaniment for a cup of coffee.

If you drink coffee.

I didn't for twenty seven years until my

mother in law asked if I would like a cup.

And darn if that wasn't the best

cup of coffee.

See that little creamer?

That was her's.

I loved when they brought cream with the coffee

or maple syrup with pancakes in these little jugs

at road side diners years ago.

So the gist of these cookies are this;

find raw hazelnuts, boil them in baking soda water,

strain, pop them in a plastic box with a lid and shake the

dickens out of them.

Rub off any stubborn bits of remaining skin,

and put them in the oven to roast.

Mix up a caramel syrup 

(add a little Golden Syrup just because

it's so good)

and try 

not to set off smoke alarms.

Pour over toasted hazelnuts and let cool, 

then pulverize in a food processor.

Next is simple flour, sugar, egg, vanilla, 

baking soda, butter and salt (a bit of dark

Muscavado because I forgot to cream the butter

with eggs and sugar)

mixed together into a soft dough

with the hazelnut praline blended in.

Chill.

Roll into balls, bake,

and have yourself a nice little sit down.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Sugar Rose Brioche

I should have never watched 

The Great British Bake Off

Sunday night.

No good can come from being inspired 

to bring out flour and yeast late at night.

Be that as it may,

I lost track of how many eggs I added to

the starter sponge, 

if I added eggs to the starter sponge,

and exactly when did I add them?

So I added a few more

and hoped for the best.

Here is the mystery eggy dough after 

mixing in the butter.

Poured into a bowl for the first warm proofing

it comes out looking even nicer.

Off for cool rising in the frig to set the butter,

then deflate 

the beautiful dough before 

another warm rise.

Next comes the business letter fold

we have come to know.

Back into the frig for six more hours.

Always a good sign when the zip lock

plastic bag is puffy from the dough proofing

overnight.

An egg wash is blitzed with a pinch of salt

and strained through a fine mesh.

Learned a trick of using two forks together

to whisk small amounts.

They act like a flat whisk.

Dough is rolled out into a very large circle,

washed with the egg then sprinkled with

cinnamon and sugar.

I really wanted to add Muscavado sugar 

as well.

Time for the rolling, cutting and twisting

Lucky my camera died.

It wasn't pretty.

Off for the final warm rise,

popped into the oven for a short twenty minute bake and

then tented for a full hour.

I did wash the top with egg and sugared

the heck out of it.

The house started to waft lovely aromas which is quite 

nice early in the morning.

Cautioned the bottom might burn if the sugared sides 

faced down, I popped a metal cake cooling rack on top

of the pizza stone for a slight cushion.

It worked because I am certain

mine was not correctly braided.

As swear words swirled around the kitchen

I wondered how in the world those 

British Bake Off contestants

manage to bake with a camera

in their face in the midst of mishaps.

The flavor of this bread is incredible.

The texture light and fluffy.

No wonder people mistake it

for cake.

This is truly a spectacular recipe.

Well done, Rose!

Once again you have proved

that it doesn't take flawless

baking skills to turn out

superb bread.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaun