Triple Lemon Velvet Bundt Cake

This is a new unpublished

recipe from

Rose and Woody's

upcoming book

The name says it all.

The crumb is incredibly delicate

when fresh baked.

Rose advises flavor is better

the next day, which does

seem to be deeper and fuller.

The crumb feels heavier

but is still tender.

The only difficulty I had

was it baked too dark even

taking it out of the oven

earlier than the least amount

of recommended time

and 

turning down the oven twenty five degrees

for the last ten minutes.

Not sure if cake strips would have helped.

Next time I'll start checking for doneness

way earlier, when the kitchen is wafting

with delicious lemon scent.

~

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Perfect Christmas Stollen

This is the recipe for 

the Avid Baker's Challenge.

It was a real learning experience.

Growing up Stollen was not on 

our Christmas table.

I have been intrigued since eyeing Stollen

in a delightful bakery years ago.

The few store bought ones

I purchased

were disappointing.

Very hard, dry and tasteless.

The recipe calls for soaked dried fruit.

This fruit has been soaking

in rum for so many years

I've actually forgotten the exact number.

It was intended for fruitcake.

I'm not sure why,

 other than making two mistakes,

why the dough was so wet.

I poured all the flour into the sponge

instead just one half cup.

Also I had to pull it out of the "proofing" microwave box

and add a forgotten egg yolk.

I used White Lily flour and am

not sure if that affected the dough.

It was more of a thick cake consistency.

It is tasty though!

Very tender crumb.

The almond paste center is amazing.

~

Kouigns Amann

Final curtain call 

for Rose's Alpha Bakers.

Our fearless leader,

Marie,

thought it would be great fun

to once again make

the first recipe we

tackled 

upon commencing 

baking through

The Baking Bible,

namely this Kouigns Aman.

I did not share that sentiment

because the first time around was daunting,

but I understood the reasoning.

We've weighed

flour, sugar, butter

in all their various 

percentages and incarnations,

slogging along 

through recipes

that would fell many a baker

for two years and eleven days.

If memory serves correctly,

and that's a big if,

we only took one or two weeks 

worth of breaks.

Baking at this pace is grueling.

Missing a week, 

or weeks at a time,

is like falling off a horse;

best be pulling up those boot straps

and climbing right back into the saddle.

Marie never missed a beat

even when she traveled the world

with her personal photographer/husband

Jim.

He gets credit for sifting through our photos

when there were many superb

ones to choose from for the weekly roundup. 

I have loved seeing not only

my fellow Alpha's bakes

but photographs, as well.

Seriously,

many are magazine worthy.

So with

two years of baking under our belts

these should have been a snap,

right?

The dough is easy peasy

to mix up.

How such few ingredients

transform into 

KA's

is nothing short of alchemy.

After that it's a lot of 

folding and rolling and waiting.

The dough texture is 

fun to work with.

The butter behaved.

It's only when sugar

gets involved in the last steps

that rolling is a bit dicey.

And that's where swearing doubts

make themselves known.

Still,

with Rose's recipes,

it's often blind faith,

 keep calm and carry on.

There have been many

a time I could 

easily have cracked a bottle

of rum, brandy, whiskey, bourbon, Kahlua,

chambord, Grand Marnier

and whatever 

leftover  Baking Bible 

spirits are in the cupboard

when I was on the verge of baking implosion

but 

I'm not a big fan of alcohol

other than Amaretto

and oddly

Rose never called for Amartto.

If she did,

I drank the last of it and can't remember.

My six and half year old granddaughter

made good on her

promise to be here for the last bake.

Only she declared Blueberry muffins

needed to be made

because evidently,

as grandmother,

I set some sort of precedent 

without realizing it.

Grandma, remember how you always

made us blueberry muffins when we spent the night?

Next thing I knew it was tea party time.

Kouigns Amann had been demoted.

If I tackle these again,

it will be at the crack of dawn 

for this all day venture.

I will make a note to pull them out

at the least amount of baking time

and throw a foil tent over for the last

ten minutes.

Rose lists turning these into

French Toast

as a variation.

That seemed crazy to me

after all this effort

but

curiosity won out

And let me say,

Rose knows of which she speaks,

spectacular.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Rich and Creamy Ginger Scones

Rose's Rich and Creamy Ginger Scones

are aptly named.

They are so delicate.

I used left over Irish butter

which is higher in fat

and thus were

extra creamy.

Her method of whipping

the cream and adding it

to the mix does make for an airy crumb.

Trader Joe's didn't have candied ginger

because it has lead in it.

Yikes!

I added left over golden raisins which

were soaking in rum

from a previous recipe of Rose's.

They go perfectly with the ginger.

I missed the instruction to make sure

they were a couple inches apart from each other.

Obviously mine were too close

but I cut them apart and they were fine.

I love Rose's method

for making these scones

and can see the flavors

easily being adapted.

They are truly spectacular.

~

The Bread Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

Luxury Chocolate Buttercrunch Toffee

This is the last new recipe 

 The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers

are making.

It was an uphill

battle for me

getting here.

I felt like the tail end runner

in a marathon 

that had to be carried across the finish line.

Lucky for me

I had a sous chef

who even made breakfast.

"I'll make you breakfast whenever I'm here

because grandpa isn't here to cook for you."

She's been baking along

with the Alpha Bakers/Heavenly Cake days

since she was three

and could scoot a chair up to the counter.

After stirring the toffee mixture

she decided

to add a 

saucier pan to the top

of her Christmas wish list.

First Thanksgiving apple pie

Baking can be lonely.

Having a child in the kitchen

always makes things lively.

Her younger sister

has dibs on

being here for the

Kouigns Amann 

finale.

This toffee is good.

It took a long time to reach the correct temperature.

I forgot the last step to put in the vanilla and baking soda.

Thankfully sous chef can read well

and caught my mistake.

I only topped it with chocolate and nuts.

Rose calls for also coating the bottom.

It truly is luxurious and buttery.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum

I 

Brandy Snap Cannoli

All I can say is they are finished.

I've been dreading these 

but there was no hiding putting

it off any longer.

It was the last recipe I had to catch up

with the Alpha Bakers.

It was the multiple steps

and pages of instructions

that I dreaded

but I never thought 

this would happen.

All the little two inch circles 

ran a muck, revolted,

joined forces

and turned into a giant blob.

I just cut them into rectangles

and carried on

rather than chuck the entire

thing,

because I wasn't starting again.

Making the pastry cream

and marscapone mixture

wasn't difficult,

just time consuming.

I had my doubts about cooking

the dried fruit but honestly,

once the rum (out of Bourbon)

and orange zest was

added, it escalated to an

entirely new dimension.

And this is where I could have 

easily stopped 

doling the

lovely creamy wonder

into pudding dishes instead.

But I stuffed the cannoli

and finished the ends

with toasted pistachios. 

What this has done 

is make me want to make

the fried dough Italian version

with Rose's filling.

~

The Baking Bible

by

Rose Levy Beranbaum