Genoise Rose

Genoise Rose, a simple cake with spectacular possibilities.  Rose presents a classic genoise dressed only in a flavored sugar syrup.  A well made genoise is the equivalent of a basic black dress.  Dress it up or dress it down.

Rose enhances the melted butter in a standard genoise by taking it a step further with buerre noisette.  This go around was the best batch I've turned out.  Want to know the secret?  I fell asleep.  Being asleep I didn't fuss with it and lo and behold, I awoke to a nutty golden brown pan of buerre noisette.

Genoise has vexed me on more than one occasion.  Following a tip on youtube, I poured the fluffy beaten eggs into a glass bowl before folding in the flour.  Doing this allowed a better view for making certain the flour was folded in completely.

After the mini bunt and cupcakes cooled, I brushed the Triple Sec syrup on the cakes.  Strawberries sounded good in the soaring temperature but sadly lacked flavor.  Spying the leftover syrup, they seemed destined for it.  Macerating overnight and then pureed, they made quite a lovely sauce.  Dolloped with Grand Marnier whipped cream, this cake was perfect for the sizzling summer heat wave.  

Coconut Cheesecake

Rose introduces her Coconut Cheesecake with the rhetorical question, "If you like coconut and you like cheesecake..."  The answer is YES on both counts.  This recipe alone makes her newest book "Rose's Heavenly Cakes", a gem.

My husband, on the other hand, is coconut phobic.  Detests coconut.  Abhors coconut.  As much as beets.

Which is to say, a lot.  So when he asked if I would make a pineapple upside down cake for Father's Day, I nonchalantly replied that cheesecake was next up for the Heavenly Cake Bakers.   Luckily, he likes cheesecake.

I may have forgotten to mention it was a coconut cheesecake.  I may have orchestrated the assembling of said cheesecake like a covert operation.  I may, or may not, have outright lied when asked "Is that bag of coconut I saw somewhere in this kitchen going into that cheesecake?"  Spouses are protected by law from testifying against each other, are they not?  

Coconut haters seem to fall into two camps; those that hate everything about it and those that object to the texture.  He falls into the latter.  The delectable vanilla wafer crust called for coconut.  Guilt set in so I made two versions, one with coconut and one without, even though I was fairly certain I could get away with it after pulverizing the coconut in the mini Cuisinart.

Spooned into ramekins, they baked nicely in a water bath.  I am always particularly pleased to evade a trip to the ER when executing a bain marie.

                                            Espresso tamper works perfectly

Toasted coconut was sprinkled on some and Miss Thompson's Dark Chocolate frosting drizzled on others in the spirit of Almond Joy candy bars.  The majority of the lot are heading out the door tomorrow because I could happily eat cheesecake morning, noon and night.

His verdict, "These are too good to be believed!"  I am not so certain his cardiologist would agree.  Then again, coconut does have certain health benefits which must outweigh the effects of sour cream and cream cheese.  Ya, that is why I poured coconut cream into the batter.  That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

But the really funny outcome is my husband's realization that he likes coconut flavor as well as, toasted coconut.  So this lifelong coconut aversion has been reduced to only raw coconut, if it is detectable, and not masked under something delectable like vanilla wafer cookie crust.  The same thing happened with other fervently avowed coconut detesters.

My daughter humored me with the following office update-

Fabian:  “Please tell your mom that this is the best dessert I’ve ever had”

Paul:  “This is great!”

Nikki:  “And I don’t even like coconut”

Max:  “Absolutely fabulous”

I walked into the breakroom and there were 10 people eating out of ramekins

Immersion blender whisk

Oh heavenly days!  The Pioneer Woman shared this nifty Kitchen Aid whisk attachment for the immersion blender while posting a coffee cake recipe.

Check it out for mixing egg whites while the mixer is otherwise occupied.

Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake

                                        

                                            
 This is the Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cake from Rose's Heavenly Cakes made into a single layer and eight large cupcakes.  The white chocolate cake is filled with strawberry mousseline and strawberry butter then topped with a dark chocolate glaze frosting.  These three flavors complement each other nicely.  I used Lindt White Chocolate with coconut which added an extra playful element.  I very much would like to say the strawberry butter was whipped up with strawberries from my little backyard patch, however this is the one lone berry.

The cupcakes were sent out the door.  Much too tempting!

I've been tempted enough this week.  Meet Daisy, an eight week old Chihuahua.  She is for my eldest granddaughter who patiently, and not so patiently, waited five years for her very own puppy.

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes

Chocolate Butter Cupcakes warm from the oven are lighter than air.  If clouds could be made of Valrohna chocolate, this would be it. This recipe from Rose's Heavenly Cakes is definitely celestial.

The cake has a moist, delicate texture. Trying to outsmart my baking pans, I have taken to removing baked goods a smidgen under baked and turning them out of the pans ASAP.  It has helped enormously.  The extra cupcake batter went into an aluminum mini cake pan.  It took quite a while to bake but turned out nicely.

Everyone preferred these dusted simply with powdered sugar. I, however, couldn't help dabbling in buttercream and mixed up an espresso version with creme fraiche.  It was light enough not to compete with the cake.

German Chocolate Cake

Every single year my brother requested a German Chocolate Cake for his birthday.  Every single year I hoped he would chose something different.  The recipe my mother used was the on the back of a bar of Baker's Chocolate.  The cake always received rave reviews from everyone but me.  I was completely indifferent towards it.  Not any longer.  The German Chocolate Cake in Rose's Heavenly Cakes is utterly fantastic.

Rose uses dark chocolate for the cake batter.  Finally, a German Chocolate Cake that actually tastes like
chocolate.  The deep flavor balances perfectly against the coconut pecan frosting. The frosting, I have decided, is my new breakfast cereal.  I've named it "In Denial".

Rather than a two layer cake, as the recipe called for, I made a single layer and a dozen cupcakes.
I wanted to see if it made a difference baking in an aluminum cake pan verses stainless steel.  I have a theory
that my heavy, commercial grade Cuisinart cake pans are holding in so much heat after coming out of the oven  they are literally drying out Rose's delicate batters.  This cake came out incredibly moist, as did the cupcakes.  And then the most peculiar thing happened; they started disappearing.   No one wanted to wait for the frosting!

Bernachon Palet d'Or

Bernachon Palet d'Or is a stunning chocolate cake.  Draped in ganache made with creme fraiche, it is not cloying sweet.  Rather than the famed chocolate lacquer glaze, this version is drizzled with red current jelly.  The combination plays well together.

I heeded Rose's advice and made the ganache first to give it sufficient time to cool.  Lindt did not have a 60% dark chocolate on the shelf so I opted for half 50% and half 70%.  I have no idea if that equals 60% in the world of chocolate math.

Mixing the cake batter was relatively easy.  The hardest part was smoothing the light and fluffy batter into the pan evenly!  The tricky part was deciding when to pull the cake out of the oven.  There seems to be a very fine line with this cake between done and burned.  I got this one out just in the nick of time and had to trim a few bits round the top edge.  Rather than have it cook further while cooling in the pan, I flipped it out immediately.   The parchment paper was still holding in a great deal of heat so I flipped it back over and removed it.  The cake then cooled quickly.

The texture is not dry but next time I will remove it from the oven sooner.  I had all the ingredients out for the lacquer glaze however red current jelly kept calling my name.  There was not one fresh red current in this town.  The fruit exchange said they are due to arrive on the twenty-fifth.  The garden nurseries sold every current bush in stock.  Had I not been the procrastinator I am, I could have planted one back in January and merrily picked my own red currents.

Everyone loves this cake.  Eldest granddaughter has nibbled three pieces.  For a kid, that is saying a lot.  I think children are the best taste testers when it comes to staples like chocolate cake.