Le Success

I've been petrified of making a cake. I'm scared of layers, and the hours of labor that goes into making one. So I've been putting it off and off and off.

I thought I'd give it a go as I have the time, and I really need to get some practice in before school starts again.

This is made with a nut marangue (hazelnut and almond), two types of butter cream (vanilla and a praline) and a ganache layer. It wasn't too hard to assemble, although the cream made it difficult to cut, but I froze it and that allowed me to trim the sides.

I attempted to make some caramel hazelnuts to go on top. However, the caramel thickened too fast, so they weren't brilliantly successful. But they look alright.

Fig, Roasted Hazelnuts, Fennel Seed and Rosemary Bread

Wow, it's pretty jam packed. This bread is a 'quick bread' meaning it doesn't require a starter dough made the night before. However, I did start it around 9 am and finished it at around 2pm... so I guess quick bread isn't really the right name for it. However, it was worth it.

It is half whole wheat, half white bread flour, so it is already nutty without the addition of the hazelnuts. The fennel certainly gave it a anise kick, and the rosemary added some more oomph. The figs were sweet and contributed a lot to the crust color. A tasty bread, good with cheeses as well as with butter.

Taken from the Jeffrey Hamelman book "Bread: A Baker's Book of Techniques and Recipes". An amazing bread book.

Frangelico Pears with Brown Butter Filling

A simple pate sucre filled with a brown butter filling (simple butter browned until it has a hazelnut smell to it, with eggs, sugar a bit of flour and I added a bit more frangelico [hazelnut liquor] to flavor it a smidge). It was alright, I need to figure out how to make the brown butter taste like the flavor I add to it - I really wanted a hazelnut flavor to it, but besides adding roasted ground hazelnuts, I'm not sure how to do it.

Hazelnut-Cornmeal Cake

I've recently been re-introduced to the wonderful flavor of hazelnuts, and so this cake is dedicated to the amazing taste that is hazelnut.

This cake has a wonderful texture, crunchy and moist. Pairs wonderfully with coffee.

Ingredients
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and skinned (don't be too worried about skinning the hazelnuts, they taste just fine with the skins on, but the cake isn't as pretty)
1/2 cup corn flour
1/2 cup cake flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp.
3/4 cup sugar
4 large eggs separated
1 tsp. rum
juice of 1/2 lemon
Confectioners sugar for dusting

Method
1. Position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350F.
2. Butter a 8-inch round cake pan, or a 9-inch springform pan (which I used).
3. In a food processor, combine the hazelnuts and corn flour. Process until the nuts are finely ground.
4. Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt onto a sheet of parchment paper. Stir in the ground nut mixture.
5. In a large bowl combine the butter and sugar. Using a whisk beat vigorously until the mixture is light in color and fluffy (about 3 min).
6. Whisk in the egg yolks, and rum.
7. In a separate bowl, stir together the lemon juice and egg whites.
8. Beat the egg whites until soft peaks form (do not overwhisk, as this will make the cake dry).
9. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold 1/3 of the dry ingredients into the butter mixture until almost incorporated.
10. Fold in 1/2 of the egg whites.
11. Fold in another 1/3 of the dry, then the other 1/2 of the eggs whites.
12. Add the remaining dry ingredients and using a light motion with the spatula fold in until the batter is smooth, and fluffy.
13. Spread the batter in the pan.
14. Bake the cake for 25-35 min. Or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
15. Let the cake cool on a wire rack for 5 min. Then remove from the pan and back onto the wire rack (the same way up as you took it out of the oven).
16. Let the cake cool to room temperature with a damp tea towel placed over the top (to protect the cake from drying out as it cools).
17. In a fine sieve, place around 1-2 Tbs. of confectioners sugar and sift over the top of the cake. Serve.

Taken from Williams -Sonoma Essentials of Baking by Cathy Burgett, Elinor Klivans and Lou Seibert Pappas, pp. 222-3.

Truffles

These are really good. They are rich, dark and creamy, but they also pack a punch due to the addition of rum. They are finicky to make, especially if your kitchen is like mine and heats up a lot when the oven is on. The best thing to do is to roll your hands in a little cocoa powder (used like flour when touching dough) to prevent the ganache from sticking to your hands.

Ingredients: Truffles
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 cup heavy cream
1 Earl Gray teabag (optional)
2 Tbs. unsalted butter, softened
1 Tbs. light corn syrup
2 Tbs. liquor (I used rum, but kirsch, bourbon or Grand Marinier are good as well. Or you can used brewed coffee, orange juice, or a fruit puree)

Ingredients: Coating
Roasted Hazelnuts

Method
1. Using a serrated knife finely chop the chocolate (the smaller the better as it needs to melt with only the assistance of hot cream).

2. Place the chopped chocolate in a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Place the butter in with the chocolate.

3. Bring the cream and corn syrup to boil in a small saucepan (if you like you can add the Earl Gray tea bag at the beginning, and then bring it to a boil. Take the cream off the heat and let the cream and tea bag steep for 10 min. Then put back on the heat and bring to a boil once more).

4. Take the boiling cream off the heat and pour on top of the chocolate and butter.

5. Let it sit for 1min. Then pulse the machine 3 times - scrape down the sides- then pulse the machine 3 more times, and then add the liquor (or other flavoring), and pulse once more.

6. Place in a bowl and put in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

7. Roast the hazelnuts in the oven (350F oven for 10 min). Remove the husks (with your fingers or by rubbing them between a tea towel). Chop into pieces - fairly fine, but chunky enough to really taste them,

8. Take the Truffle filling out of the fridge, and take a tablespoon of the mix between lightly cocoa powdered fingers and roll into a semblance of a ball, then place in the hazelnuts*.

9. Put in the fridge, serve when set.

*You can coat the truffles with many things at this time, melted bittersweet chocolate and cocoa powder, other types of nuts or toasted coconut.

Taken from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard pp. 16-19.