Blackberry Roulade

This is my second entry for Martha Mondays.  

This time we had a choice to make either a mocha roulade or a blackberry roulade.  I chose the Blackberry. I have never made a roulade or used Blackberries before.

The cake was actually pretty easy to make, even though mine cracked.  I think it was due to me rushing and not letting it cool enough.  The blackberry filling was actually quite good. 

I would make this type of cake again, and i will definitely be trying more recipes with blackberry.

For printable version of the recipe, click here.

Check out Mimi On The Move to see the other roulades!

Mango Bread Pudding

This post will serve as double duty this month.  This is my entry to this months Royal Foodie Joust and also as an entry to Cinco De Mango.

The ingredients for this months Royal Foodie Joust are Mangoes, Cardamon and Brown Sugar. I love Mangoes so i was definitely interested.  I hadnt used cardamon before but had been meaning to try it.  So i googled the three ingredients and the first recipe which came up was a Mango Bread Pudding.   

After searching high and low for caradmon (finally found it at $12 for 1.75 oz!!!!), i made the recipe.  I have never made bread pudding before nor do i recall tasting it before so i wasnt sure what to expect.

The overall flavor was really good but i didn't care for the texture.  It was very mushy.

Check out the forum to see all the other entries this month.

Cheesecake Pops

This months Daring Baker challenge was Cheesecake Pops chosen by Elle of Feeding My Enthusiasms and Deborah of Taste and Tell.

I have to admit that when I first found out this months challenge, I was intrigued.  Then i saw the pictures and i was super excited.  Immediately i started thinking of all the decorating possibilities, which seemed to be endless.  Plus i love cheesecake!  I couldn't wait!

I halved the recipe, I felt that this was very necessary since i live alone, am trying to start a diet and love cheesecake :).  I baked my cheesecake an 8x3 cakepan for about 50 minutes and had no problems with it setting up.  I formed the ball the next day, inserted the sticks and put the tray in the freezer.  I just have to say that 2oz seemed like alot.  The pops seemed quite huge compared to the sticks.  I had a few spoonfuls of cheesecake left over so i had to eat.  Wow, this is one of the richest, creamiest cheesecakes i have ever eaten.

  

The next day i started dipping.  I used colored candy melts along with regular chocolate to coat the pops.  Then i dipped them.  The pic you see show the following

• coconut
  
• graham cracker
  
• yellow sprinkles
  
• halloween sprinkles
  
• valentine sprinkles
  
• green sanding sugar
  
• cinnamon
  
• crushed peppermint
  
• candied ginger

I had some problems with the sticks coming loose but it mostly went ok.  Since the cheesecake was coming straight from the freezer, when i used the candy melts they would become solid before i could finish dipping them, so i had to work really quick with those.  I wish i could have gotten them more round/smoother but I still think they look great.

My only regret is that I wish i would have made the entire recipe, this way i could have tried more flavor and decoration combinations.

For printable recipe click here.

Bill's Big Carrot Cake

Had some technical difficulties posting this week, hence there are not pictures or html links :(

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Bill’s Big Carrot Cake chosen by Amanda of Slow Like Honey.

Initially I was going to skip the week’s entry. I already have a tried & true carrot cake recipe, which I don’t think I will ever change. It’s actually the first flavor I consistently received orders for, so I was skeptical to try another recipe.

But then I thought about when I joined TWD, my mission was to complete every challenge, every week – so I decided to participate.

To me the recipe is a very basic carrot cake recipe – so I had no problems putting it together. I decided to halve the recipe since I have a few other blogging events which I have to prep for this week. I also decided to make cupcakes i/o a cake.
The batter made 3 cups which would usually yield me 12 cupcakes using my ice cream scoop – but I only got 11? Mine didn’t sink as others did but the batter rose so much that they overflowed and made a chain link of muffin tops!

Other than that the cake was tasty, but a little fragile. I think I will stick with my current recipe.

For a printable version of the recipe click here.

Click here to check out the other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.

Last Week: Marshmallows
Next Week: Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

Marshmallows

This weeks Tuesdays With Dorie recipe is Marshmallows chosen by Judy of Judy’s Gross Eats.

I've tried to make marshmallows once (for my chocolate hi-hat cupcakes) but that was before i got my KA - it turned out ok but they were ridiculously sweet. Now that i have my KA i was happy to see this recipe chosen so i can make some again.

So of course i have some mishaps.

• in trying to get my syrup to 265 it started to turn a pale amber color, so my marshmallows are beigey
• when pouring the sugar syrup into the whites the syrup started to harden on the whisk, so there were big clumps of thickened syrup stuck to my whisk
• i guess the syrup was too hot because i had little flecks of eggs all thru it, so i had to strain it
• the whisk to my KA broke (i just got this KA in august)!!!!

After beating the meringue it really didnt look like alot so i used an 8" square cake pan intead. I sprayed it with baking spray and then dusted the pan with a cornstrach/sugar mixture. Once the mixture was into the pan i spread it out and tossed on more cornstarch/sugar. I then put a sheet of wax paper on top and smoothed out the surface. I let them sit for about 3 hours before i cut them (i used my pizza cutter). They were still a little moist so i just tossed them in more cornstrach/sugar and let them sit.

From my other experience making marshmallows i was scared to bite into it for fear of going into a sugar coma, but once i did i was really happy. Not too sweet, the perfect hint of vanilla, a nice spongy/gummy center. My only issue was the cornstarch on the outside of the marshmallow, to me it gave it a kind of dry, chalky texture when you first put it in your mouth. Otherwise I loved it. I have to say that there is a big difference between these and the ones in the supermarket. These make me want to make them over and over again so that i have them perfected by the time winter comes...... homemade mini marshmallows to top homemade hot cocoa :)

For a printable verion of the recipe click here

Click here to check out other Tuesdays with Dorie bakers.

Last Week: The Most Extraordinary French Lemon Cream Tart
Next week: Big Bills Carrot Cake