The looks are not improving at all, my madeleines have an unusually large number of holes in them. The shell shaped grooves are not here either, a larger mould might have solve this issue. That aside, the taste feels drier than my first attempt. It might be from less butter and more flour. The average baking time was between 10 - 15 min, so I don't think it is a factor.
I have done a lot of poking today to make sure the brownies come out right. It is half way there, the outer rim is fully baked after 20 min while the middle section is half baked. The outcome is regular chocolate cake on the outside with chewy brownie at the centre.
I did not buy any ingredients for today's baking, I just used what was left around in the kitchen and made another shortbread yet again. Funny thing this time, the sultanas blew up into full size grapes when they came out of the oven. I have never seen that kind of behaviour before.
I have been craving for pie for a while after I have started watching the TV show Pushing Daisies. The protagonist of the show is a pie maker who owns a pastry shop called the Pie Hole. This morning I tried to make some banana pie based on the recipe here. You will notice that my version is much larger than the little tartlets in the original picture. I do not think I have made enough batter since I only have 6 strips to cover the top.
Just like any other pie out there, they might look good when whole but crumbles when they are sliced. The crust is very crumbly and is falling apart. I believe I should have added more water to make the dough elastic from the beginning, at least that is how the dough looks from the TV show. The banana paste itself should have been more cooked. I was getting tired of stirring it over low heat for 15+ min, I did not have the patience to keep stirring until the paste turned into a dark brown colour. Overall, the banana flavour trumps any mistakes I might have made along the way and I am looking forward to have more slices of my tasty banana pie for the next couple of days.
I was craving for some shortbread after 2 weeks of eating pudding. I have made some modification to the original recipe by adding some sultanas and almond extract but the aroma of honey masks pretty much everything else.
I have finally made my own version of baked cassava pudding after following this recipe which is very similar to the homemade one. The texture turned out to be more gooey than I originally thought and my close to 1 cup of sugar was insufficient for the right sweetness. It felt like another of my slim tasting dish again.
The pudding would have baked much better if the paste had been spread across a much larger surface area with a low height. I will have to taste it again in the morning when it is cold and dip it in some honey to enhance the flavour.
Since I got some home made cake and cassava pudding, I won't be doing any baking today. I might try the cassava pudding in 2 weeks time and you can literally see the moisture coming out of the cake(when seen with the naked eyes). It is that kind of cake that I have been striving to make for the last few months.
The recommended baking time is about 30 min. The batter was still wet at the 15 min mark, at 25 min, only the middle was wet, the surrounding was done. I left it for another 10 min but I think it was a mistake.
To preserve the moisture in the brownie, I should probably have taken it out at 20 min even if the batter is still wet, that's how the real ones are prepared. I added some sultanas this time around to make the overall taste more interesting. My quest to make moist cake is still ongoing.
I was craving for something sweet and somehow the word shortbread came to me. Here's my impulse Honey Shortbread above, the picture doesn't look so good, I probably should invest in a digital camera in the future.
I have used less flour than what the recipe recommends but it is tasting great. I might have gone overboard with the honey but the overall taste is just like any shortbread cookies out there. The crumbs might be falling apart but they are probably the best part of any cookies. Dry baked goods is my specialty, I always get them right.
2009 is here, time to bake some more. My first attempt at making some brownies after a suggestion. Here's how it looks above when flipped, you can see a face(seems to be a trend for my chocolate products), the eyes, toothpick for nose and the tiny mouth.
I did it again, I have overcooked it and it ends up turning into a heavy chocolate cake instead of a moist tasty brownie. I only used 1/2 a cup of sugar compared to the suggested 1 cup from the recipe. I should have tested how ready it was at the 15 min mark instead of leaving it in the oven for the entire 25 min. The texture looks dense(no baking soda from this recipe), dry in the mouth with the correct sweetness. I have a feeling I will have to specialise in dried baked goods from now on.
My second attempt at the Banana Bread, I have followed the recipe to the letter this time.
The dark rum I picked from the liquor store, they also had another darker rum. I will most likely try that next time. The taste is heavenly, I haven't tasted anything that good in a long time. It might be the rum playing tricks with my system but it is a pretty damn good tasting cake. The texture is perfect, moisture is more than enough with the glazing. Sweetness is above average but suitable for that type of cake. I think this my masterpiece so far, I will research some more recipes with booze, they tend to taste better than regular ones.
Here is a special request for this sponge cake recipe from Recipezaar. As you can see, the cake is actually pretty this week, there are no cracks with this one and the surface looks smooth. It might be one of the characteristics of sponge cake.
It tastes like sponge cake, the sweetness is fine and moisture is right. The texture is also not that greasy with only 1 teaspoon of butter. It does seem to have a strong aroma of pure vanilla extract, maybe it will evaporate by tomorrow. I believe the taste can be more exciting with some lemon zest but what I have is good enough. Since I have got all of the basic baking features right, I'll certify it as 1.0.
Madeleines are not supposed to look like the above. I have combed the entire North York region for the last 2 days until I finally found the Madeleine baking mould at a small shop called Degrees Kitchen Store. Here are some of the mistakes I have made to get the above chunks. I probably did not grease the pan properly, I overflowed each individual mould(the book says to fill it almost to the top) and finally, the Madeleines stayed too long in the oven by a few minutes. This caused most of the batter to be stuck to the pan causing it to miss the shell like shape.
I really followed the recipe to the letter this time around, the dough was falling apart near the end of the recipe which might explain the grainy look above. I'm not improving at all in the aesthetic department, it's getting worse as the weeks go by.
Once again, I did not follow the instructions to the letter. The recipe recommended 1.25 cup of sugar but I only used about 0.9 of a cup. Seeing the actual amount of raw material for that amount of cake can be quite scary. As a consequence, the final taste is not very sweet.
