Tarte Au Citron

Happy new year everyone! Last year wasn't exactly my best year; there were loads going on and I hardly had any time to bake or blog. This year I want to start fresh; I'm welcoming the New Year in my blog with a nice, clean and crisp tarte au citron (lemon tart).

I love lemon tarts or any lemony desserts. They're not heavy in the tummy and I always feel refreshed after having a bite.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Lemon Tart Filling
• Pate Brisee

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Daring Bakers' Challenge - January 2011: Biscuit Joconde Imprime/Entrement

The Daring Bakers' Challenge started with a bang this 2011! Our host gave us a challenge that I couldn't resist making. It's a type of dessert that I love creating. When done with planning, patience and practice it's an elegant masterpiece - entrement!

Blog-checking lines: The January 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Astheroshe of the blog accro. She chose to challenge everyone to make a Biscuit Joconde Imprime to wrap around an Entremets dessert.

Entrement is a composed  French dessert consisting of different components from dacquoise to mousse to creme brulee, anything you can think of, all put together in one showpiece work of art. For this challenge, one of the components we need to put on our entrement is a patterned joconde used as a lining. Joconde is a sponge cake that is made with almond powder, flour, eggs and powdered sugar. Patterns such as stripes can also be added to the joconde sponge by using a joconde decor paste. The decor paste has a very thick consistency, so it is really manageable to make all the patterns you can think of.

I've always wondered how pastry shops make lovely designs on their sponges especially those sleek stripes and perfect swirls. In the past, I've attempted to make my own sponge design by marbling different colored sponge cake batter; it worked out really nice, but my curiosity on how to make perfect lines still remained. Alas, this month's challenge came; answer to my long time mystery solved!

For my entrement, I made an Orange Cognac Mousse Joconde Cake with Dark Chocolate Mousse and Hazelnut Meringue Disc Center. I was so happy with how everything came out. The sketch I made translated to the finished cake. The only thing I wish is for a better pattern, but since I really didn't have much time to execute this challenge, I had to make use of what I have at home/body (I used my fingers to create my pattern). As a whole I love my cake; looking at my finished cake makes me so giddy! The taste of the whole cake was fabulous too; all the flavour components blended well perfectly. I mean what's wrong with an orange chocolate combo, plus the addition of cognac and hazelnut? The cognac and hazelnuts really heightened the whole cake's flavour profile. For me, the aesthetic of the cake looks close enough to be displayed in a pastry case in Paris. Pardon me if I'm self-complimenting, but I never thought I would have made a cake like this ever in my life.

I can't wait as to what's in store for the February challenge!

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Dark Chocolate Ganache
• Orange Cognac Mousse
• Dark Chocolate Mousse
• Hazelnut Meringue Disc
• Joconde Sponge

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Louis Vuitton City Guide

Do you use travel guides when you visit a new city? Why not travel in style with the Louis Vuitton City Guide? LV has been publishing their own city guides since 1999. Their city guides covers numerous cities from Mumbai to New York to Tokyo to Thessaloniki; there are bountiful cities to explore with LV.

photo from Louis Vuitton website

I've been reading reviews about the Louis Vuitton City Guides, and so far all write-ups were fabulous! What got me sold for the LV City Guides is this mouth-watering clip:

English Version



French Version



"Je ne comprends pas le français, mais j'aime écouter c'est beau son!" (google translate) I don't understand French, but I love listening to it's beautiful sound!

Yes, Paris! I have loads of dream destinations, but Paris is at the top of my list. Not only is it very rich in culture, but oh... the pastries! I could spend all day nibbling in patisserie after patisserie, heaven!



photo from Louis Vuitton website



Though I have no plans on visiting Paris YET in the near future, I think I would be investing on a Louis Vuitton City Guide Paris 2011 edition. No harm in doing some advance research!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Peach Melba

Summer's here and peaches are everywhere in this side of the world. Although I'm not a peach lover like my H, I wanted to make something out of those sweet blushes that I always eye on in the fruit isle of the grocery. My library for desserts is kind of scarce when it comes to peaches; all I could think of was peach pie or peach cobbler, but I didn't want to make either. I passed by Baskin Robbins yesterday, and there I saw my inspiration - Peach Melba.

Peach Melba is a classic dessert invented by a French chef, Auguste Escoffier, in honour of an Australian opera singer, Dame Nellie Melba; Escoffier got his inspiration from watching one of Melba's opera, in which there was a swan boat. Originally, peach Melba was poached peaches served with vanilla ice cream in a dish set on top of a swan ice sculpture. He later developed the recipe for the opening of Ritz-Carlton Hotel in London in which he was head chef by adding raspberry sauce and omitting the ice sculpture; and this is now the peach Melba we know - poached peach served with vanilla ice cream and raspberry sauce.

I have recently learned a way of making ice cream without having to use an ice cream maker, so I took this opportunity to make homemade vanilla ice cream, using vanilla beans of course! The process is really fun, but I'll save the experience for another post. It was also my first attempt on poaching fruits, in this case peaches. I poached my peaches on a vanilla infused sugar syrup, the poaching part is relatively easy. The hard part is peeling off the skin of the peaches as well as taking the stones out! Note to self: don't peel the skin off while the peaches are newly poached (it's super hot, duh!); allow the peaches to cool down before peeling. The peaches came out really really good (a lot better than tinned peaches!), and the syrup was good too. I actually kept the poaching syrup so I can use it to brush on my future cakes.

This was actually my first time to taste peach Melba; it was surprisingly delicious! As I mentioned, I'm not a fan of peaches, but I think I have to make an exception when it's peach Melba. Who knew peaches and raspberries go well together? Well, Escoffier did; after all, he wasn't called a legend for nothing. As for vanilla ice cream, well I think that goes with anything! For people who are lucky enough to have fresh peaches and raspberries this summer season, I say try to make peach Melba. It's definitely a great delight in this heat of sunshine.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Poached Peaches
• Vanilla Ice Cream
• Raspberry Coulis

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Tuile

Tuile, French for tiles, is a very thin crisp cookie. When freshly baked, it's really pliable, allowing pastry makers to bend it like Beckham. Traditionally, tuile is a round shaped cookie that has been placed to rest on a rolling pin as soon as it comes out of the oven, to form the distinct arch or curvy tile appearance.

In our modern day society, tuile has been made into different shapes and forms. The tuile batter can be stenciled out into many shapes like teardrop, spoon, maple leaves, butterfly, etc; very ideal for garnishes. It's a very good accompaniment to ice creams or sorbets because of it's crisp wafer like attributes. It also adds pizzazz to a plain looking dessert. 

Not only is it a good garnish, it's good on it's own for munching. After all, it's a cookie. Tuile is normally just plain in flavour, mainly vanilla; but now there's assortments of flavours from chocolate to rose flavour. Nuts can also be sprinkled atop the cookies before baking; there's definitely loads of room for creativity for this delight.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Tuile

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Orange Cream Crepe Gateau

The main component of this dessert needs no further introduction. I'm talking about crepes; I have never met anyone who doesn't like crepes. I think that's because it's simple, yet very versatile to everyone's preference. There are tons of savory or sweet toppings and fillings that can be served with crepes; the variety is endless.

One way of serving crepe is by making it into a cake; hence crepe cake, crepe gateau or mille crepe. With my gateau, I chose to have an orange cream filling, but I should have known better. Despite the help of a full blast air-condition, the cream I whipped melted so quick because of the summer heat.

Regardless of the misfortune of the filling, the cake tastes sensational. The taste is very similar to that of crepe Suzette - my favourite crepe if I may add. This cake is really easy to whip up; well taking into consideration of the weather that is. There's only two components to this cake - crepes and orange cream. Assembly is fun and easy.

1. Line the sides and bottom of your mold with cling film then with crepes. Allow the cling film as well as crepes to hang over the rim of the mold.
2. Pipe a layer of orange cream (or your chosen filling).
3. Stack a sheet of crepe on top of the filling, folding the perimeter of the crepe to fit into the mold.
4. Pipe a layer of filling again then stack another crepe. Keep on piping and stacking until you reach the rim of your mold finishing with a layer of orange cream.
5. Fold the crepes that are hanging over your mold towards the top of the orange cream.
6. Use another crepe to fully cover the top of the cake. Wrap with cling film and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before garnishing and serving.

Once  the gateau has been chilled you can now unmold and garnish. This is how the gateau would look like once you have unmold it.

As for the garnish, use spare crepes and pleat them on top of the cake; finish off with orange wedges and orange peel. If you want some grandeur, flambe the whole gateau with rum, Grand Marnier or Cointreau.

This method of making a crepe gateau is adapted from Le Cordon Bleu Dessert Techniques. A more simple way of making a crepe gateau is by simply stacking crepes and filling alternately. About fifteen layers of crepe as well as filling would look handsome.

I had some excess crepe and orange cream, so I made some crepe fans then just topped it with the orange cream. It's the same taste with the gateau of course, just served in a different way.

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Crepe
• Orange Cream

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Creme Caramel

Most of the desserts I'm thinking of baking this month only needs the egg whites. Since I'm not too keen on storing egg yolks, I have to think of what to do with them first, while on a mini mission to collect the whites. First thing that came into mind... creme caramel!

I don't really know where this French dessert originated from, but whoever made this creation first is a genius. I think it's one of the most simple comforting dessert there is. A lot of countries have their own version of this creamy treat. In Italy it's called crema caramella, and in Spain it is called a flan; this dessert also greatly influenced countries that have been colonized by Spain.

One of which is my home country, Philippines. In Philippines creme caramel is known as leche flan. It is one of the most popular dessert there in the sense that it's most likely to be the ever present dessert at Filipino festivals or events. There's another version of leche flan which is called tocino del cielo; it uses a lot more egg yolks and sugar making it extra extra creamy! Watch out for the calories though... 

Do you have a version of creme caramel in your home country? 

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Creme Caramel
• Caramel

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Daring Bakers' Challenge - May 2010: Piece Montée

The May 2010 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump's Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

Piece montée (French: mounted piece) can mean two things. First of, it can mean an ornamental pastry used as centerpiece for banquets and parties. It is made for merely decorative purposes. It is constructed out of blown sugar, pulled sugar, crystallized fruits, petit fours, marzipan, chocolate, etc. This type of piece montée reached the height of it's popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries.

Piece montée can also refer to a classical French dessert called croquembouche (French: crisp in the mouth). Croquembouche is a conical shaped dessert made out of stacking cream puffs that has been filled with rich cream filling and dipped in caramel. It can then be decorated with spun sugar, nougatine, flowers, ribbons, etc. Croquembouche are traditionally served at weddings, baptisms and first communions.

In this challenge case, piece montée is pertaining to croquembouche. The recipes Cat provided for this challenge is really really good. The cream puffs 'puffs' really well, pastry cream is easy to follow, and the hard caramel is not prone to crystallize.

I have always loved making cream puffs. It's actually the first "complicated" dessert I made; I say complicated in the sense that it has different components. Although I have made them tons of times, I have never really made a croquembouche by myself. So that was the main challenge for me, to create a nice croquembouche. Oh, and face my fear with making caramel!

I have made two attempts for this challenge. The first one was filled with vanilla pastry cream and the second one was filled with lemon creme chantilly. Both are as equally as delicious, but I am a bit bias with the lemon creme chantilly simply because I love lemon flavoured anything...

With this challenge, I wanted to make a very elegant show piece. I'm not sure if was able to succeed on that one, but I did enjoy making it. Then I wanted to make a small cute version as well; that's when I thought of putting two swans on top of the croquembouche. I'm quite pleased with the second one except one of the swans broke it's neck.

Croquembouche is such a lovely show piece. Although I'm not really fond of eating them because I find it too sweet with all the caramel that's been used to 'glue' everything together.

Over all, this challenge was really fun. The most enjoyable part for me was the caramel part. I'm not so scared of making caramel as I was before anymore. It's not the burning bit that I have issues with; it's the anxiety I always have whether the caramel will come out right or will it be a disaster with the crystallization as I'm cooking it. I have finally found a good recipe.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Charlotte Royale

Charlotte is a dessert created by an English chef in honour of Queen Charlotte, wife of George III of England. Originally, charlotte is a warm dessert made by baking a fruit filling in a mold lined with buttered bread; it is then inverted out of its mold for service. Later on, chef Antoine Careme made a cold version of this dessert, which he called charlotte russe in honour of Russian Czar Alexander in the 19th century. Charlotte russe is lined with lady fingers instead of buttered bread and filled with bavarois instead of fruit filling. Now we know why there's warm and cold charlottes.

Anyway, enough of the history lecture... For this post, I made charlotte royale. This is also a creation of chef Antoine Careme. This is a dome-shaped cold charlotte lined with slices of jelly rolls. For my mold, I made use of a bowl; although it's not exactly dome-shaped, it served it's purpose.

For the components of my version of charlotte royale, you'll need:

• the mandatory jelly roll; I used raspberry jam for the jelly part of the roll
• a round sponge cake for the base (forgot to take a photo)
• raspberry bavarois
• banana bavarois
• peanut butter feuillitine

Once you have all the components, it's time to assemble the charlotte royale!

1. Line the whole of your mold with sliced jelly rolls.
2. Pour the raspberry bavarois a little less than half way of the mold.
3. Put the peanut butter feuillitine on top of the raspberry bavarois.
4. Pour the banana bavarois on top of the feuillitine; make sure to leave enough space for the sponge base.
5. Finish the assembly by placing a round sponge on top of the banana bavarois. For a cleaner finish, make sure the jelly roll is level with the round sponge. I just used kitchen scissors to cut off the excess rolls.
6. Chill the charlotte until the bavarois is set, maybe 4 hours. Invert then serve! **usually the jelly rolls are then glazed with apricot jam for a glossy finish, but I prefer a matte finish so I didn't glaze :)

I really really love the look of charlotte royale. It looks so dainty, grand and elegant. I could imagine having this on a Victorian tea party setting. I even bet Marie Antoinette would have indulged on this tres magnifique creation.

The flavour profile of my charlotte royale is indeed succulent! Although my H didn't exactly like the addition of feuillitine because he doesn't like diverse texture on his desserts; I on the other hand, absolutely love the crunchy oomph the feuillitine gave in contrary to the velvety feel of the bavarois.

This is an absolute doll of a dessert! J'adore the look of charlotte royale so much! Oh, and a little FYI.. Charlotte isn't my real name; it's my blog name, and it is from this dessert where my blog persona was named after :)

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Sponge Cake
• Raspberry Jam
• Raspberry Bavarois
• Banana Bavarois
• Peanut Butter Feuillitine

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Ratatouille

I've been thinking a lot about the ratatouille Remy made in the Pixar flick Ratatouille lately. So I've been doing a bit of research and these are some infos I've found:

• Ratatouille is a popular vegetable stew in France.
• It originated around the region of Provence and Nice.
• It's key ingredients are tomatoes, aubergines/eggplants, courgettes/zucchinis, onions, bell peppers and different herbs.
• The ratatouille dish on the film is actually confit byaldi (a recipe developed by a French chef, Michel Guerard, for his interpretation of the traditional dish).
• The producer of the film consulted chef Thomas Keller of the French Laundry as to how Remy should serve a ratatouille for a food critic.

With all my readings, I made my own little interpretation. First I made tomato sauce by sauteing onions and garlic in olive oil until they are soft. Then I added a can of diced tomatoes, chopped parsley and bay leaf; simmer the sauce until most of the liquid evaporates. When that's done, I took out the bay leaf then just pureed everything. Then I added bell pepper that has been roasted, peeled and finely diced. Oh, of course season with the standard S&P.

Ok so the tomato sauce is done. Next, layer the tomato sauce with the aubergines and courgettes that has been thinly sliced starting with the sauce at the bottom and finishing with the fan of vegetables on top. Drizzle the fan of vegetables with olive oil and season with S&P. Cover the casserole and bake for 55 minutes in a 375 degrees F oven.

Et Voila!

So for dinner, we had a very healthy and delectable ratatouille. I served it with rice, shrimp and balsamic vinaigrette wine reduction. It's definitely a dish for keeps! :)

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Mille Feuille

So I made puff pastry, but I didn't know what dessert to make out of it. There's just too many to choose from. In the end, I opt for something I personally love to pig out on!:p

--- Mille Feuille ---



Mille feuille is a classical French dessert that I think is loved by many people. I mean, what's not to love? Pastry cream sandwiched with layers of puff pastry... even the description of it makes me want to have a slice now! :) The literal meaning of mille feuille is thousand leaf.


It has also many aliases -- Napoleon (US), Bavarian slice (UK), mille foglie (Italy), vanilla slice, custard slice and probably more that I don't know of...


Some people would put jam or cream in their mille feuille, but I prefer a plain and simple pastry cream.I used vanilla beans to flavor my pastry cream to make it extra special!:) Notice the specs of vanilla bean on the filling. :p

There's a reason why this dessert is a classic. Puff pastry + pastry cream = divine! :)

Components used for this dessert treat:

• Puff Pastry
• Pastry Cream
• Powdered Sugar

Bisou bisou,
Charlotte

Puff Pastry

Pâte feuilletée in French or simply puff pastry is my absolute favorite pastry ever! :) I really love the light and flaky texture of it, and not to mention the buttery flavor!:) I love dishes/desserts that uses puff pastry; I think it just makes a dish more special. Like a simple chicken pie would become an elegant looking dish when puff pastry is used instead of the more common option, pâte brisée. Plus, the pie would taste better with the buttery pastry!:p

It's definitely not the simplest pastry to make. It requires a lot of time and patience to create those infamous layers in the pastry. That's why some restaurants, bakeries and pastry shops opt for buying frozen puff pastries instead.

Since I have quite some time to spare, I've decided to make puff pastry from scratch!

To start of, you need two components: the dough and the butter block. Butter block is simply butter shaped into square. Most recipes will ask you to pound the butter with a rolling pin until it shapes up. I found it easier to just leave the butter at room temperature, then when it's spreadable, shape it into a square (like as if spreading butter cream on a cake) then chill until ready to be used. Voila, butter block. :p Anyway...

So then you roll the dough out to a square (It doesn't have to be perfect;p); put the butter block on the center then fold all sides of the dough onto the butter. You'll end up having something that looks like a parcel. Then you have to chill the parcel for at least 30 minutes.

Then you roll the parcel into a long rectangle.

Then fold the the dough into three; chill for at least 30 minutes again.

Then you start the whole process again: roll the dough into a rectangle, fold into three, chill. You have to do this process six or eight times. Yes, 6 or 8 times!

All the effort of making puff pastry from scratch was definitely worth it! I kept the dough in the fridge for now cause I have yet to decide what to do with it. But, I cut a small part of the dough to bake just to see if my puff pastry's a success:p

And it was! I shaped the pastry into croissant cause that's the first shape I've thought of. :p And the other one is a diamond-shaped pastry. :) 

Component used for this treat:

• Puff Pastry

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte