Crème Brûlée Tart

crème brulee caramelized on ramekin

I first learned of Crème Brûlée Tart while working in the pastry department at Sign of the Dove in the 1990’s. The time-consuming recipe involved whipping egg yolks to a thick ribbon stage, combining with cream, sugar, and vanilla bean, then cooking over a double boiler for over thirty minutes. A small amount of butter…

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The Friday Baking Project

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

PRINT Chocolate Hazelnut Cake Yield: 1 8†cake # of Servings: 10 Method: Modified Creaming Ingredients: Cake 5 ½ oz (154 g) 61% to 64% chocolate, wafers or broken up 11 tbl (5.5 oz / 156 g) unsalted butter, room temperature ½ cup + 2 tbl (4.65 oz / 132 g) sugar 4 egg yolks ½…

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Chocolate Hazelnut Cake

Chocolate Hazelnut Cake has wonderful flavor combination

Hazelnuts and chocolate are a wonderful flavor combination and on full display in this cake, inspired by a recipe of the same name from The Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. In this version, I start with the fabulous Reine de Saba for the base cake, substituting hazelnut flour for the almond flour. Swiss Meringue Buttercream…

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Maple Cream Pie

Maple Cream Pie made from maple syrup

Vermont takes its role as biggest producer of maple syrup in the United States seriously and syrup containers are proudly on display in many stores. So, while there over the holidays and working on the upcoming baking schedule I began thinking about a dessert incorporating maple syrup. On my return home, I went to my…

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The Friday Baking Project
Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust

PRINT Yield: 1 9†pie crust Ingredients: 1 ¼ cups (5.4 oz / 145 g) finely ground vanilla wafer cookie crumbs13 tbl (1.4 oz / 40 g) sugar5 tbl (2 ½ oz / 71 g) butter, melted Tools and equipment needed: Pre-recipe preparations: Directions: Notes:  1 If using Nabisco Nilla wafers, each box weighs 11…

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Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust

Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust served on a tray

This excellent cookie crumb crust recipe, from Pie and Tarts by Kristina Petersen Migoya, works well for cream and custard pies. Nabisco Nilla wafers are the recommended cookie for this crust (see note 1). PRINT Vanilla Cookie Crumb Crust Yield: 1 9†pie crust Ingredients: 1 ¼ cups (5.4 oz / 145 g) finely ground…

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The Friday Baking Project
Cardamom Cake

PRINT Yield: 1 cake # of Servings: 80 to10 Method: Creaming Ingredients: Ganache glaze (optional): Special tools and equipment required: Pre-recipe preparations: Directions: 1. Start creaming the butter and sugar, scraping down the bowl as needed.2. While butter is creaming, stir together dry ingredients in medium mixing bowl, set aside.3. Beat eggs and vanilla in small…

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Cardamom Cake

A bundt cake that is on top of a table.

Cardamom with its unique taste and distinctive scent, is used extensively in Scandinavian baking recipes. Among them are Sweden’s Cardamom Buns (Kardemummabullar), Norway’s Christmas Bread (Julekake), and Finland’s Cardamom Sweet Bread (Pulla). And the most well-known, Denmark’s Danish Pastry (Wienerbr¸d). This simple yet delightful Cardamom Cake relies on that Scandinavian baking spice as the primary…

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Christmas Ivoire

Christmas Ivoire

This Christmas version of Ivoire et Chocolate incorporates the colors of the holiday into a beautiful dessert.  It was inspired by a holiday cake design in the excellent book Cocolat (1990). Christmas Ivoire is a good example of taking a favorite cake and giving it a different look for a holiday. This is a big…

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