Posts by Friday Baking Project
Orange and Chocolate Gâteau
PRINT Orange and Chocolate Gâteau Yield: 1 8†cake # of Servings: 10 Method: Separated egg sponge Difficulty:Moderate Ingredients: 1 recipe Butter Sponge Cake 1 recipe French Buttercream, or Swiss Meringue Buttercream 1 recipe Simple Syrup  1 tbl grated orange rind (from 2 oranges)1 tsp orange extract or orange oil ½ cup (4 fl oz)…
Read MoreOrange and Chocolate Gâteau
This light and flavorful cake, a marriage of orange and chocolate, is a perfect summer dessert. In it, soft butter sponge cake layers are brushed with an orange-scented syrup, layered with a rich orange buttercream, then coated with the same bittersweet chocolate glaze used in many of our chocolate tortes. The result is a wonderful…
Read MoreRed and Blue Fruit Tarts
PRINT Red and Blue Fruit Tarts Yield: 2 8†long tarts # of Servings: 12 Ingredients: 12 oz Puff Pastry or 1 box store bought frozen puff pastry 1 egg, lightly beaten ½ recipe Pastry Cream¼ cup heavy creamor, Mascarpone Filling: 8 oz mascarpone, room temperature â…“ cup (2.3 oz / 65 g) granulated sugar…
Read MoreRed and Blue Fruit Tarts
There was a strawberry farm on Martha’s Vineyard that grew the most amazing strawberries. Thimble Farms’s berries were the essence of the perfect strawberry – fragrant, juicy, and sweet. During the peak berry season, I would drive the Seven Layers van over there and pick up a few flats (12 pints) for our strawberry desserts.…
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PRINT East 62nd Steet Lemon Cake Yield: 1 galette # of Servings: 8 to 10 Method: Creaming Ingredients: 1 recipe Pâte Brisée Filling: ¼ cup (1.75 oz / 51 g) sugar 3 tbl (.8 oz / 22 g) ground almonds 3 tbl (1.1 oz / 31 g) all-purpose flour 1 ¾ lb (680 g) fresh…
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PRINT Bread Pudding Yield: 1 galette # of Servings: 8 to 10 Difficulty: Creaming Ingredients: 1 recipe Pâte Brisée Filling: ¼ cup (1.75 oz / 51 g) sugar 3 tbl (.8 oz / 22 g) ground almonds 3 tbl (1.1 oz / 31 g) all-purpose flour 1 ¾ lb (680 g) fresh strawberries1 , sliced…
Read MoreStrawberry Galette
I love galettes but had doubts about one made with strawberries, worrying that they would lose their structure and turn to jam. However, those doubts were totally unfounded, as this Strawberry Galette is a fabulous dessert. The sliced strawberries soften but remain intact, and the baking process intensifies their flavor immensely. I stuck with the…
Read MoreBread Pudding
Bread pudding is a wonderful comfort food dessert, but it is not as straightforward to get right as I initially thought when I started testing recipes. I assumed you just needed to make a custard, pour it over some day-old bread slices with dried fruit in a baking dish, and bake it in a water…
Read MoreChocolate and Caramel Éclairs
Éclairs are among the finest examples of French Pâtisserie. In the classic Chocolate Éclair, a crisp choux pastry shell is filled with a luscious vanilla pastry cream and covered with a bittersweet chocolate glaze. In the Caramel Éclair, a variation picked up from my Patisserie Lanciani days, the pastry cream is flavored with coffee essence,…
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The Friday Baking Project
Chocolate and Caramel Éclairs
PRINT Chocolate and Caramel Éclairs Yield: 12 éclairs Serves: 12 Difficulty: Advanced Ingredients1 recipe Pâte à Choux1 recipe Pastry Cream 1 cup (8 fl oz) heavy cream Ganache Icing½ cup heavy cream4 oz chocolate, 61% to 64%, wafers or chopped 2 tsp light corn syrup Coffee Flavoring:2 tsp powdered instant espresso, or powdered instant coffeeHot…
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