Pear & Stilton Bread

Well then, I wasn't expecting this.  Yesterday morning before I'd even had breakfast it was announced that I would be left alone at least for the day.  Instantly, of course, I realised I'd have undisturbed use of the kitchen.  This is my version of bliss.  Well okay, it's one of my versions of bliss, but I take the happy where I can!

I intended to make some nice healthy wraps for lunches, with the thought of adding some roasted garlic.  My decision making processes aren't always apparent but this one certainly was and I ended up making Pear & Stilton Bread.

I seem to recall flicking through a recipe book while my dough was proving and I realised the basic dough recipe was the same whether it was for wraps, a nice basic loaf, or a fancy loaf filled with 'stuff'.  This is where my mind went straight to the block of stilton in the fridge, but I couldn't just make stilton bread.  The grapes were past their best.  I don't have cranberries, dried or otherwise, sitting in the cupboard or the fridge.  Pears.  Aha!  I always have pears hanging around, so there it was; my plan to make a loaf filled with stilton and pear.

I had another flick through the book to find some inspiration for the best way to accomplish a decent loaf with stilton and pear running all the way through. I settled on this:

• I flattened out the dough after the first prove, into a large rectangle
• I crumbled the stilton and peeled, chopped pear evenly over the dough
• I rolled it up tightly from the long edge into a sausage
• I smoothed it out so it was as even as possible
• I wound it up into a spiral

The resulting finish was a little bit of a surprise.  When it was proving the second time, directly before baking, it just looked like a promising nice round loaf of bread.  When it came out of the oven I can only describe it as looking like a giant turd.


Pear & Stilton Bread


I can guarantee you, however, that it takes nothing like that.  It's delectable, especially with those browned bits of cheese.  Perhaps you'll appreciate it a bit more if I show you what it's like inside.



Pear & Stilton Bread
Looking better for taking a slice!

 It's ever so soft and moist and moreish.  I had to slice it up and freeze it before I scoffed it all down and made myself sick.

So the quantities I used to one standard loaf recipe were 200g stilton and one medium pear.  I was going to add two pears, but I was nervous of the moisture content and what effect it might have on the dough and the finish, but I could have easily gotten away with two, and next time that's what I'll use.  It needs that extra little bit of sweetness to counteract the strength and saltiness of the stilton.

Pear & Stilton Bread

So that was my first proper experimental loaf and it was a resounding success.  Whatever should I try next?  Oh, oh, oh, perhaps I should start myself off a sour dough starter!

I did make chocolates yesterday too, and this afternoon I made some cakes, but they're all for Tuesday and I need to do some finishing.  They're very much not ready for blogging, although they're just a little tweak on something I've done previously so don't get all excited.

I also appear to have given myself a slight wrist injury from kneading the dough with so much passion and energy yesterday.  Yes, I was picturing one person in particular.  No, I won't say who I was pummeling there on the kitchen table.  Yes, if you know me well you'll know exactly who it was!

I will say the wrist injury was worth it, both for the resulting scrummy loaf and the frustration that melted away when I finally stopped beating the cr... kneading the dough.

Try it, it's fun.! And you get to eat something really lovely afterwards.  If they're lucky, so will your family!

Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake

You may remember, since it was only a couple of days ago, that I mentioned making a chocolate orange cake for someone's birthday and that it was sat in the freezer ready to be finished.  Well, tonight I finished it.

I'll repeat this for anyone who can't be bothered looking at the previous post, the recipe for the cake is from Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes, and it's the chocolate cake that the little boy is forced to eat in front of the whole school for stealing food from the kitchen (I think I got that right?), in Matilda.  I didn't know there was a real recipe out there for it until I had a nosey around t'interweb and it's right here.

 



Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake

 

The recipe is simply for a rich chocolate cake, but having discovered that 'person with birthday' has a particular favourite flavour, namely chocolate orange (nooooo, really?!), I had to jazz it up a bit.  To the sponge mixture I added: 

• Zest of 3 large oranges
• 1 teaspoon orange extract

This was plenty to make the orange fight through the richness of the chocolate.  I know because this is one of those cakes that cracks on the top when it bakes, and oh dear, a little of the top fell off onto the counter when I was turning it out of its tin!  Shame.  It's a good thing it needed to be iced and presented upside down.

I did originally intend to sandwich the cake with some home made orange curd, but as I started to cut into it a piece of the side began to come away.  I didn't want to go to work tomorrow with a plate full of crumbs, so I stopped slicing!  This is, however, a rich, moist cake that isn't as deep as a regular sponge might be, so it can get away with not having an extra layer of sweetness inside, especially as it was about to be covered with ganache.  For future reference, for a layered cake I would either make two separate cakes, or I would refrigerate it well before getting out the knife.  I suppose it depends how much cake you want at the end!

I used a mixture of milk and dark chocolate for the ganache because I knew dark chocolate alone would just be way too much for the cake, and I didn't want the two fighting each other.  The quantities I used for the ganache were:

• 100g dark chocolate
• 200g milk chocolate
• 280g double cream

What I would say about mixing the cream and chocolate together is be careful how much you play with it and how vigorously you mix.  I ended up with a few little air bubbles in the finished cake that could have been avoided if I'd only slowed down a little.

Before covering the cake completely for the final glossy finish, I used a couple of spoons of the ganache straight away to thinly coat the cake.  The intention was to avoid crumbs flowing off to the surface of the ganache and spoiling the end result.  This also gave the rest of the ganache chance to cool a little, making it a little thicker before pouring onto the cake, so that it wouldn't all just run off into a big pool of chocolate on the counter!

 

With the leftover ganache I added orange extract to taste (yes, I got to taste it!) and left it to set in the fridge while the cake set under a nice, safe cover away from inquisitive fingers.

 

Once the mixture was set I used it to make truffle quinnelles and balls, rolled in cocoa powder, and arranged them on top of the cake.  In hindsight I should have made them smaller, but we live and learn.

 



Chocolate Orange Truffle Cake
Ooooh, look at the shine on that!

 

Overall I'm very happy with the finish, not least because this is the first time I've successfully coated a cake with glossy chocolate ganache.  Now I know the trick to it, I'll be repeating it.  Oh, you know I will!

 

If the birthday girl doesn't enjoy this she's not getting another.  Quite honestly, she's lucky she's getting this one!

 

Macadamia Praline Tart (& some other little tarts)

Yesterday I decided to devote a lot of the day to the kitchen, as I had a full day all to myself.  I needed to make a cake for someone's birthday ready for next week, but I also wanted to play with my French cookbook!

So first thing first, I found a recipe that reports to be from Roald Dahl's Revolting Recipes, and it's the chocolate cake that the little boy is forced to eat in front of the whole school for stealing food from the kitchen (I think I got that right?), in Matilda.  I didn't know there was a real recipe out there for it until I had a nosey around t'interweb and it's right here.

This was to be a chocolate orange cake, so I added the zest of three large oranges and one teaspoon of orange extract.  The cake is now in the freezer, ready to be iced with some rather delicious ganache and topped off with some chocolate orange truffles (if there's enough ganache leftover!).  So a photo will be forthcoming once it's all done, dusted and devoured.

Now then, from the fabulous French cookbook I wanted to try something I've never made before and I settled on crème pâtissière.  I like a challenge so I decided to attempt choux buns for the first time since A level Home Economics.  Unfortunately I didn't trust my instincts with the number of eggs to use, and it all went a bit wrong.  I followed the recipe to the letter and although I knew before I cooked them that they'd be wrong and flat and impossible to fill, I went ahead and baked them anyway.  They're now in the bin.  Next time I'm listening to my instincts, you mark my words!

So the choux pastry was a disaster, but I ran out of eggs and quite frankly I was too lazy to go and buy more.  Instead I made a sweet shortcrust pastry case, and a plan formed.

I couldn't just put crème pâtissière into a tart with nothing else; it needed jazzing up a bit.  So I made macadamia nut praline for some texture and, quite honestly, addictive nutty heaven!  How any of it ended up in the tart I'll never know.

That wasn't enough, though.  I tested some offcuts of pastry with the praline and crème pâtissière and it needed something extra; something stronger to compliment the flavours and wake up the taste buds with a bang.

And so my Macadamia Praline Tart was born:

Sweet pastry case with a thin layer of dark chocolate, a layer of ground macadamia praline, filled with crème pâtissière, topped with more ground macadamia praline and some bigger chunks (again for the texture), and topped off with some drizzled dark chocolate.



Macadamia Praline Tart

 I'm no longer annoyed that the choux buns didn't work, because otherwise this delight would never have been created.  It was and still is just... sigh... bloody lovely!

I did also have some pastry leftover, so I got out my mini tart tin and my pastry tamper (used for the first time, how exciting!), and with leftover chocolate, a little cream and the rest of the ground macadamia praline, I made some tiny and very chocolatey tarts.


Chocolate Macadmia Tartlets


With the rest of the little tarts I put in a layer of apricot conserve, and topped it with a disc of marzipan before baking.  Oh, they're tasty little morsels.  Perfect with a cuppa.

Apricot & Almond Tartlets

The little tarts are great tasters, but the star of yesterday was definitely the Macadamia Praline Tart.  Next time I may add a little salt to the praline, just to lift the whole thing a tiny bit more.

I'll attempt choux buns again, and next time I will succeed.  And in the unlikely event that I don't (!), I'll still come out with something edible at the end, even if it's just a big bowl of posh custard and a feckin big spoon!

Now then, I think it might be time for a cuppa and a tasty little morsel...