good things for (sometimes) good people

Not sure why I’m posting this video clip – for the lovely pictures of Carole Lombard or for Helen Forrest velvetly singing Skylark with the Harry James Orchestra.

Here are some home movies of Clark and Carole – so sad that it wasn’t to last longer.

I’m not the only one who’s into the era. This is a French lass called Mareva Galanter.

Yes, more 1960s. Along with heaps of other eras, it is one of my favourites. But despite my epochal infidelity, I do have a special place for the music of the early 60s, no doubt from the primacy of the Beatles in my early music appreciation development. Maybe too it’s because it’s when my parents were young.

I prefer 1950s style, there’s a certain dumpy ugliness about the 1960s. But like a comfortable but unflattering sweater, the 1960s seem more like home.

Mmmm… I’m rambling. Here’s Francoise Hardy lamenting that all the girls and boys of her age are in love except for her.

Would appear that I’m in a 60s mood…

… because you don’t own me

How lovely is Lesley Gore in this early 60s clip? I once tried to get my hair to do that but with little success.

This has been on high rotation over here. Love it! It’s Little Boots’ Mathematics.

The wedding was lovely but all over too quickly…

I’m getting married in less than a week (eek!) so I don’t think I’ll be able to do the daring baker’s challenge this month.

Meanwhile, I saw this little video this morning and it cheered me up (just a wee bit little bit stressed out at the moment!):

The music is Spoon’s I turn my camera on – which reminds me, I have to make my wedding mix…

It’s that time again – time to post my finished monthly Daring Bakers’ Challenge! This one was perfectly timed for Valentine’s Day and a lovely Valentine’s Day gift it made.

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE’s blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.
We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

Chocolate Valentino
Preparation Time:  20 minutes
16 ounces (1 pound) (454 grams) of semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
½ cup (1 stick) plus 2 tablespoons (146 grams total) of unsalted butter
5 large eggs separated

1. Put chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl and set over a pan of simmering water (the bottom of the bowl should not touch the water) and melt, stirring often.
2. While your chocolate butter mixture is cooling. Butter your pan and line with a parchment circle then butter the parchment.
3. Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and put into two medium/large bowls.
4. Whip the egg whites in a medium/large grease free bowl until stiff peaks are formed (do not over-whip or the cake will be dry).
5. With the same beater beat the egg yolks together.
6. Add the egg yolks to the cooled chocolate.
7. Fold in 1/3 of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture and follow with remaining 2/3rds. Fold until no white remains without deflating the batter. {link of folding demonstration}
8. Pour batter into prepared pan, the batter should fill the pan 3/4 of the way full, and bake at 375F/190C
9. Bake for 25 minutes until an instant read thermometer reads 140F/60C.
Note – If you do not have an instant read thermometer, the top of the cake will look similar to a brownie and a cake tester will appear wet.
10. Cool cake on a rack for 10 minutes then unmold.

Dharm’s Ice Cream Recipe
Classic Vanilla Ice Cream
Preparation Time: 30 minutes

Recipe comes from the Ice Cream Book by Joanna Farrow and Sara Lewis (tested modifications and notes in parentheses by Dharm)

Ingredients
1 Vanilla Pod (or substitute with vanilla extract)
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Semi Skimmed Milk – in the U.S. this is 2% fat (or use fresh full fat milk that is pasteurised and homogenised {as opposed to canned or powdered}). Dharm used whole milk.
4 large egg yolks
75g / 3oz / 6 tbsp caster sugar {superfine sugar can be achieved in a food processor or use regular granulated sugar}
5ml / 1 tsp corn flour {cornstarch}
300ml / ½ pint / 1 ¼ cups Double Cream (48% butter fat) {in the U.S. heavy cream is 37% fat)
{you can easily increase your cream’s fat content by heating 1/4 cup of heavy cream with 3 Tbs of butter until melted – cool to room temperature and add to the heavy cream as soon as whisk marks appear in the cream, in a slow steady stream, with the mixer on low speed.  Raise speed and continue whipping the cream) or use heavy cream the difference will be in the creaminess of the ice cream.

1. Using a small knife slit the vanilla pod lengthways.  Pour the milk into a heavy based saucepan, add the vanilla pod and bring to the boil.  Remove from heat and leave for 15 minutes to allow the flavours to infuse
Lift the vanilla pod up.  Holding it over the pan, scrape the black seeds out of the pod with a small knife so that they fall back into the milk. SET the vanilla pod aside and bring the milk back to the boil.
2. Whisk the egg yolks, sugar and corn-flour in a bowl until the mixture is thick and foamy.  3. Gradually pour in the hot milk, whisking constantly.  Return the mixture to the pan and cook over a gentle hear, stirring all the time
4. When the custard thickens and is smooth, pour it back into the bowl.  Cool it then chill.
5. By Hand: Whip the cream until it has thickened but still falls from a spoon.  Fold it into the custard and pour into a plastic tub or similar freeze-proof container.  Freeze for 6 hours or until firm enough to scoop, beating it twice (during the freezing process – to get smoother ice cream or else the ice cream will be icy and coarse)
By Using and Ice Cream Maker: Stir the cream into the custard and churn the mixture until thick (follow instructions on your ice cream maker)

Wendy’s Ice Cream Recipe
Vanilla Philadelphia Style Recipe
Preparation Time:  5 minutes
2 cups (473 ml) of half and half (1 cup of heavy cream and 1 cup of whole, full fat milk)
1 cup (237 ml) heavy cream
2/3 (128 grams) cup sugar
Dash of salt
1 (12 grams) tablespoon of vanilla

Mix all ingredients together (we do this in a plastic pitcher and mix with an emulsifier hand blender-whisking works too).
Refrigerate for 30 minutes or longer
Mix in your ice cream maker as directed.

David Lebovitz link for making ice cream if you do not have an ice cream freezer.

Links to helpful tips:
Folding video demonstration.
Egg Whipping video demonstration.

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So that was the official recipe, this is how mine turned out…

When it comes straight out of the oven, it’s supremely gooey. You could cook it for longer but I think that would dry it out the edges.

It’s very very nice gooey, in the same way that it was very very nice licking the uncooked leftovers in the bowl. It’s more or less a mousse without the cream.

It was a little fiddly (it needs three bowls) but not hard and it’s pretty cool that all you need is three ingredients.

The recipe is definitely a keeper, but I recommend making it the night before or in the morning (for the evening) and putting it in the fridge as it tastes even better when it has had time to set. When set it turns into this wonderful melt-in-your-mouth chocolate-y denseness. It also keeps surprisingly well. I had it in the fridge for over a week and it was tasty to the end.

I used my easy ice cream again because I’m addicted to that stuff (this is no exaggeration) and raspberry complements chocolate so well. Later in the week (unfortunately, not in time for Valentine’s day) I picked up some heart-shaped ice cube molds and made yet another batch of ice cream to fill them.

Apart from challenging your baking skills and having more tasty things to eat than normally, the best thing about the Daring Bakers is seeing all the other Challengers’ ideas. Every challenge is executed uniquely. One of my favourites is a chocolate and cherry brandy ice cream cake from Audax Artifex – I’ve sworn that I will beat my addiction to easy raspberry ice cream and so the next ice cream I will make is cherry (though that might mean I don’t make ice cream for a while because making cherry ice cream has been on my list of things to do for over ten years…).

I also particularly liked evil lemon’s layering with raspberry. Cake and Commerce had an alternative recipe, L’Esperance’s Flourless Chocolate Cake which I do want to try and what looks to be a winning recipe for chocolate ice cream.

And check out Five Forks’ delicious Strawberry Mousse filled Chocolate Flourless sandwiches.

I joined the Daring Bakers this month and this is my first baking challenge. The idea is each month a host or hostess nominates a particular recipe and everyone has to do it. I was hoping that it would push me to bake outside my comfort zone and it did – I’d never tried doing tuiles and who knows if I ever would have in the future. But thanks to the daring bakers, I have now and in chocolate butterfly form to boot!

This month’s challenge is brought to us by Karen of Bake My Day and Zorra of 1x umruehren bitte aka Kochtopf. They have chosen Tuiles from The Chocolate Book by Angélique Schmeink and Nougatine and Chocolate Tuiles from Michel Roux.

Here are all my little butterflies waiting for something nice to land on…

One little butterfly has found some raspberry ice cream – mmmmmmmm….

I used the “The Chocolate Book” recipe, “written by female Dutch Master chef Angélique Schmeinck”.

Recipe:
Yields: 20 small butterflies/6 large (butterflies are just an example)
Preparation time batter 10 minutes, waiting time 30 minutes, baking time: 5-10 minutes per batch

65 grams / ¼ cup / 2.3 ounces softened butter (not melted but soft)
60 grams / ½ cup / 2.1 ounces sifted confectioner’s sugar
1 sachet vanilla sugar (7 grams or substitute with a dash of vanilla extract)
2 large egg whites (slightly whisked with a fork)
65 grams / ½ cup / 2.3 ounces sifted all purpose flour
1 table spoon cocoa powder/or food coloring of choice
Butter/spray to grease baking sheet

Oven: 180C / 350F

Using a hand whisk or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle (low speed) and cream butter, sugar and vanilla to a paste. Keep stirring while you gradually add the egg whites. Continue to add the flour in small batches and stir to achieve a homogeneous and smooth batter/paste. Be careful to not overmix.
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes to firm up. (This batter will keep in the fridge for up to a week, take it out 30 minutes before you plan to use it).

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease with either butter/spray and chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. This will help spread the batter more easily if using a stencil/cardboard template such as the butterfly. Press the stencil on the bakingsheet and use an off sided spatula to spread batter. Leave some room in between your shapes. Mix a small part of the batter with the cocoa and a few drops of warm water until evenly colored. Use this colored batter in a paper piping bag and proceed to pipe decorations on the wings and body of the butterfly.

Bake butterflies in a preheated oven (180C/350F) for about 5-10 minutes or until the edges turn golden brown. Immediately release from bakingsheet and proceed to shape/bend the cookies in the desired shape. These cookies have to be shaped when still warm, you might want to bake a small amount at a time or maybe put them in the oven to warm them up again. (Haven’t tried that). Or: place a bakingsheet toward the front of the warm oven, leaving the door half open. The warmth will keep the cookies malleable.

If you don’t want to do stencil shapes, you might want to transfer the batter into a piping bag fitted with a small plain tip. Pipe the desired shapes and bake. Shape immediately after baking using for instance a rolling pin, a broom handle, cups, cones….