Bombe Royale

This show stopping dessert isn't hard at all and is lots of fun to make and assemble.  The Jelly Roll recipe is from Joy of Cooking.

Jelly Roll

Whisk together in a bowl:

3/4 cup sifted cake flour
3.4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Beat in a mixer

4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar

Beat until pale and yellow.  Slowly incorporate the dry mixture.  Set aside.  Beat in a mixer:

4 large egg whites
1/4 tsp tartar

slowly add:

1/4 cup sugar

Beat until stiff peaks form.  Add some of the egg whites to the yolk mixture and stir to lighten the batter.  Then slowly fold the rest of the egg whites in.  Spread into a 10X15 greased, papered jelly roll pan 20-25 minutes.  When done, let cool for a minute than invert onto a towel.  Roll the cake up tightly and set aside to cool.  When cool, carefully unroll and spread:

3/4 cup strawberry jam

Roll the cake back up and then roll in parchment paper to hole it until it sets.

Honey Vanilla Ice Cream

2 cups cream
8 oz honey
4 egg yolks
1/2 tsp salt
1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

175

2 cups cream

Strawberry Ice Cream

2 cups cream
18 oz strawberry preserves
4 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla


175

2 cups cream


Praline Paste

1 cup cream
2 cups brown sugar
2 cup granulated sugar
1 stick of butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
3 pounds pecans

cook cream and sugar to 232
add [pecans and bitter and swirl to combine
and vanilla and salt and stir to cool and thicken
pour into greased pan or by spoons onto greased pan.
Grind 1 pound of it in the food processor

Beat 1 stick of butter and then add the nuts beat into a paste

Assembly:

Make the Jelly Roll, fill it and roll it up in parchment paper.  Make the ice cream custards.  Put everything in the refrigerator for at least eight hours or overnight.  Put the honey ice cream custard in the ice cream machine.  While it freezes, line a large bowl that you're using as a mold with plastic wrap.  Slice the jelly roll--  you need to either slice it very thinly or make two of them.  Arrange the jelly roll slices very tightly at the bottom of the lined bowl.  Position a plastic container trimmed of rims in the bowl so that when the second flavor goes in it makes a pattern.  Pour the first ice cream in when it's at soft serve consistency and freeze the mold overnight.  Then make second flavor, remove the mold and pour the ice cream in.  Freeze that overnight.  Spread the praline paste on the base and freeze again.  A couple of hours before serving, unmold and put in the refrigerator to enjoy.  Slice with a sharp knife.  Bon Appetit!

This would have been so much easier to remove had it been upside down.  Note to self:

Frangelico pound cake

Frangelico has such a delicate flavor and is lovely in this pound cake.  I have very mixed results with bundt cakes unless I use Pam with flour in it or its generic equivalent.  I don't make bundt cakes without it. 

3 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder

2 cups sugar
1 cup butter
6 eggs
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp salt


2/3 cups Frangelico

Whisk flour and baking powder and set aside
Carefully cream the sugar and butter together
Add eggs(one at a time), nutmeg, salt and Frangelico
Put into bundt pan sprayed with Pam with flour added
Bake 60-70 minutes or much longer until toothpick comes out clean
Let cool for 10 minutes and then unmold on to serving plate
Dust with powdered sugar and serve.

Chocolate Marashino Cake

I've been making this cake based on one from this cookbook with a bunch of variations for years.  I've flavored it with a variety of liquors with fantastic results.  These are flavored with Maraschino liquor which is a cherry liquor that has a very interesting flavor.  I've had very mixed results with bundt cakes unless I use Pam with flour added.  I haven't had as good of results with regular Pam.  It's to the point that I don't make bundt cakes unless I have Pam with flour or its generic equivalent.

2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup cocoa
1 tbsp baking soda
1 cup butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup buttermilk
2/3 cup marashino liquor
2 tsp vanilla

Oven to 325

Whisk the flour, cocoa and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside

Cream the butter,  sugar and salt very carefully
Add eggs (one at a time), buttermilk, liquor and vanilla
Mix in the dry ingredients
Bake 60-70 minutes or much longer until toothpick comes out clean.
Let sit for ten minutes and then invert on to a serving plate
Sprinkle with powdered sugar and serve

Bon appetit!

Paula Deen's Chocolate Cheese Fudge

It's hard to believe that fudge can be made out of Velveeta but evidently it can.  The end results look, smell and taste like fudge.  That and the kitsch value of the star ingredient make this recipe a real winner.

8 oz Velveeta "cheese"
2 sticks butter
1 6 oz bag slivered almonds
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbs liquor (I used frangelico)
2 16oz boxes powdered sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder

Toast the almonds.  Be careful not to burn them.  I put them in a 350 degree oven and keep checking them til they're done.

Combine the sugar and the cocoa.  You should probably sift them together but that just takes forever and makes a bit of a mess so I just whisked them together in the mixing bowl.

Melt the cheese and the butter.  Use a whisk to combine it and get it pretty smooth. Add the vanilla and the liquor.  It'll foam a bit as the alcohol boils out.  

Pour the cheese mixture and stir vigorously until it comes together.  I used an electric mixer.

Pat the fudge into a greased, lined 9" square pan.

Let it cool and set.  Paula has a step where you blot off fat that's risen to the top.  I didn't experience that and think it was a combination of all the whisking I did with the cheese and the butter and the cooler climate in Northern California.  Bon Appetit!

Carrot Cake

This recipe is heavily based on Alton Brown's recipe that you can find here.  I've changed the pan size and make more frosting in my version.  The cake above has been further decorated with pecan praline which was made by me and some seasonal cherries whose colors were made by science.

12 oz grated carrots
12 oz flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 eggs
3/4 cup cream
3/4 cup vegetable oil

Oven to 350

Whisk flour, baking powder, soda and spices in a bowl
Sprinkle flour mixture over carrots and stir to combine
Combine sugars, eggs, cream and oil.
Mix with flour and carrots until just combined
Put in greased 13/9 inch pan
Start checking at 40 minutes.  It probably needs an hour.
Frost when cool.

Cream Cheese Frosting

This makes more than I need for a cake but  I don't really use cream cheese for anything else so I have to scale it to accommodate using only entire packages.

16 oz cream cheese (2 boxes)
4 oz butter
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups sifted powdered sugar

Combine the cream cheese, butter and vanilla
Slowly add sugar
Spread on cake.

Super Fantastic Ice Cream

This recipe is based on one from Joy of Cooking.  I used half and half instead of cream first because that's what I had but mostly because I intended on adding a lot of candy to the finished product and I thought a lighter texture cut the richness maybe just a little.

beat together

3/4 cup sugar
2-3 egg yolks

depending on how much egg yolk you use, you might not get the ribbons that you would normally look for when combining egg yolks and sugar because there may not be enough yolk to fully dissolve the sugar.  At the very least mix it until it is combined and a pale yellow.

Add:

1 1/2 cups 1/2 and 1/2
pinch salt
one vanilla bean split down the middle

whisk together and then put over a low heat and, stirring constantly, slowly heat until the temperature reaches 175.  It's very important to get to that temperature because that's the temperature needed to kill salmonella.  Don't let it get hotter than that.  Remove from the heat and strain.  Don't skip the straining step because ice cream needs to be perfectly velvety and not have any stray bits of egg white floating about.  It's best to strain the mixture right away because it's at its thinnest when its hot.  Add the vanilla bean back to the strained liquid.  Let it cool and then refrigerate.  I always refrigerate ice cream overnight.

The next day assemble your ice cream freezer.  Remove the vanilla bean and add the custard to the freezer along with

2 cups half and half

Freeze until just soft serve and then add

crushed candy or cookies

You need to work out for yourself what kind of and how much cookies or candy to add.  I used about a dozen girl scout cookie thin mints and the same number of these dark chocolate, almond, and dried cherry clusters we got at Costco.  I thought that worked out OK.  Reserve some of the candy/cookies to decorate the top.  Turn the ice cream freezer back on until combined.  Remove to a container and freeze until solid.

bon appetit!