Daring Bakers: Swiss Roll Ice Cream Cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Sunita of Sunita’s world – life and food. Sunita challenged everyone to make an ice-cream filled Swiss roll that’s then used to make a bombe with hot fudge. Her recipe is based on an ice cream cake recipe from Taste of Home.-

So, a swiss swirl ice cream cake. This was the most time consuming challenge. EVER. It starts off with a swiss roll. It's kind of like a jelly roll - it's a thin sponge-type cake, which is rolled up with sweetened whipped cream inside. Even on its own, the swiss roll was delicious! It got sliced and I lined a bowl with it. In to the freezer for some firming up!



Then came a layer of white chocolate ice cream. Instead of using a the vanilla ice cream recipe from the challenge, I used David Lebovitz's recipe (I just got his ice cream book, which I am loving). It got spread up the sides of the cake-lined bowl. It was really great on its own - I thought it was the yummiest part of the whole challenge.



After that, came a layer of raspberry ice cream, also from David's book. It was also so yummy - it had a bit of a sweet+sour taste that was so addictive.



Wait - I forgot! Between the layers of ice cream came a layer of homemade hot fudge sauce! This was quick and easy to make. I thought that it was going to become hard as a rock in the freezer, but it stayed nice and smooth - almost like another layer of ice cream!

Once the dessert was assembled, I let it stay in the freezer for the day. Once I got home at night, I flipped it on to a plate and found....



THIS! I was so happy with how it looked - I thought it was going to look really messy. Ten minutes later, we cut into it.



It was SO GOOD. I loved it - and how it looked. I would love to say that I'll make this again and again, but it's simply too time consuming. Maybe once in a while, because the taste was worth the effort. If you want the recipe, you can find it on the Sunita's blog (link at the beginning of this post). Enjoy!

TWD: Lots of Ways Banana Cake and Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Sorry for not being here so much anymore. Hopefully when school starts again I can get back to posting on time! Anyways, I did make the last two Tuesdays With Dorie recipes, which were both hits here at home!



Last week's recipe was chosen by Kimberly of Only Creative Opportunities. She chose the Lots of Ways Banana Cake. This recipe has lots of flavor possibilities. I ended up not using the coconut milk, and I substituted white sugar in place of brown. As my add-in, I chose raisins. Also, instead of baking the cakes in round pans, I decided to make muffins. I got 28 good-sized ones. They were so yummy, and they got eaten quickly! If you want to try it for yourself, you can find the recipe here or in the book.



This week's recipe was chosen by Nicole of Cookies on Friday. She chose the Chewy, Chunky Blondies. I have made these SO many times, because they are my mom's absolute favorite thing I make. I decided that I had to make them again, for photography purposes ;)
Substitutions for the add-ins are fine for these - as long as you have 4 cups. I love love love these blondies, and you absolutely HAVE to make them. You can find the recipe here or in the book.

Enjoy! (P.S. - DB post up soon). :D

sorry...

sorry for the posting delay - my computer isn't importing photos well from my camera. i'll try to get the 2 tuesdays with dorie posts and the db post (i made them all!) up later today.
thanks <3

Key Lime Pie(s)

Okay, I admit it. I'm suffering from Blog Guilt. I bet you know the feeling. You haven't posted for a long time, and you have so many recipes to post, you just want to get some of them out there! That's exactly what I'm feeling right now. So I decided that I have to post the recipe for an awesome Key Lime Pie. Or, in my case, six of them.
The night before her bat mitzvah, my friend was having a family dinner. She wanted lots of one dessert (so that she wouldn't order, say, three apple pies and three lemon meringue and everyone wanted apple), and her favorite is Key Lime Pie, so she ordered six of them. I said I could do it, no problem, and then realized what it meant. I had never before in my entire life made a key lime pie. Ever. I had heard they were really easy, and I found a recipe that looked simple enough. Actually, really simple - just make a graham cracker crust and put in egg yolks, lime juice, and sweetened condensed milk. I made one to test out the recipe, and it came out really yummy. The only problem was that even after several hours of refrigeration, the filling was still a bit too runny. But I figured since it tasted great, I could just make a little adjustment and it would be fine.
The day before the party, I set about making the graham cracker crusts. Six of them. I just multiplied the recipe by six and made it all at once (yeah, I know you're probably not supposed to do that...), and it worked out just fine. This was the most time-consuming step, because I had to press together six crusts. In to the oven they went!
Later on, I made the filling. Again, I made it all at once. ;) This time I added a bit of agar-agar (vegetarian gelatin made from seaweed) and it worked like a charm.
All in all, the hardest part of this recipe was finding room in my fridge for six pies! Everyone loved the pies, and I couldn't be happier with how they turned out. So try this recipe!

Key Lime Pie (from Baking Bites)

1 pre-baked graham cracker crust (8 or 9-in.) (recipe below)
1/2 cup fresh lime juice (key lime, if possible)
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
4 large egg yolks, at room temperature

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks and sweetened condensed milk with a large whisk until smooth. Whisking constantly, stream in lime juice and stir until smooth and well-combined. Pour into pie shell.
Refrigerate for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.
Serves 8.

Graham Cracker Crust (also from Baking Bites)

8 large grahams crackers (to make 1 1/4-1 1/2 cups graham crumbs)
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup butter, melted

Preheat oven to 375F.
In a food processor, whizz graham crackers until reduced to crumbs. Add sugar and pulse to combine. Pour in vanilla and melted butter and process until crumbs are all moistened.
Press firmly and evenly into a 9-inch pie plate.
Bake for 8-10 minutes at 375F, until browned at the edge.
Set aside to cool.

Note: The lime juice supposedly cooks the egg, but if you have been told by your doctor to stay away from even a hint of uncooked food, I would go with a baked version.

Another note: No worries, this recipe makes only one pie, not six! :D

Enjoy!

I've Been a Bad Blogger...

I'm so, so sorry. I've been completely neglecting this blog. But now I'm back... although I'm away right now and wasn't able to make this week's TWD. And I won't be able to make next week's... whoops. But for now, I'll post the last 3 (!!!!) weeks' recipes. Here we go.



Three weeks ago, Susan of Food.Baby picked the Raisin Swirl Bread. I had been looking forward to this recipe since I got the book, and was so excited it was finally picked. It was simple to make, and I had no problems with it. Obviously my swirl is not perfect, because my bread was longer than the loaf pan and I had to tuck the ends under. The taste? It was really good. Next time I think I would add more sugar to the swirl and maybe a bit more to the dough as well, because it was a tiny bit bland. But there definitely will be a next time! You can find the recipe here.




Two weeks ago, Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes chose the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake. I had a few issues with this one. First, my cake sank. I don't know why, but it did. So there is a dent in my cake. Whoops. Also, the sour cream that I got had separated. It was still perfectly good, but it made the frosting a bit lumpy. All in all, the cake won't be winning any prizes for looks, but it was really yummy. I found the icing a bit too dark for my taste, but everyone else loved it. I probably won't make this one again, but you can find the recipe here if you want to try it for yourself.



Finally, last week Wendy of Pink Stripes chose the Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cakes. These were super simple to put together (No mixer needed!), but did take a long time to bake. I halved the recipe and baked it in only one loaf pan. It overflowed, but this could be because I was using a slightly smaller size than recommended (I'm really not sure, and I was too lazy to pull out the tape measure). After the cake came out of the oven, I brushed it with rum syrup (just water, sugar, and rum). I don't love the taste of rum, so I thought I wouldn't like this cake. The rum taste wasn't very strong, though - the cake tasted more like vanilla (due to the vanilla bean in the batter). Everyone loved this cake, and I'll definitely make it again. You can find the recipe here.

Since next week and this week's TWD recipes won't be made anytime really soon (or at least I don't think... maybe I can try to get the tart done here in Brazil...), they will be added to my list of rewinds and I'll post them here as soon as they are made. See you soon, and Enjoy!

P.S. About this month's Daring Bakers challenge... yeah, that wasn't gonna happen around here. No time! But no worries, this month's will be up on the 27th (I'm super excited about it!)