Daring Bakers Go French!

Hello again, folks! It's time for another Daring Bakers Challenge! And this month, we go to Meeta (from the blog What's For Lunch Honey?) and her "Sugar Daddy" Pierre Herme and his chocolate eclairs.

I admit, when it comes to Daring Bakers Challenges, I always have a mini-panic attack when the recipes are announced at the beginning of the month. I mean, you just know the recipe is going to be about 4-5 pages long (sometimes longer), but still, I always have my super-wince ready.

This month's challenge was special to me, because I got to make my eclairs in my new kitchen!! I was so stoked when I saw that my new kitchen is about twice the size of my old one, with a gas range and stellar lighting (for taking those glamour shots of my food, of course).

I shouldn't have been afraid of this recipe at all, it was super easy. I took the advise of my fellow DBers and took the steps one at a time. I made the choux pastry dough the night before I assembled the eclairs, and they baked up like a dream. I warn you, if you do freeze your dough beforehand, allow them to bake about twice as long as the recipe calls for. If you want the recipe, go on down to Meeta's blog, I have it on my personal blogroll, as well as the Daring Bakers Blogroll.

Here's a nice shot of these babies just before they came out of the oven.
And after glazing, my little eclair sitting pretty, just waiting to be eaten up with a nice cup of tea.
I also made cream puffs. Those little devils! I can't stop eating them!! I like how in this pic, you can see the delish vanilla beans in the pastry cream. While we're on the topic of pastry cream, I pretty much wore about half the pastry cream when I was piping it into my eclairs. The darn tip on my frosting bag was so narrow, that instead of the pastry cream wanting to pipe into the eclairs, it decided to squirt itself back out the other side and onto my arm. Several times. I'm lucky I had enough leftover to finish the challenge!

If you haven't yet, you really should try this recipe out. You will NOT be disappointed! I'll be taking these darlings to work with me, because as my husband puts it, "Those are dangerous!" I am not to leave any in the house, they must all come with me to work, haha. Anyway, enjoy!

Cheers!
~Mehgan~

Mom's Birthday Cake- Take #2

Hello, ladies and gents! So, I've decided to go with Jenn's recipe from ...and the eggs, it just looks so yummy and irresistable! (recipe: http://www.andtheeggs.net/2008/01/old-fashioned-chocolate-layer-cake.html) I was in a bit of a rush yesterday when I started pulling out the ingredients for this, and didn't realize that the recipe makes two cakes (my intentions were to make two cakes anyway), so I doubled the recipe. That was insane! TONS of batter! But, now that I have four cakes to work with, I'll be able to make two layer cakes that have room to trim if I need to.

Instead of a standard chocolate frosting, my mom special requested a chocolate ganache with edible flowers as decoration (yeah, going to find those today after work). I have naked cakes sitting at home, just waiting to be frosted! I stopped by Michael's yesterday after work and picked up some cake circles and cake boxes to transport them in. Mom's birthday party is going to be held at the Black Forest Steakhouse in Everson, WA, which is just about 2 hours from my house. I'm praying that the interior of my car doesn't get too hot from the sun, because I have a my niece's birthday party earlier that day in Mount Vernon (just over an hour from my house). Craziness! Will post update/progress photos tonight.

How exciting!!
~Mehgan~

Update: It's just after 10pm, and I'm too tired to edit and upload pics right now, sorry! I will tell you that the cakes turned out gorgeous, I even sent my sister a sneak peak via camera phone, and she says they look fab. I used real flowers to decorate, and I think that really made the cakes look finished. And it was such a good idea to get boxes for them, they fit perfectly. After Mom's party tomorrow night, I'll have LOADS of fun pics to show off my "first cake order". Boo yah!

Mom's Birthday Cake- Take #1

Hello people!

My dear Mom's 50th birthday is coming up on the 26th, and I have been put in charge of the cake. We're having a nice intimate dinner with friends and family at this lovely German place called the Black Forest Cafe, which I am so looking forward to. There's stuff on the menu I've never heard of, which I'm always game for!

But, here's the thing: I am panicking. I've never decorated a cake, besides cupcakes that I've just slathered a bit of icing on and called it good. I've only used an icing bag a half dozen times, and I know that with practice I'll be ok.

I'm just worried that I'll work super hard on this cake, only to have people think it looks less fabulous than it looks to me. I'm planning on practicing tons between now and then, so I'm pretty sure I'll be alright in the decorating department.

She says she wants chocolate everything: cake, filling and frosting. Here's where you come in, fellow foodies. I need the yummiest, tastiest, most decadent chocolate cake recipe you can find. This is your challenge.

I will be popping by between now and then to fill in you in on the progress of the birthday cake and to post the final results. I'm so nervous, but really excited!! Thanks everyone!!