FEBRUARY MISSION ACCOMPLISHED: YOUNG MO KIM'S CHOCOLATE CHIFFON RECIPE

chocolate chiffon with chantilly cream frosting

Have you ever gotten chantilly cream on your macro lens? It's a bloody pain to wipe off.

young mo kim's chocolate chiffon

I lucked out with a leap year and was able to accomplish baking the February Recipe Mission . Yeah, I waited until the last minute but it got done and that's what's important!

the naked chocolate chiffon

The picture of the chocolate chiffon in Kim's cookbook is beautiful, with huge white and dark chocolate curls scattered over the chantilly cream frosting. The chiffon cake looked tender and moist and I was hoping that this would be the holy grail of chiffon recipes. I had previously halted my quest for the perfect chiffon recipe. I had completed some heavy research and testing of various chiffon recipes and arrived at the conclusion that the America Test Kitchen's chiffon cake was the best thus far.
However, Kim's illustrations were enticing and I was curious to see if it could be better than the ATK recipe.

here's my feeble attempt at creating the dramatic swirls. note how crumbs get caught so easily

I knew before I even started that the "chantilly cream" frosting would be a challenge. I mean geez, I've tried to frost a cake with whipped cream before and it's not so easy. Crumbs get into the frosting and it tends to droop. It also doesn't hold up very well in warm weather either. Kim's frosting technique has these dramatic large propeller-like swirls on the sides of the cake.

*update: thank you for the comments on creating a crumb coat everyone! Your advice is much appreciated! However, it is always my practice to apply a crumb coat before frosting. I DID do a crumb coat on this chocolate chiffon, but because the stiff whipped cream has a high water content and is so soft, it does not set in the refrigerator like a buttercream does. A buttercream will harden in the refrigerator but a chantilly cream doesn't. As a result, when you bring it out of the refrigerator, the cake has absorbed the moistness from the thin layer of whipped cream and the surface is still soft. When you apply the rest of the chantilly cream frosting, the cake crumbs will still tend to lift off the cake layers, but I suppose not as much as if you didn't apply any crumb coat at all.

chocolate always makes things better: scatter those chocolate shavings and hide the ugly spots!

I gave it my best shot, but I looked at the amount of whipped cream in my mixing bowl and realized there was no way I could do it. I didn't have enough of the frosting to create the dramatic swirls. I had a feeling that in his professional kitchen, he probably made a huge batch and had more prepared whipped cream to play with. I could only make little swirls and when I made it all the way around the cake sides and back to where I started, I couldn't figure out how to finish it neatly. I ended up muddling it. Oh well, it's all good if you camouflage it with chocolate shavings. doesn't that look moist?
After tasting this chiffon, I was surprised by how moist and yet dry it was. I know it sounds like an oxymoron, but it's true! The crumb appeared tender but it tasted kind of like a sponge in texture and flavour. I was disappointed with the faint chocolate flavour. As well as not having a deep enough chocolate flavour, it also left a funny flat aftertaste in my mouth. Perhaps it required some vanilla extract or more cocoa powder. I don't know. It needed something.
looks can be deceiving: all fluff and no depth

The chiffon was okay but not the best I have made. Besides all this I'm left with extra egg yolks. It's such a bother when a recipe requires more whites than yolks. Now I have to figure out what to do with the yolks. The ATK chiffon utilizes 7 whole eggs. I like that. It also fits a standard chiffon tube pan (and not the two mini 6 inch pans that Kim requires in his recipe).
the chantilly cream frosting saves this cake


Without the chantilly cream frosting, I don't think this chocolate chiffon would be too enjoyable to eat. Though I scarfed down my first piece of cake in mere seconds, I don't think I'll be making this one again. I'll stick to the ATK chiffon recipe and all its wonderful variations.

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FEBRUARY MISSION: YOUNG MO KIM'S CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE

I just got my Amazon package! In the box was a cookbook I have been yearning for, Young Mo Kim's A Collection of Fine Baking. The book is amazing. It's professionally presented and is the winner of the "Gourmand" World Cookbook Awards. Kim is the president of the Korean Bakers' Association and teaches as well as appears in television shows in Korea. He was selected as one of the judges for the 2004 and 2005 World Pastry Team Championships. If you can read Korean (which I don't) you can visit his website http://www.k-bread.com/.

The recipes are all illustrated and are easy to follow for the home baker. What is kind of quirky about the cookbook is that it has a series of anime characters who walk you through the process of baking. The selection of cookies, cakes, pastries, breads and fusion desserts is awesome. In it I found traditional French desserts such as macarons, financiers and opera cakes. However, the Eurasian desserts really caught my eye. Among the recipes that caught my eye: Green Tea Cake, Green Tea Chiffon Cake, Sweet Potato Cake, Macaroons, Chestnut Pudding, Pave Earl Grey Fresh Chocolate, Double Chocolate Mousse Cake and so much more!

For my February Recipe Mission I will be attempting to make Kim's Chocolate Chiffon Cake. The recipe calls for way more egg whites (10) than I'm used to using in a chiffon cake recipe and yields 2 chiffon cakes! Yikes. That's a lot of cake. I'll have to bring some to work to share. It's frosted with a chantilly cream and dark and white chocolate curls too. The frosted cake looks fantastic with its huge white swirls of stiffly whipped cream running up the sides like a propeller. This swirling technique looks like it's going to be the toughest part. I can envision myself spending an inordinate amount of time swirling and reswirling the chantilly cream to achieve the beautifully decorated sides.

CHOCOLATE CHIFFON CAKE
from Young Mo Kim's A Collection of Fine Baking

Sponge:
egg yolks 120 g (6 egg yolks)
A. sugar 90 g (1/2 cup and 1 T)
water 120 g (1/2 cup and 4 t)
olive oil 120 g (1/2 cup and 4 t)
cake flour 160 g (1 1/2 cups and 1 T)
cocoa powder 20 g (1/4 cup)
baking powder 7 g (2 t)
egg whites 320 g (10 egg whites)
B. sugar 120 g (3/4 cup)

Chantilly Cream:
heavy cream 300 g (1 1/2 cups)
sugar 30 g ( 2 1/2 T)
rum 5 g (1 t)

Topping:
dark chocolate 315 g (11 oz)
white chocolate 315 g (11 oz)
chocolate syrup

equipment: 2 angel food pans (7"); 1 baking pan
yield: 2 chiffon cakes
baking time: 55 minutes @ 300degrees F/150degrees C

Sponge:

1. Preheat the oven to 300degrees F/150degrees C. Put egg yolks in a large bowl and beat for about 10 seconds. Then, add A. sugar and beat at high speed for about 2 minutes or until the colour lightens.
2. Add water and beat. Then, add olive oil and beat well.
3. Mix cake flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder and sift three times and then add to the batter. Beat until you no longer see any powder.
4. Then, in a separate bowl, make a meringue using the egg whites and B. sugar
5. Add half of the meringue to the batter and fold in using a spatula. Then, add the rest of the meringue and fold in.
6. Spray water all around the inside of a 7" (18cm) angel food pan and place it inside the baking pan. Pour the batter into the angel food pan. Fill up only about 3/4 of the pan. Then, use a chopstick or any clean stick to dip in the batter and go around the pan twice to get the air out from the batter.
7. Bake at 300degrees F for about 55 minutes or until golden brown. Do not lift the angel pan with batter inside; put the entire pan assemblage in the oven to bake.
8. Immediately turn the pan upside down and place it on a cooling rack (or stick the center of the pan onto the neck of a bottle).
9. Run a metal spatula around the inside of the pan. Then, take the sponge out. Use a knife to separate the bottom of the angel food pan and the sponge.

Chantilly Cream:

In a separate bowl, put heavy cream, sugar and rum and beat until it is stiff (remember to add the sugar half at a time for better results).

Decoration:

1. Slice the sponge in half and apply a layer of cream. Put on the upper sponge and transfer the cake to the turntable.
2. Put a thick layer of chantilly cream on the top first, then put enough in the center to cover the sponge. Put cream around the side using a metal spatula.
3. Put a generous amount of the cream on the spatula and gently press against the side and drag about 2" (5 cm) as you turn the cake around. Repeat this process and decorate all around the cake.
4. Put another portion of the cream on the tip of the spatula and place it on top of the cake as shown.
5. Use a knife to scrape both chocolates slowly toward yourself for the decoration, making curls.
6. Decorate half of the cake with the white chocolate shavings and the other half with the dark chocolate shavings. Pour on some chocolate syrup to finish the decoration.

CLICK HERE FOR THE RECIPE REVIEW

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BIB'S FIRST BIRTHDAY CAKE: ANNA OLSON'S SWEDISH BUTTER CAKE

I've had The Perfect Cake: 150 Cakes for Every Taste and Occasion, by Susan G. Purdy, sitting on my bookshelf for a while. I go back to the same butter cake recipe all the time because it's easy, not too sweet and has a fine tender crumb. It's simply delicious. It also keeps well. I've used it in all of my Wilton Cake Decorating classes when I had "homework" to do. Layers split well and there are endless variations one can achieve with the basic recipe.

"Anna's Swedish Butter Cake" is my favourite butter cake recipe (that's from Anna Olson by the way). I'm using it for Bib's First Birthday Cake. Here's the recipe.

Anna's Swedish Butter Cake
(from Susan G. Purdy's The Perfect Cake)
2 cups (8 1/2 ounces; 240 g) plus 2 T sifted all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 230 g) lightly salted butter (not margarine), at room temperature
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz; 300 g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
3/4 cup milk
1 t almond extract (vanilla extract can be substituted)
confectioners' sugar (optional)

• Prepare two 9-inch round cake pan(s) by spreading solid shortening on bottom and sides; dust evenly with flour; tap out excess. Position rack in centre of oven. Preheat oven to 350degrees F.
• Sift together flour, baking powder and salt onto a piece of wax paper. Set aside
  With a wooden spoon in a mixing bowl or with an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and well-blended. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition.
• Alternately add the dry ingredients and milk, beating after each addition, beginning and ending with flour. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and the beaters. Stir in the almond or vanilla extract
• Spoon batter into the prepared pans, level the top, then spread the batter slightly toward the pan edges. Bake in the preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes for a tube cake or 30 to 35 minutes for layers, or until the top is golden and a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out clean.
• Cool the cake in its pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then run a knife blade around the edge of the cake. Top with another rack or plate, invert, and lift off the pans. Cool the cake completely before sifting on confectioners' sugar or adding a frosting of your choice.

I'm going to frost this cake with a Rose Levy Beranbaum buttercream: the Neoclassic Chocolate Buttercream. It uses egg yolks as opposed to egg whites, which is a plus because I want to minimize the amount of allergenic ingredients in the cake. Allergenic proteins are primarily found in the egg whites--babies aren't supposed to have egg whites for a while.

Neoclassic Chocolate Buttercream (makes 4 cups/1 3/4 lb/800g; enough to fill and frost two 9-inch by 1 1/2 inch layers)

(from Rose Levy Beranbaum's The Cake Bible )

6 large (3.5 fl oz/ 4 oz/112 g) egg yolks, room temperature
sugar (3/4 cup/5.25 oz/150 g)
corn syrup (1/2 liquid cup/5.75 oz/164 g)
unsalted butter (2 cups/1 lb/454 g) (must be softened)
optional: liqueur or eau-de-vie of your choice (2-4 T/1-2oz/28-56 g)
6 oz extra bittersweet or bittersweet chocolate, melted

• Have ready a greased 1-cup heatproof glass measure near the range
• In a bowl beat the yolks with an electric mixer until light in colour. Meanwhile, combine the sugar and corn syrup in a small saucepan (preferably with a nonstick lining) and heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the syrup comes to a rolling boil. (The entire surface will be covered with large bubbles.) Immediately transfer the syrup to the glass measure to stop the cooking.
• If using an electric hand-held mixer, beat the syrup into the yolks in a steady stream. Don't allow syrup to fall on the beaters or they will spin it onto the sides of the bowl. If using a stand mixer, pour a small amount of syrup over the yolks with the mixer turned off. Immediately beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Stop the mixer and add a larger amount of syrup. Beat at high speed for 5 seconds. Continue with the remaining syrup. For the last addition, use a rubber scraper to remove the syrup clinging to the glass measure. Continue beating until completely cool.
• Gradually beat in the butter and any optional flavouring. Incorporate the melted bittersweet chocolate. Place in an airtight bowl. Bring to room temperature before using. Rebeat to restore texture.
• Store: 6 hours room temperature, 1 week refrigerated, 8 months frozen

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RECIPE REVIEW: DECEMBER MISSION: GREENSPAN'S BLACK AND WHITE CHOCOLATE CAKE

greenspan's black and white chocolate cake: let's say it had potential but came short in delivery. i had to decorate with tons of white and dark chocolate shavings to distract people from the ugly sides of the cake
the dark and white chocolate mousse components taste great on their own. the dark mousse is like chocolate pudding and the white chocolate mousse is truly a soft whipped cream. here you can see the cake layers have compressed the mousses and were sliding around so that the layers were no longer centered.

I am disappointed with this particular recipe from Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. Everything else I have made by Greenspan has been so spectacular and yummy. Her cookie recipes were foolproof and delicious.

Let's just say yesterday was one of my more challenging days as an amateur baker. With the white chocolate mousse component curdling on me 3 times, I thought that I was going to ditch the component and replace it with my favourite white chocolate mousseline buttercream recipe. However, I persevered and stuck with Greenspan's recipe just so I could give it an honest chance.

i was worried about the cake not turning out so I made the barefoot contessa's chocolate cupcakes with a buttercream frosting

In the end, I don't think my perseverence was rewarded well enough. The flavour was okay but the appearance of the cake was not that impressive. Because of the softness of the white chocolate cream, it was almost impossible to frost the cake properly. Greenspan's illustration of the cake clearly indicated gorgeous even layers of thin cake and dark and white chocolate mousse. In my rendition of the cake I followed the recipe to the letter and it certainly didn't have the "wow" factor that the cookbook's illustration had.

we couldn't find a "0" to follow the "4"

A problem I discovered upon serving the cake was that the weight of the layers compressed the mousses so that they squished out the side of the cake, making the layers of mousse thinner than desired. This I hadn't expected. I also had to keep the cake quite cold or it would melt. This meant that the cake layers were not as good texturally. The cake component was okay; nothing comparable in flavour or texture to the cakes I've made from the Cake Bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum. It was more dense than I would have liked, bordering on almost dry (but not quite).

here you can see the mousse layers. the white chocolate mousse layer in particular has been compressed by the weight and is too thin for my liking

The dark and white chocolate mousses tasted really good. However I felt the cake layers didn't complement them well. I would have liked a lighter crumb--kind of like more chiffon-like cake layers because of the need for refrigeration and the delicateness of the white chocolate cream.

When I served it to my friends, I had to apologize because I knew before we cut into it that it wasn't up to snuff. My usual cakes are moist and rely on Beranbaum's cake components. Her buttercreams are to die for and her cake recipes are foolproof and flavourful. She's my go to for cakes. My friends were polite and said it was good but N. was honest and said it wasn't as good as my previous cakes. She felt that the cake layers were almost too dry as well.

This is why from now on, I'll stick to my Beranbaum buttercreams. This way, when the cake layers come to room temperature (which is important for the best flavour and texture) the buttercream will still be looking good. I like the fact that I can rapidly create a flawless surface with buttercreams too.

The Verdict: I won't be making this cake again as it's not worth the amount of time and there's too much potential for failure. It's too finicky and the instructions for the white chocolate cream component were too general. I would have liked to know how long to whip the cream with the melted white chocolate. I would have liked to know what temperature exactly the white chocolate mixture should be before adding it in to the whipped cream. I shouldn't have had to research it online. As well, the results were so-so. It wasn't a total disaster but I had to work really long and hard to salvage this one.

The Lessons Learned:

Never add melted white chocolate to whipped cream to make a mousse without checking the exact temperature of the chocolate...no, no, touching it won't do--you need a thermometer!

Never add the dark chocolate cream component to a plain buttercream base in the hopes of recycling leftovers as it will curdle the whole batch of perfectly good buttercream. You can add leftover ganache to buttercream but you can't add a whipping cream-based mousse because of its higher water content.

Never try salvaging a curdled batch of chocolate mousse by melting it and refrigerating it because it's a waste of time and it'll curdle again anyway

Chocolate doesn't like whipping cream but it loves butter

Your friends will still love you even if you screw up a cake

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CURDLED MOUSSE EMERGENCY!

any ideas what to do with curdled white chocolate mousse?

I knew I shouldn't have mouthed off about how I didn't think there would be a problem with me making Dorie Greenspan's Black and White Chocolate Cake recipe.

Perhaps I was too cocky. I have never had a problem with mousse before. I've made it dozens of times over the years...but I've only ever made it the classical way with dark chocolate. I didn't think the White Chocolate Whipped Cream component would be a problem at all.

I completed the cake layers and the dark chocolate cream this morning and then proceeded to make the white chocolate whipped cream. It only has 2 ingredients for goodness' sake! How can you go wrong?

Well...it went wrong in so many ways. I was following the recipe to the letter and it said to add the room temperature melted white chocolate/cream mixture into the softly whipped cream mixture all at once and beat on high speed until it holds firm peaks. I did that. And whipped and whipped and it never did hold firm peaks. It looked runny. Then it looked really runny...and curdled. When I took the mixing bowl out, I had a huge coagulated fat globule bobbing in a pool of watery milk. I thought I had made white chocolate butter.

What to do-what to do?

I thought that perhaps I could save it by melting it all together and then letting it cool down to room temperature. I had some extra cold cream in the fridge and whipped that up and tried adding the remelted/cooled mixture to the newly whipped cream. It curdled again. It never went beyond a soft mushy stage.

My baking mojo was gone.

I had angered the pastry gods somehow.

I consulted texts and they didn't say anything much that would help me. I looked online and not much was said about how to rescue curdled mousse.

I knew I had to persevere and maintain the positive baking karma or I would be beat. So I called J. and consulted her. She said I should melt it and leave it in the fridge for a long time. I did. I melted it gently (it took mere seconds); took the bowl out after a long time in the fridge and stirred the mixture lightly with a spatula just to check it and lo and behold, it curdled! The butter fat had floated to the top and solidified in chunks despite my mixing it thoroughly before putting it in the fridge.

I'm left kind of scratching my head at this one.

I decided I would waste only one more batch of white chocolate before calling it quits. Right now it's sitting next to me in a bowl with a thermometer sticking out of it. It's 87.9degrees F, but I'm not doing nothin' until it reaches at least 85degrees F.

I can't not bring a birthday cake tomorrow. What to do? what to do? zoiks, I'm even writing double negatives now. This is a sorry state indeed.

Ooh. I have to go now as the white chocolate is nearing the temperature I need.

Keeping my fingers crossed. Stay tuned. I'll be back.

*********************

Okay, I'm back.

I was so scared of wasting all that beautiful white chocolate. As the whipping cream came to the soft peak stage, I took the bowl of white chocolate mixture which happened to be at 83.2degreesF exactly at the moment I approached the KitchenAid. I made a little Christmas Wish and dumped it into the mixing bowl. I closed my eyes as I cranked the KitchenAid to full power, just as Greenspan indicated in the recipe. I held my breath as the white chocolate mixture integrated into the softly whipped cream; the whisk leaving little spirals in its wake.

I turned the KitchenAid off. What if it curdles? The mixture was still quite soft. It wasn't holding firm peaks at all. I was so afraid of another curdle. I cranked it up high again. That's what the recipe says, "high"! and got worried when the mixture started to thicken a little bit; the whisk leaving a slight trail now. The last 3 times it was mere seconds after this stage that the mixture broke.

I couldn't stand it.

After another 3 starts and stops, I just called it quits and convinced myself that it was firm enough. I had read somewhere online in someone else's recipe that it'll firm up in the refrigerator (and not to worry about the runny appearance!) I'm still concerned that the white chocolate whipped cream component will not be stiff enough for spreading on the cake layers. I have to wait at least 2 hours for the white chocolate mixture to cool before assembling the cake now.

the white chocolate whipped cream never seemed to hold firm peaks...but remained quite soft

This cake better be worth it because I'm pretty peeved by all this effort right now when I can be kicking back in my armchair with a rerun of The Sound of Music playing on the t.v. in the background while I do such lazy Christmasy things like thumbing through my new copy of Sherry Yard's Desserts by the Yard (thanks for the bday present, J & M!)

More about → CURDLED MOUSSE EMERGENCY!

NOVEMBER RECIPE MISSION: COCOA NIB COOKIES

I'm still recovering from the flu...and it's been almost a whole month since I first caught this darn thing! Nevertheless, with a couple of days to spare, I am still going to post a November Recipe Mission. This month, my challenge is to make Cocoa Nib Cookies.

I have 2 bags of organic cocoa nibs I purchased a couple of months ago from Capers. The recipe I'll be using is adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet...one of my favourite books. She calls for adding bourbon, but I chose almond extract...because I don't have bourbon.

In fact, bourbon sounds yummy. I've got to buy some. In fact I need to make a run to the liquor store soon because I'm out of vodka--having used up the last cup to preserve my recently purchased vanilla pods. I used the vanilla seeds for creme caramel (yum!) and dumped the empty pods in the vodka. I'm going to have vanilla extract in about a year, I think. It's already smelling nicely vanilla-like.

By the way, I purchased a whole whack of beautiful vanilla beans online. It's cheap...even with the additional $20 I had to pay for duties on top of the cost of shipping. I'm happy. I had Stomach figure out the per pod cost and I still come out ahead. It beats buying dried out pods from Safeway! I bought my vanilla beans from saffron.com and I am satisfied with my purchase. I purchased one half pound of Vanilla Tahitensis and a half pound bag of Vanilla Planifolia. The one bag I opened has 60 pods in it in a vacuum-sealed bag. They're very nice. I love fresh vanilla pods. I now have vanilla sugar (you store the pods in sugar) and the beginnings of extract (from the used up pods in vodka) on top of the scrumptious fragrant seeds to use. I plan to employ them in my Christmas baking this year.

I digress. Here's the recipe for the cocoa nib cookies. It'll be a perfect addition to a Christmas Cookie Box.

COCOA NIB & PECAN COOKIES
1 cup (3.5 oz) organic pecan halves, toasted & chopped
1/2 pound (2 sticks) organic unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup organic cane sugar
1/4 t pink himalayan salt (slightly rounded)
1 t almond extract
1 1/2 t vanilla extract
1/3 cup organic cocoa nibs
2 cups unbleached organic all-purpose flour

• Combine butter, sugar, salt, almond extract and vanilla in bowl of electric mixer and beat on high speed until smooth and creamy but not fluffy (1 minute). Beat in pecans and cocoa nibs. Turn off mixer and add all the flour at once. Beat on low speed until flour is incorporated.
• Form dough into 12-inch log about 2 inches thick. Wrap in parchment and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight. (can be frozen 3 months)
• Position racks in upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Use a sharp knife to cut the cold dough log into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place cookies at least 1 1/2 inches apart on parchment-lined cookie sheets.
• Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until the cookies are light golden brown at the edges, rotating the cookie sheets from top to bottom and front to back halfway through the baking. Let cookies firm up on the pans for about 1 minute before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. Store cookies in airtight container for at least 24 hours for best flavour before serving.
• can be stored in airtight container for at least 1 month

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MALGIERI & ZUCKERMAN MACARONS VS. TARTELETTE MACARONS

Sigh. Macarons.

I had the good fortune of having a trusty comrade fighting by my side in my macaron battle today. J brought along a macaron recipe from Nick Malgieri and another from Kate Zuckerman's The Sweet Life. She too had been testing out recipes in preparatory anticipation of our ensuing battle. At home, she noticed some inconsistencies from batch to batch: first batch, no feet; second batch nice feet! Knowing J, and her exacting ways, I trust that she followed the recipe exactly. I mean, she didn't even want to play around with the batter and add any flavourings! The Zuckerman recipe was promising and so we tried it in my kitchen today; trying to tweak it to work for us. The only problem was that it called for one to leave the piped macarons out from 1 to 2 hours to dry and allow a "skin" to form! She had abandoned the Malgieri recipe because they all turned out too cookie-like.

Here's how the Zuckerman recipe went:
J brought Kate Zuckerman's macaron recipe into the ring for battle...

zuckerman's sugar/ground almond mixture, after sifting

zuckerman indicates to whip eggwhites to the soft peak stage

here's J gently folding the whites into the ground almond mixture

our little zuckerman macaron soldiers lined up waiting for oven time

While we were waiting for the skin to form, I suggested we make another batch with an interesting Pistachio Macaron recipe I had noticed on Tartelette's blog. I turned on my computer, grabbed 3 eggs straight from the fridge and cheated time by warming them up in a bowl of hot water to bring them to room temperature.

Upon looking at the baking Zuckerman macarons (which by the way had already been sitting for 2 hours on the counter waiting for skins to form), J noticed they weren't producing feet and some of the cookies were cracking. They were looking like plain ol' ordinary cookies. After dickering with the temperature--an initial blast of heat and then lowering it; reducing the temperature to the same as the pistachio recipe's, etc., we still couldn't get them to behave properly. So disappointing! She whipped the trays out of the oven, exclaiming they were unworthy of further time in the oven and the ganache filling! She's pretty strict, eh? I'm glad she's on my side in this battle.

zuckerman macarons with no feet, no smooth tops and cracked surfaces. yummy though

Here's how Tartelette's Pistachio Macaron recipe fared:

After grinding whole almonds and pistachios with confectioner's sugar, I folded in the stiffly beaten egg whites. The mixture was way stiffer at this point than Zuckerman's recipe.

the pistachio macaron batter, ready for piping

tartelette's macaron soldiers, ready and waiting (for only 20 minutes! not 2 hours like kate's!)

1st batch of pistachio macarons rising to the occasion (creating feet) in my Wolf oven

and then collapsing after I brought them out! drat!

some of these collapsed macarons had hollow bottoms. odd.

At this point, I decided the oven must be too hot (it was set at 315degrees F throughout for 12-14 minutes) for the full amount of time that the macarons had to be in there to bake. For the next batch, I watched them "rise/create feet" first (at 315 degrees) and as soon as the feet were at their height, I then turned the oven down to 300degrees F to finish baking. The results were much better looking and they looked very promising indeed!

2nd tray of pistachio macarons using the reduction of heat method

we quickly whipped up a simple ganache to sandwich the macarons

So the Tartelette recipe looked good and smelled good. It had a smooth top, it had even, frilly feet and the exterior was thin and yielded to gentle pressure. It was very delicate and when you bit into it, it was mostly hollow; its texture was slightly chewy and the flavour was delicate pistachio with a hint of almond. The ganache filling, when piped too thickly, was too overpowering and you couldn't taste the pistachio...so I would say a buttercream would be a better match. We later opted to make the filling just a smear to hold the two cookies together, though the cookie looks prettier with a thicker amount sandwiched in between.

Having tasted professionally made macarons, I was still not wholly satisfied however. I'm a texture person. I hate nuts, raisins and anything seed-like or grainy in my baked goods. Yuck. Though these macarons didn't have chunks (we sifted well), I didn't really appreciate the fact that the ground nuts were not as fine as the failed batch I had made previously with almond paste or with the Matcha macaron batter using the sugar syrup based on Tartelette's recipe. I wanted the macaron to dissolve into nothingness, but instead I was left with a few grainy bits of the ground nuts rattling around in my mouth. Also, it did not have the slight crunch of the matcha macaron recipe; nor its stronger flavour profile. I felt the Matcha macarons were much closer in texture to the macarons I like.

With both these recipes, we started off with whole almonds and whole pistachios. I personally like the more consistent and finer texture achieved by starting with almond paste (ideally) and after that, commercially ground almonds. Whole almonds have so far to go before they're fine enough for me.

I declare the Tartelette Pistachio Macaron recipe the winner today and have to say that the foolproof method of using the sugar syrup is superior in texture.

My next batch will be CHOCOLATE MACARONS! I hear they're the toughest flavour to make...

More about → MALGIERI & ZUCKERMAN MACARONS VS. TARTELETTE MACARONS

HEALTHY JELLO? GOJI BERRY & LYCHEE JELLY

goji berry & lychee jelly

Hey, this ain't no ordinary jello. All the Dim Sum houses in the Metro Vancouver area are currently into making this particular sweet offering for Dim Sum. It features goji berries and (canned) lychee fruit in an agar based jelly. The texture of the jelly is very firm, bordering on "crunchy".

This particular version of the jelly I had was at Spicy Court, located at Cambie and 41st. I thought the goji berries were pretty but quite indistinguishable in the jelly. The prominent flavour was the lychee. I suppose that's a good thing anyway because I don't particularly enjoy goji berries for their medicinal flavour. I just know they're good for you and uber-trendy right now in the health food markets. They also have high price tags (and unbeknownst to most of the granola crowd, they have long been used in Chinese cuisine and can be purchased at most Chinese herbal markets for a fraction of the price).

I thought this jelly was refreshing and so did Bebe. In addition, it meets my "health food" criteria in that one of its elements is deemed good-for-you...so I'm going to try to make this particular jelly at home. I'll be researching this and testing out batches to see if I could replicate it.

More about → HEALTHY JELLO? GOJI BERRY & LYCHEE JELLY