July Daring Bakers Challenge - Swiss swirl ice cream cake

The July 2010 Daring Bakers Challenge was hosted by Sunita from 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

At first I was so excited by this challenge - interesting looking with many levels dessert is always fun to make. But - having hard time at work is very good if we talking about twisting your baking mood 180. So lately, after hitting home, I just dreaming about hot bath, my bad and big tasty sandwich - not about spending whole day in a kitchen. You can easily see the results here on a blog - almost nothing is happening in July. 

So i was even thinking  about skipping the challenge but yesterday I grab and push myself to the kitchen and I started working on that recipe.

The base for both in my version in Chocolate sponge Cake - oh how i love this one. Airy yet very rich in taste, lovely base for any kind of cake or dessert.

Than I made to versions of fillings for a rolls. Also I played a little with recipe and found a way to include my homemade Red Currant jam here. Hope you like mine cakes.

First one - Chocolate Swiss roll with chocolate ice creams and red currants jam

Layers - chocolate swiss roll filled with chocolate whipping cream, two chocolate ice creams layers and sour-ish red currant jam in a centre. Real chocolate extravaganza

Second was also chocolate swiss roll but this time filled with basic vanilla whipping cream, with two layers of vanilla ice creams but with hot chocolate fudge inside - well it was not classic fudge coz I mix it with ricotta cheese.

For recipe please hit this site which was a base for Sunita's Challenge.

Cheese Cake with Black Currants

Yep you've got it right - not Cheesecake but Cheese Cake.

Some will ask - what she is talking about? I am not one of those weirdo bloggers who "invent" new names for every meal they make. Some times, well mostly, the dish is exactly what it is - the same old fish and chips and not some "light like air white fish-something with delicate cutted potatoes seasoned with wonderful and mind-blowing ... something". I hate those. 

The same in restaurants - when I see something like that in menu I know that : a. an owner or/and chef is as*hole and b. food is not even close to those "amazing" full page names.

But today I want to be clear - it is not cheesecake with crust or without it but just simple cake where flour is mixed with cheese in 1:1 ratio. The effect - cake which is heavy, for some maybe even to much, and you can really taste cottage cheese. Very summery, old fashioned cake. 

Cheese Cake with Black Currants:

300 gram of full fat cottage cheese ( the best is "white cheese" but since I know that american and UK readers might have problems with finding this one I recommend quark or something similar, even ricotta - but please do not use Philadelphia )

3 tablespoon of sour cream - could be double cream

2 tablespoon of melted butter or oil

2 eggs

100 ml of buttermilk

300 gram of flour

100 gram of sugar

2 teaspoon of baking powder

pinch of salt

about 200 gram of Black Currants

Caster sugar for sprinkle 

Preheat oven 380-390F/200C. Cover your baking tin with baking paper

In a bowl mix cheese with cream, fat and buttermilk until smooth. Add eggs and mix well.

In second bowl mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Add this to first bowl and mix well with cheese mixture. Place in a tin and sprinkle with fruits pressing them a little into cake. Sprinkle with 1-2 tablespoon of caster sugar and bake for 35-40 minuter. Cool dawn and sprinkle with big amount of caster sugar. 

Serve to a good friend or bad neighborhood if you have problem with them. 

Macaron - if you can't buy it, bake it

I have done it. 

After many unsuccessful attempts I make ( eee almost ) good French Macaron. Well okey - it was semi-successful but still. The best ones I ever made.

This was my 4th - looking not so bad, I heard about dozens and dozens attempts from other bloggers, so I should be happy. But you know what make me still having the bitc* face while talking about those pretty pieces? The fact that 5th try was again bad. That's the "beauty" of Macaron - this is very hard even for trained cook. You can make them 100 times amazing and just perfect and then face the horrible 101 one. 

See those are not good enough - you can easily see those lumps and all imperfections. But as a plus I can count - having "the feet", good shell on the outside and chewy inside, good taste. All in all not bad for the first time.

The minus? I have no almond flour so I must make it from a scratch. Bad idea if you don't have blender - I have old fashioned hand-machine. Too lumpy. And i left the skins - second bad idea. So those pretty little dots on mine Macarons are not vanilla pieces as you, culinary smart readers can think. Ugly.

The filling was the simplest chocolate ganache. 

I use this recipe - i tell you this site is so great - read all 101 about both methods for Macarons.

Smelly cheese and wonderful result

You know the times when you see something very tasty in your favorite market - something soo delicious, yet soo expensive that you always pass it, thinking about how you actually do not need it. The truffles, very good, original Champagne, best Pecorino etc. 

Last week I was just doing some errand and I can't believed when I saw this cheese on sale - it was one of those real French cheeses, slightly smelly yet saying - i am soft and spicy inside, eat me!

So I did buy it.

And kinda regret it.

You see - closed into paper was lovely, but after opening - oh god - smell alert. At first I was thinking that something died. 

But you must understand that I am last person in a world who would throw food away. I knew I must to find some idea what to do with it - eating it fresh, on a bread, was not an option. Thankfully I found a solution.

One part ended up in a tart and some of it in this tasty, creamy soup.

Creamy zucchini soup and red onions marmalade:

Zucchini Cream:

2 big zucchinis

1 onion

2 cups of water or better - stock

100 gram of good soft cheese ( could be also some blue cheese if you prefer )

150 gram of full fat yoghurt

2 tablespoon of sour cream

4-5 sage leaves

butter, salt, pepper

Chop onion and fry until soft on a butter. Add chopped into slim slices zucchini and fry for 7-10 minutes. Pour water/stock into pan and cook until veggies will be soft. Add cheese. Take from a heat, cool a little and mix until smooth. In a cup mix sour cream with a yoghurt and add one tablespoon of soup to strong a mixture. Now you can add cream/yoghurt mixture to soup. Mix with a spoon well. Heat again but do not boil. And chopped sage leaves. Serve with bread and red onion marmalade.

Red Onions Marmalade:

3-4 red onions

2 tablespoon of butter

1 tablespoon of balsamico

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

In a pan heat a butter until it melt and add chopped nicely onions. Sprinkle with a sugar and fry until they will very soft. Add balsamico and fry for another 10 minutes until you get marmalade texture. Pour into jars and cool. Serve on a toasted bread or with a meat - best with chicken, turkey or other sweet-tasted meats.

Lemon tartelettes with apricot mousse and Lemon Curd

Oh sunny, sunny day.

Was at a local market lately and I saw the most sunny lemons I ever had - they literally smiled at me and screamed "Buy us!". Maybe they should not be so excited. 

They ended up being peeled, crushed, cutted and baked. 

But hey - I am not a monster. To make their life little sweeter I give them sugar. Lot of sugar. 

I saw that they really clicked - the perfect pair - sugar and tart lemons. I smell longterm marriage starting here.

Lemon tartelettes:

(recipe for dough from polish food magazine Kuchnia, 07/2010, make about 30 small, one-size tarts)

15 dag of cold butter cutted into small pieces

2 cups of flour

3 tablespoon of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

1/4 cup of cold water

Apricot mousse

Lemon curd 

Preheat oven 200C/390F

In a bowl mix flour with sugar and salt. Ad butter and make something like a big-pieces grit. Now slowly add cold water and hand make dough. Cool for about 30 minutes. Roll thin - about 1 inch. Place in a tins cut with a for to prevent rising too much. Bake for about 7-10 minutes until lightly gold. Take off make 160C/320F oven heat. Pour one teaspoon of apricot mousse in a tin and cover with lemon curd. Bake for about 10 minutes - curd should be still the same color but more thick than a fresh one.

I also try unbaked curd and mousse and it work nice if you serve your tartelettes in an hour or two. But for longer time use baked recipe.

(See the dark something on mine ? I replace apricot mousse in some tarts - I use homemade crunchy walnut butter - also nice combination)

Lemon curd

1 egg

2 eggs yolk

150 gram of sugar 

3 lemons - peeled and juiced

2 tablespoon of butter

Wash your lemons. Peel them and juice. In a heavy bottom pan whisk an egg, egg yolks and sugar together. You could use hand blender but not overdo it - you just want a sugar to "disappear". Add lemon juice and peeled skin.
Place in a pan over a small heat and stir mixture until you see that it thicken. Mixture should be tick enough that hen placed on a spoon it does not run down easily. Take off from a heat and add butter. Place in a jar and cool. You may use it not only for our lovely tartelettes but also eat on a toast or whatever.

Apricot mousse

500 gram of apricot

2 tablespoon of fresh lemon or orange juice

100 gram sugar

Cut apricots in a half and take off a stone. Place in a pan, add juice and start to heat over a very small heat. After 1-2 minutes when they soften a little add sugar. Make a little bigger heat and stir from time to time baking it 10-12 minutes. You should have end up with soft pulp with only little apricots pieces. Now you can either left it like that or blend if you want smoother mousse. If it is too watery place on a heat for another 3-5 minutes until water dry off more. Take off from a heat and cool.