Vols au Vent for the Daring Bakers....

The Daring Bakers made Vol au Vents this month. Lovely and perfect because the fillings that could be used were endless. And yes this is my 21st month with the goup and each challenge has been different from the other. So was this month's.

A Vol-au-vent (French for "windblown" to describe its lightness) is a small hollow case of puff pastry. A round opening is cut in the top and the pastry cut out for the opening is replaced as a lid after the case is filled. Vol-au-vents can accommodate various fillings, such as mushrooms, prawns, fruit or cheese, but they are almost always savory.

With the challenge being announced a month back, as always i sat back until the posting date until I realized yesterday that the next day was the posting date. Hence made the pastry dough last night for the first few turns , let it rest overnight before the final two turns today morning. Inspite of making the dough late night, owing to the humid weather, I had to refrigerate the dough quite a number of times as and when the butter tended to become soft.

Coming to the fillings, I chose 2 kinds. One was a chickem filling and the other an Indian cottage cheese filling. Both are rich on their own but such indulgences are always welcome to top the butter pastry shells.

For the non-veg filling.

Boiled chicken was cubed and coated with cornflour and egg and seasoned with pepper and salt. To some olive oil, minced garlic and ginger was added followed by chopped mushrooms, carrots, potatoes. Once these were cooked, fresh cream was added and further cooked for a thick consistency. Chopped parsley was also added.

For the veg filling

To some olive oil in a pan, chopped onions were added. these were sauteed. Chopped Spinach and grated Paneer/Indian cottage cheese were added. these were seasoned with salt and pepper followed. A T of mayo was then mixed in for a creamier filling.

The pastry is a wonderful to work with, light and flaky and very very buttery to taste.The dough was much easier to handle than the Danish one.Although mine didn't rise as much as the others I have seen on the forum, this did rise too. I am all for savoury fillings but there are loads of sweet and savoury wonders out there today, so do head over to check them out.

The September 2009 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Steph of A Whisk and a Spoon. She chose the French treat, Vols-au-Vent based on the Puff Pastry recipe by Michel Richard from the cookbook Baking With Julia by Dorie Greenspan.

Chocolate Fudge Cake for the Cake Slice Bakers...

The last of the cakes from the book, Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman & Peter Wynne. And it was a wonderful choice, a chocolate fudge cake.

I loved that mayonnaise was used in the cake apprehensive of how it would turn out because there was no butter used. The use of strong brewed coffee added another interesting note. It gave me a nice crumbly rich cake all courtesy the mayonnaise. The white choc mousse in between the layers were ruuny when I put them on the layers, thick otherwise. The sour cream frosting was yummy. Refrigeration helped some mousse settle. But one it was out, it started dripping. Sealed with the sour cream frosting and refrigerated again settled it down more. The most moist and most delicious chocolate cake.

Septembers Cake: Triple Chocolate Fudge Cake

(Recipe from Sky High Irresistible Layer Cakes by Alisa Huntsman and Peter Wynne)

2 ¼ cups all purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

2 ¼ tsp baking soda

1 ¼ tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

2 ½ ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 cup milk

1 ¼ cups hot, strongly brewed coffee

2 eggs

1 cup mayonnaise (not low fat or fat free)

1 ½ tsp vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups sugar

White chocolate mousse (below)

Sour cream chocolate icing (below)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the bottoms and sides of three 9 inch round cake pans. Line the base of each pan with parchment.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

Put the chocolate in a large heatproof bowl. Bring the milk to a simmer. Pour the hot coffee and milk over the chocolate. Let stand for a minute, then whisk until smooth. Let the mocha liquid cool slightly.

In a mixer bowl, beat together the eggs, mayonnaise and vanilla until well blended. Gradually beat in the sugar. Add the dry ingredients and mocha liquid alternately in 2 or 3 additions, beating until smooth and well blended. Divide the batter among the 3 prepared pans.

Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Let the cakes cool in their pans for 10-15 minutes before un-molding onto a wire rack and carefully peeling off the paper. Leave to cool completely.

White Chocolate Mousse

4 ounces white chocolate, chopped

1 cup heavy cream (I used Med. fat cream)

1 egg white

1 tbsp sugar

Melt the white chocolate with ¼ cup cream in a double boiler. Whisk until smooth. Remove from the heat and let the white chocolate cream cool to room temperature.

When it has cooled, beat the remaining ¾ cup cream until soft peaks form. In a clean bowl whip the egg white with the sugar until fairly stiff peaks form.

Fold the beaten egg white into the white chocolate cream, then fold in the whipped cream until blended. Be sure not to over mix.

Sour Cream Chocolate Icing

12 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter

2 tbsp light corn syrup

¼ cup half-and-half at room temperature

½ cup sour cream, at room temperature

Melt the chocolate with the butter and corn syrup in a double boiler over barly simmering water. Remove from the heat and whisk until smooth.

Whisk in the half-and-half and sour cream. Use while still soft.

To Assemble

Place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover the top evenly with half the white chocolate mousse, leaving a ¼ inch margin around the edge. Repeat with the second layer and the remaining mousse. Set the third layer on top and pour half the sour cream chocolate icing over the filled cake. Spread all over the sides and top. Don’t worry if some of the cake shows through. This first frosting is to seal in the crumbs, and is known as a crumb coat. Refrigerate the cake for 30 minutes.

After this time cover the cake with the rest of the icing, smoothing it down the sides. It should be the consistency of mayonnaise. Use a palette knife or the back of a spoon to swirl the frosting around the cake.

The next month onwards, we are baking from a new book, so do visit for more wonders from the book...

Avial and the Onam pageantry...

Most of you know that Malyalees all around the world celebrated Onam last week. I had to take a trip to the capital of Kerala and the trip coincided with this festival and its celebations. This is the first time ever that I have been in the state for this season. Of all the times I have been in Trivandrum, this was the most colourful one. Onam extends to about 10 days and the finale is marked by a parade of colourful floats. These are the visuals before the start of the float.

It was a sight to see the artists at work at their respective floats. There were more than 85 floats each gleaming and hoping to win the award for the best float. Each float represented the various sectors of the government apart from schools.

My favourite were the chenda melams. They are a group of chenda/drum players, who have drums hung vertically down their necks.You can see them in the pics. It is very enticing to watch them do a performance with formations and all....I have an amateur video for you..Do put on the volume for more appeal...(Excuse the unavoidable disturbances).

In keeping with the theme, what I have for you today is Avial. An avial is a mixture of vegetables and the number can vary to suit one's taste. My family prefers an avial to complemet the meat or sea food. A mild dish to complement the spicier meat/ seafood.

I sliced equal measures of carrot, snakegourd, drumstick, onion, potato, Yam and 3 small brinjals and boiled these with 4 slit green chillies. Pour just enough water for them to cook. Do not add too much because the vegetables expel water themselves. Add salt only once the vegtables are cooked.

Grind (ideally use a pestle and mortar) 1/2 C of coconut with 1 t of cumin, 1t turmeric, and 2 cloves of garlic. Add this coarse paste to the vegetables. Add 1/2 C of curds and cook for a few minutes. Finally ensure you drizzle 1T of coconut oil and some curry leaves. Do not mash the vegetables.

Enjoy the pics and the video and the avial while I think of ways to get back to blogging more regularly......

Pain Au Chocolat.....

Finally, found a recipe that works for a wonderful chocolate pastry. I was fascinated by this pastry from the time I took French lessons at school. The pictorial was what got me interested in it. I had forgotten about it until a year ago when I ate this at a quaint French pastry shop a couple of months ago. My repeated requests for the recipe was answered by the history of the pastry. And yes I didn't get the recipe. Twittered for the recipe but hard luck there too. But a lot of trials and failed attempts at recipes led me to one successful recipe here.

Pain au chocolat is brioche dough filled with dark chocolate and chopped hazelnuts, then shaped into any kind of shape that strikes your fancy. The dark chocolate marries well with the golden tenderness of the brioche. It's really perfect for a brunch party, and makes a great alternative to a traditional cake at a childrens' party.(Source:Wikihow).

Her recipe is adapted from The Secrets Of Baking. Although I followed the recipe exactly, I used AP flour for bread flour and the end result isn't as plump and layery as hers but I did not have to compromise with the taste.

Dough

1 C milk

1 T dry active yeast

3 C AP Flour

2 T sugar

2 1/4 t salt

1/2 C cold unsalted butter

Butter block

1 1/2 C cold unsalted butter

1/4 C AP flour

For the filling:

6 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used chocolate chips)

For the egg wash

1 large egg

1 large egg yolk

Dissolve yeast in milk.Combine flour, sugar and salt. Add in the butter and knead.Add the yeast and knead until you get a smooth dough. Or better still use the food processor. Don't over do it for you don't need a very elastic dough.Plastic wrap it and I let it sit in the refrigerator until the following afternoon.The dough is all set for lamination. Now onto the butter block.I had done a similar process for a daring baker challenge. A pictorial of how you do the butter block.

Roll out the dough and if it springs back, let the dough rest for a few minutes. Cut the rolled out dough into rectangles. Place the choc chips on the shorter edge and roll it. Tuck the edges under and allow it to proof until it doubles in volume. Preheat the oven to 200 degree C. Lightly brush with the egg wash and bake until each turns a golden brown.

It does take a lot of time but am happy I finally found the recipe thanks to Sweet Charity.