June 2010 Daring Baker's Challenge

The June 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Dawn of Doable and Delicious. Dawn challenged the Daring Bakers’ to make Chocolate Pavlovas and Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse. The challenge recipe is based on a recipe from the book Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard

This is not my first time making a meringue but it was my first time making a Pavlova and boy was it challenging! I decided to try making a big pavlova like what they have here in Australia instead of small portions.

It turned out quite well after I took it out of the oven but the challenge was removing it from the baking paper without the crust cracking and breaking! It also started sinking when I piped the mascarpone mousse on the top so I decided dress it after slicing it into individual slices.

I was quite happy with the taste and it was also well received by my friends but I shall definitely look into how I can make a sturdier pavlova!

June 2010 Daring Cook's Challenge

Our hostesses this month, Evelyne of Cheap Ethnic Eatz, and Valerie of a The Chocolate Bunny, chose delicious pate with freshly baked bread as their June Daring Cook’s challenge! They’ve provided us with 4 different pate recipes to choose from and are allowing us to go wild with our homemade bread choice.

What an exciting challenging this month! I have made bread before but this is my first time making french baguettes! It was quite time consuming but I must say the end product is pretty worth it!

I was quite happy with the result, the crust was very crunchy and the bread pretty tasty!

Traditional style french baguette

Epi style baguette which is made to look like a stalk of wheat and comes apart quite easily into smaller buns!

This is also my first time attempting a pate and I decided to try the trout and shrimp pate, a departure from the traditional liver pate. It was quite a joy cooking the pate and I must say this was my first time using the technique of flambeing and I have to admit I almost burnt my hair off! But all is well and the result was delicious!

Nice succulent prawns with a hint of orange from the Grand Marnier.

Cutting into the pate.

Absolutely delicious!