Hosting The Daring Bakers' December Challenge: A Bûche de Noël

[Version en Français à venir tout en bas]

Once upon a time, there was a six-months pregnant lady who loved to bake but was having a hard time with all things kitchen and particularly baking-related because she was pregnant. A year and a half before this moment, she'd joined the Daring Bakers and, a few months after that, she'd snatched a vacant spot in the hosting schedule. At least even as she was just pregnant but didn't know it, she'd had the presence of mind to ask her friend Marion if she would host the challenge with her. This turned out to be her best move by far because hosting with Marion brought its fair share of smart choices and laughs about what the challenge recipe should be. (Marion, btw, is having technical difficulties with her blog and is away on vacation right now, so she will not be able to post her challenge until the New Year).

What Marion and I asked the Daring Bakers to do this month is a Yule Log in the French style which is an entremets or cream dessert in English for those who don't know what an entremets is; as such it was not imperative that it be made as a log or as a Christmas dinner dessert. In France yule logs you might encounter at a Christmas Eve dinner are fairly evenly divided between the rolled genoise and buttercream type which we made last Christmas and this kind which is a layered dessert with mousse or ice cream as its main component and various inserts.

In searching for a recipe that we both liked and both wanted to make, Marion came up with a fantastic website called Florilège Gourmand written by a woman named Flore (thus Flor-ilège Gourmand, Florilège means a collection of remarkable things or an anthology in French). She seems to be a kitchen fairy who is constantly coming up with more delicious-looking desserts one than the next, and so we decided to build a basic recipe for our challenge out of components from various entremets recipes on her website. Thus was born the Daring Bakers' December 2008 Challenge.

The recipe calls for the following 6 elements: A Dacquoise (a nut meringue), a mousse with a stabilizing component that will allow it to freeze smoothly, a creme brulee insert, a ganache insert, a praline feuillete insert (a chocolate, praline, and crushed crunchy cookie layer), and icing. Essentially the log is composed of the dacquoise as a base with the mousse and inserts interlayered over it and icing to finish the whole thing off. The dacquoise can be used all around the log rather than just as a base, and this option was given, but I chose to make mine more an as entremets so with dacquoise as the base only.
We are now somewhere close to 1600 active Daring Bakers and Marion and I knew that, given that there are 6 elements in this recipe and that not everyone likes chocolate (gasp), it would be better if we let the DBers have as much freedom as possible, so we gave the Bakers as much latitude as they wanted to pick and choose their own flavor combinations and the only rule we set forth was that they needed to make all 6 of the recipe elements.

My log is composed of pecan dacquoise, chocolate-caramel ganache, banana mousse, pecan praline feuillete (with dark chocolate instead of milk and cigarettes russes cookies for the crunch - and here I confess that having used those, I was inspired by Aran of Cannelle et Vanille to surround my log with them in the same fashion as her decoration for the last DB challenge), chocolate-cardamom creme brulee, and milk chocolate icing.
Since I'd made all of the elements except for the praline feuillete at one point or another in my baking lifetime, and as the praline feuillete recipe is very simple, I knew this would be more of an issue of organization than anything else. I do, however, have to point out that when one is suffering from pregnancy brain (aka what's my name again? what am I doing here?), doing anything that requires concentration and organization can be a formidable challenge. I mean, seriously people, my Dad called me on the phone the other day and the sound was terrible so I told him I would hang up and call him right back, and I hung up...and forgot to call him back. There's also the issue of carrying a basketball around in front of you (aka directly in the way of everything) which can hamper your center of gravity and general dexterity. Generally speaking, in spite of pregnancy brain striking along the way such as when I restarted the mixer after stopping it because the Italian meringue for the mousse was done (has a tendency to kinda ruin your Italian meringue, but I salvaged it), measured and cooked only one measure of sugar for the praline (when I was doubling the recipe) before adding the pecans (I added sugar and winged caramelizing it so that turned out ok too), and being pretty sure that I did not portion out the mousse correctly when I put the log together, the log came together nicely and the only major challenge was my overall fatigue, especially since the little squatter (as we call her) has a tendency to watch Bruce Lee movies and try to emulate them in there, which can be quite painful sometimes.
Here are a couple of things I thought would be useful to point out for any of the Bakers (or anyone else) who would make this recipe again (or for the first time):
- In our private forum, many of the bakers who wrote about their log-making experience said that their creme brulee was very icy and did not melt as fast as the rest of the log, causing difficulty in slicing the log. I thought about this for a little bit and after making my own creme brulee, which was not icy, realized that the issue here is probably one of fat content in the cream and the milk. If you've made ice cream before you may catch on to what I'm getting at immediately. The reason you want to use whole milk with as much cream as possible in it (as in not whole milk that's been pasteurized to the point of oblivion), and heavy cream that has at least 35% fat content in it, is that fat does not freeze. The ice cream champion himself, David Lebovitz, devoted a post to the issue of obtaining ice cream rather than just ice sometime last year and I believe this was one of his main points.
- Another issue having to do with the creme brulee was that the recipe calls for baking it at 100C (210F) for one hour. Again, many of the bakers seemed to have trouble with this because their creme brulee would not set in that amount of time. Since I only had to cook my creme brulee for 10 more minutes than stated in the recipe at the stated temperature, there are two main things which strike me about this issue: The first is that the higher the fat content in your milk and cream, the more quickly they will thicken when cooking, so fat content is important in this regard as well as in managing your creme not being icy. The second thing is that if you do not have an oven thermometer, you really cannot know how accurate your oven's temperature is, no matter how many other things you may have been able to cook in it at temperatures you were given in other recipes. That's not a matter of my being difficult about keeping this recipe the way it is, it is just a statement of fact (and as someone who worked with an oven that kept no consistent temperature at all but who managed to make many of the DB challenges and other pastries with it because I had an oven thermometer, albeit with strange cooking times, it makes sense). Well-known pastry chef Pierre Herme states that you should have an oven thermometer, as a basic kitchen utensil to save you major headaches, before trying the recipes in several of his books.

And now to some of my thoughts about hosting this challenge: First, a big thank you and gros bisous to Marion for being so much fun to work with; I couldn't have picked a better co-host. Second, thank you Lis and Ivonne for creating this group at all and for letting me host this month to begin with, you are brave souls; a big thank you to Daring Baker Fairy Tartelette for providing help with recipe variations, general guidance, and listening to my kvetching. A huge thanks to Flore of Florilege Gourmand for graciously letting us use her recipes.
Although I know there were Bakers out there who were unhappy with the choice of recipe for various reasons, whether it be the perceived length of it, the perceived cost, or really anything else, Marion and I knew that we couldn't put up a recipe that was going to please everyone, not with 1600 people to consider, so we went with a recipe that neither one of us had made before, that we felt would challenge most of the bakers with the exception of our pastry chef and very advanced members, and out of which we could be sure that most of us would learn at least one thing provided the recipes were followed. The keywords here are challenge and learn, remembering that the name of this group is the Daring Bakers and that the dictionary definition of Daring is "venturesomely bold in action or thought." I know some of the Bakers hated this recipe because it didn't work out for them, but I just want to remind them that the spirit of the group is to try new things and to stretch your baking limits, trying it and challenging yourself is what matters, not whether you had a perfect outcome or loved the taste of the outcome (although the taste thing would obviously be preferable). For the Bakers who enjoyed this challenge and especially those Bakers who wrote comments to me or Marion to say that they were scared but looked forward to it or were pleased to have challenged themselves through it, Mazel Tov, we are very happy that you took pleasure in trying this out and we appreciate your comments because we worked very hard to put this recipe together.

Having said that and stepped down from my tower, here is the basic recipe (without all the variations we offered up on the DB website) for a French-style yule log or entremets by Flore of Florilege Gourmand:

You probably will want to make the elements in this order because of what you can get done while some elements are baking and given some of the prep times:
1) Creme Brulee
2) Praline Feuillete (Crisp)
3) Mousse
4) Dacquoise
5) Ganache
6) Icing

Element #1 Dacquoise Biscuit (Almond Cake)

Preparation time: 10 mn + 15 mn for baking
Equipment: 2 mixing bowls, hand or stand mixer with whisk attachment, spatula, baking pan such as a 10”x15” jelly-roll pan, parchment paper
Note: You can use the Dacquoise for the bottom of your Yule Log only, or as bottom and top layers, or if using a Yule log mold (half-pipe) to line your entire mold with the biscuit. Take care to spread the Dacquoise accordingly. Try to bake the Dacquoise the same day you assemble the log to keep it as moist as possible.

Ingredients:
2.8 oz (3/4cup + 1Tbsp / 80g) almond meal
1.75 oz (1/2 cup / 50g) confectioner’s sugar
2Tbsp (15g) all-purpose flour
3.5oz (100g / ~100ml) about 3 medium egg whites
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar

1. Finely mix the almond meal and the caster sugar. (If you have a mixer, you can use it by pulsing the ingredients together for no longer than 30 seconds).
2. Sift the flour into the mix.
3. Beat the eggs whites, gradually adding the granulated sugar until stiff.
4. Pour the almond meal mixture into the egg whites and blend delicately with a spatula.
5. Grease a piece of parchment paper and line your baking pan with it.
6. Spread the batter on a piece of parchment paper to an area slightly larger than your desired shape (circle, long strip etc...) and to a height of 1/3 inches (8mm).
7. Bake at 350°F (180°C) for approximately 15 minutes (depends on your oven), until golden.
8. Let cool and cut to the desired shape.

Element #2 Dark Chocolate Mousse

Preparation time: 20mn
Equipment: stand or hand mixer with whisk attachment, thermometer, double boiler or equivalent, spatula
Note: You will see that a Pate a Bombe is mentioned in this recipe. A Pate a Bombe is a term used for egg yolks beaten with a sugar syrup, then aerated. It is the base used for many mousse and buttercream recipes. It makes mousses and buttercreams more stable, particularly if they are to be frozen, so that they do not melt as quickly or collapse under the weight of heavier items such as the crème brulee insert.

Ingredients:
2.5 sheets gelatin or 5g / 1+1/4 tsp powdered gelatin
1.5 oz (3 Tbsp / 40g) granulated sugar
1 ½ tsp (10g) glucose or thick corn syrup
0.5 oz (15g) water
50g egg yolks (about 3 medium)
6.2 oz (175g) dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1.5 cups (350g) heavy cream (35% fat content)

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water. (If using powdered gelatin, follow the directions on the package.)
2. Make a Pate a Bombe: Beat the egg yolks until very light in colour (approximately 5 minutes until almost white).
2a. Cook the sugar, glucose syrup and water on medium heat for approximately 3 minutes (if you have a candy thermometer, the mixture should reach 244°F (118°C). If you do not have a candy thermometer, test the sugar temperature by dipping the tip of a knife into the syrup then into a bowl of ice water, if it forms a soft ball in the water then you have reached the correct temperature.
2b. Add the sugar syrup to the beaten yolks carefully by pouring it into the mixture in a thin stream while continuing to beat the yolks. You can do this by hand but it’s easier to do this with an electric mixer.
2c. Continue beating until cool (approximately 5 minutes). The batter should become thick and foamy.
3. In a double boiler (or one small saucepan in a larger one), heat 2 tablespoons (30g) of cream to boiling. Add the chopped chocolate and stir until melted and smooth.
4. Whip the rest of the cream until stiff.
5. Pour the melted chocolate over the softened gelatin, mixing well. Let the gelatin and chocolate cool slightly and then stir in ½ cup (100g) of WHIPPED cream to temper. Add the Pate a Bombe.
6. Add in the rest of the whipped cream (220g) mixing gently with a spatula.

Element #3 Dark Chocolate Ganache Insert

Preparation time: 10mn
Equipment: pan, whisk. If you have a plunging mixer it comes in handy.
Note: Because the ganache hardens as it cools, you should make it right before you intend to use it to facilitate piping it onto the log during assembly. Please be careful when caramelizing the sugar and then adding the cream. It may splatter and boil.

Ingredients:
1.75 oz (4 Tbsp / 50g) granulated sugar
4.5oz (2/3 cup – 1 Tbsp/ 135g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
5 oz (135g) dark chocolate, finely chopped
3Tbsp + 1/2tsp (45g) unsalted butter softened

1. Make a caramel: Using the dry method, melt the sugar by spreading it in an even layer in a small saucepan with high sides. Heat over medium-high heat, watching it carefully as the sugar begins to melt. Never stir the mixture. As the sugar starts to melt, swirl the pan occasionally to allow the sugar to melt evenly. Cook to dark amber color (for most of you that means darker than last month’s challenge).
2. While the sugar is melting, heat the cream until boiling. Pour cream into the caramel and stir thoroughly. Be very careful as it may splatter and boil.
3. Pour the hot caramel-milk mixture over the dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds and stir until smooth.
4. Add the softened butter and whip hard and fast (if you have a plunging mixer use it). The chocolate should be smooth and shiny.

Element #4 Praline Feuillete (Crisp) Insert

Preparation time: 10 mn (+ optional 15mn if you make lace crepes)
Equipment: Small saucepan, baking sheet (if you make lace crepes).
Double boiler (or one small saucepan in another), wax paper, rolling pin (or use an empty bottle of olive oil).
Note: Feuillete means layered (as in with leaves) so a Praline Feuillete is a Praline version of a delicate crisp. There are non-praline variations below. The crunch in this crisp comes from an ingredient which is called gavottes in French. Gavottes are lace-thin crepes. To our knowledge they are not available outside of France, so you have the option of making your own using the recipe below or you can simply substitute rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K for them. If you do substitute cereal you should use half of the stated quantity, so 1 oz of cereal.
If you want to make your own praline, please refer back to the Daring Baker Challenge Recipe from July 2008 over at Mele Cotte.

To make 2.1oz / 60g of gavottes (lace crepes - recipe by Ferich Mounia):
1/3 cup (80ml) whole milk
2/3 Tbsp (8g) unsalted butter
1/3 cup – 2tsp (35g) all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp / 0.5 oz (15g) beaten egg
1 tsp (3.5g) granulated sugar
½ tsp vegetable oil
1. Heat the milk and butter together until butter is completely melted. Remove from the heat.
2. Sift flour into milk-butter mixture while beating, add egg and granulated sugar. Make sure there are no lumps.
3. Grease a baking sheet and spread batter thinly over it.
4. Bake at 430°F (220°C) for a few minutes until the crepe is golden and crispy. Let cool.

Ingredients for the Praline Feuillete:
3.5 oz (100g) milk chocolate
1 2/3 Tbsp (25g) butter
2 Tbsp (1 oz / 30g) praline
2.1oz (60g) lace crepes(gavottes) or rice krispies or corn flakes or Special K

1. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.
2. Add the praline and the coarsely crushed lace crepes. Mix quickly to thoroughly coat with the chocolate.
3. Spread between two sheets of wax paper to a size slightly larger than your desired shape. Refrigerate until hard.

Element #5 Vanilla Crème Brulée Insert

Preparation time: 15mn + 1h infusing + 1h baking
Equipment: Small saucepan, mixing bowl, baking mold, wax paper
Note: The vanilla crème brulée can be flavored differently by simply replacing the vanilla with something else e.g. cardamom, lavender, etc...

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (115g) heavy cream (35% fat content)
½ cup (115g) whole milk
4 medium-sized (72g) egg yolks
0.75 oz (2 Tbsp / 25g) granulated sugar
1 vanilla bean

1. Heat the milk, cream, and scraped vanilla bean to just boiling. Remove from the stove and let the vanilla infuse for about 1 hour.
2. Whisk together the sugar and egg yolks (but do not beat until white).
3. Pour the vanilla-infused milk over the sugar/yolk mixture. Mix well.
4. Wipe with a very wet cloth and then cover your baking mold (whatever shape is going to fit on the inside of your Yule log/cake) with parchment paper. Pour the cream into the mold and bake at 210°F (100°C) for about 1 hour or until firm on the edges and slightly wobbly in the center.
Tartelette says: You can bake it without a water bath since it is going to go inside the log (the aesthetics of it won't matter as much since it will be covered with other things)....BUT I would recommend a water bath for the following reasons:
- you will get a much nicer mouth feel when it is done
- you will be able to control its baking point and desired consistency much better
- it bakes for such a long time that I fear it will get overdone without a water bath
Now...since it is baked in a pan and it is sometimes difficult to find another large pan to set it in for a water bath, even a small amount of water in your water bath will help the heat be distributed evenly in the baking process. Even as little as 1 inch will help.
5. Let cool and put in the freezer for at least 1 hour to firm up and facilitate the final assembly.

Element #6 Dark Chocolate Icing

Preparation time: 25 minutes (10mn if you don’t count softening the gelatin)
Equipment: Small bowl, small saucepan
Note: Because the icing gelifies quickly, you should make it at the last minute.

Ingredients:
4g / ½ Tbsp powdered gelatin or 2 sheets gelatin
¼ cup (60g) heavy cream (35 % fat content)
2.1 oz (5 Tbsp / 60g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (50g) water
1/3 cup (30g) unsweetened cocoa powder

1. Soften the gelatin in cold water for 15 minutes.
2. Boil the rest of the ingredients and cook an additional 3 minutes after boiling.
3. Add gelatin to the chocolate mixture. Mix well.
4. Let cool while checking the texture regularly. As soon as the mixture is smooth and coats a spoon well (it is starting to gelify), use immediately.

How To Assemble your French Yule Log

THIS IS FOR UNMOLDING FROM UPSIDE DOWN TO RIGHT SIDE UP.
You will want to tap your mold gently on the countertop after each time you pipe mousse in to get rid of any air bubbles.

1) Line your mold or pan, whatever its shape, with rhodoid (clear hard plastic, I usually use transparencies cut to the desired shape, it’s easier to find than cellulose acetate which is what rhodoid translates to in English) OR saran wrap or cling film. Rhodoid will give you a smoother shape but you may have a hard time using it depending on the kind of mold you’re using.

You have two choices for Step 2, you can either have Dacquoise on the top and bottom of your log as in version A or you can have Dacquoise simply on the bottom of your log as in version B:

2A) Cut the Dacquoise into a shape fitting your mold and set it in there. If you are using an actual Yule mold which is in the shape of a half-pipe, you want the Dacquoise to cover the entire half-pipe portion of the mold.
3A) Pipe one third of the Mousse component on the Dacquoise.
4A) Take the Creme Brulee Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.
5A) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.
6A) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.
7A) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.
8A) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.
9A) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight edge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.
10A) Close with the last strip of Dacquoise.
Freeze until the next day.

OR

2B) Pipe one third of the Mousse component into the mold.
3B) Take the Creme Brulee Insert out of the freezer at the last minute and set on top of the mousse. Press down gently to slightly ensconce it in the mousse.
4B) Pipe second third of the Mousse component around and on top of the Creme Brulee Insert.
5B) Cut the Praline/Crisp Insert to a size slightly smaller than your mold so that it can be surrounded by mousse. Lay it on top of the mousse you just piped into the mold.
6B) Pipe the last third of the Mousse component on top of the Praline Insert.
7B) Freeze for a few hours to set. Take out of the freezer.
8B) Pipe the Ganache Insert onto the frozen mousse leaving a slight edge so that ganache doesn’t seep out when you set the Dacquoise on top.
9B) Close with the Dacquoise.
Freeze until the next day.

If you are doing the assembly UPSIDE DOWN with TWO pieces of Dacquoise the order is:
1) Dacquoise
2) Mousse
3) Creme Brulee Insert
4) Mousse
5) Praline/Crisp Insert
6) Mousse
7) Ganache Insert
8) Dacquoise

If you are doing the assembly UPSIDE DOWN with ONE piece of Dacquoise on the BOTTOM ONLY the order is:
1) Mousse
2) Creme Brulee Insert
3) Mousse
4) Praline/Crisp Insert
5) Mousse
6) Ganache Insert
7) Dacquoise

THE NEXT DAY...
Unmold the log and set on a wire rack over a shallow pan.
Cover the log with the icing.
Let set. Return to the freezer.
You may decorate your cake however you wish. The decorations can be set in the icing after it sets but before you return the cake to the freezer or you may attach them on top using extra ganache or leftover mousse, etc...
Transfer to the refrigerator no longer than ½ hour before serving as it may start to melt quickly depending on the elements you chose.

DBs' August Challenge: Eric Kayser's Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart! - Défi d’Août des PT: La Tarte Chocolat au Lait et Caramel d'Eric Kayser

Our lovely hosts this time around are Veronica of Veronica's Test Kitchen and Patricia of Technicolor Kitchen, and the challenge this month was Eric Kayser's Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart from his book Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts which was previously mentioned on this blog but which I hadn't yet used. For the full recipe you can go to Veronica or Patricia's blogs.

En Français: Nos très gracieuses hôtesses pour le défi du mois de Juillet des Pâtissiers Téméraires étaient Veronica de Veronica's Test Kitchen et Patricia de Technicolor Kitchen et le défi était la Tarte au Chocolat au Lait et Caramel d’Eric Kayser que l’on peut trouver dans son livre Les Tartes d’Eric Kayser dont j’avais parlé précédemment dans ce blog mais que je n’avais pas encore utilisé. Pour la recette (en Anglais), vous pouvez rendre visite aux blogs de Veronica et Patricia.

I arrived at my sister's house in Chicago on August 2nd, and knew that from the 7th to the 23rd it would be a mad rush as I traveled to a couple of different places so there would be no possibility of making the tart then, and seeing as my nieces would be on a trip until the weekend of Labor Day when I got back on the 23rd, I was forced to attempt the challenge the first weekend of August while we were all still together and I had a captive audience for some chocolate and sugar.

En Français: Je suis arrivée chez ma soeur à Chicago le 2 Août, et je savais que du 7 au 23 ce serait la course folle pendant que j’irais à d’autres endroits, donc il me serait impossible de faire la tarte à ce moment-là, et que mes nièces seraient parties jusqu’au 3 Septembre quand je serais de retour le 23, donc à l’évidence je devais tenter ma chance le premier week-end d’Août pendant que nous serions encore tous ensembles et que j’avais une audience captive prête à manger du chocolat et du sucre.

The main challenges to me in this recipe were:
1) Since I wasn't in France I was confused as to the whole heavy cream as opposed to heavy whipping cream, the first being for the caramel and the second for the chocolate cream/mousse. I asked for Tartelette's help to identify which things I needed to buy since all I could find was heavy whipping cream but not heavy cream, but even her sage advice could not help me find what seems to be unavailable in Chicago grocery stores. Luckily, after making my sister run around with me to different grocery stores everywhere, she found me some crème fraîche at the local Whole Foods, which could be substituted (and indeed which is probably the original ingredient) for the heavy cream.

En Français: En ce qui me concernait, les principaux défis de cette recette étaient les suivants:
1) Comme je n’étais pas en France, j’avais des difficultés à trouver l’équivalent Américain de la crème fraîche, çad la heavy cream et ne trouvait que l’équivalent de la crème fleurette, la première étant pour le caramel et la deuxième pour la crème/mousse au chocolat. J’ai demandé les bons conseils de Tartelette, mais même son infinie sagesse ne pouvait pas m’aider à trouver quelque chose qui à l’évidence ne se vend pas dans les supermarchés de Chicago. Heuresement pour moi, après avoir fait tourner ma sœur en bourrique pour trouver cette heavy cream, elle a repéré de la crème fraîche dans le grand supermarché bio qu’elle fréquente (et au final c’est probablement l’ingrédient d’origine), donc problème résolu.

2) Caramel and I spend a lot of time on unfriendly terms when I try to make it from scratch, so I knew I'd have to take my time and go about it gently since I didn't really want to go out and buy whole new ingredients to replace anything I'd mess up.

En Français:
2) Le caramel et moi nous ne sommes pas copain-copain quand j’essaye d’en faire moi-même, donc je savais dès le début qu’il faudrait y aller lentement et prendre mon temps parce que je n’avais pas très envie de devoir resortir aller acheter des ingrédients que j’aurai gaspillé.

The 3rd less serious challenge was to cook in a kitchen I'm not used to cooking in and where I wasn't using my own familiar and beloved kitchen tools. I found the one tart pan that was the proper size after digging around and it was Pyrex, so I just had to concede that I wouldn't be able to take the crust out from the get-go, and as my sister (who is a fabulous cook) hasn't cooked in a while, I had to search around for various utensils but ended up doing fine overall substituting one thing for another and so on and so forth... the only thing I couldn't do that I would have liked to have done was to pipe the chocolate cream over the caramel and to decorate the top of the tart with whipped cream, but as she has no pastry bag or tips (to use with a plastic bag), I had to go for a simpler decorating style.

En Français: Le 3ème et moins sérieux défi était de cuisiner dans une cuisine à laquelle je n’étais pas habituée et où je n’avais pas accès à mes propres ustensiles de cuisine. J’ai trouvé « le » moule à tarte de la bonne taille en cherchant un peu et il était en Pyrex, donc dès le premier abord, j’ai du concevoir que je ne pourrais pas démouler le fond de tarte, et comme ma sœur (qui est une cuisinière hors pair) n’a pas fait la cuisine depuis très longtemps, j’ai du chercher pour trouver les ustensiles dont j’avais besoin, mais en tout et pour tout je me suis bien débrouillée pour trouver des choses qui feraient l’affaire, etc… La seule chose que je ne pouvais pas faire mais que j’aurai bien aimé faire aurait été d’utiliser une poche à douille pour la mousse au chocolat et de pouvoir faire des décorations avec de la crème fouettée, mais comme elle n’a plus de poche à douille ni de douilles (que j’aurai utilisé avec un sac en plastique), j’ai du faire plus simple dans la décoration.

The one kitchen tool that my sister has and that I'd want to marry, if I didn't have a boyfriend and the tool in question wasn't inanimate, is her Kitchen Aid stand mixer. I started using it right away and in fact used it for every conceivable aspect of this recipe that allowed its usage, and after turning it on to mix the first few ingredients for the dough/crust, I proclaimed to my sister that I wanted to marry it. I just have to tell myself that I'll get one soon...

En Français: Le seul ustensile de cuisine que possède ma soeur et que je voudrais épouser, si je n’avais pas déjà un copain et que l’ustensile en question n’était pas une machine, c’est son robot Kitchen Aid. J’ai commencé à l’utiliser dès le début de la recette et l’ai utilisé pour tous les aspects de la recette qui le permettaient, et après l’avoir enclenché pour mélanger les premiers ingrédients pour la pâte, j’ai déclaré à ma sœur que je voulais l’épouser. Il faut que je me dise que je m’en achèterai un bientôt…

Overall, the recipe was quite straightforward if you followed it to the letter. I think the key to this recipe in the end is basically to let every possible ingredient get to room temperature (except for the whipping cream of course) before using it. I managed to get the caramel to work out properly from the start and used Dharm's helpful tips in adding the crème fraîche and other ingredients to it without causing any kitchen mishaps. One thing that didn't work out for me however, and which is the reason you don't see a slice of the tart in this post, is that the cooking time for the caramel is indicated to be 15 minutes, which I did accordingly, but from the comments of other Daring Bakers, it appears it really needed about 22 minutes or more to actually fully set, and as you can guess, that means my caramel didn't fully set. So when I cut a slice of the tart a couple of hours after letting it sit in the fridge, the caramel oozed out and the slices were not presentable. This is another instance in the recipe which seems slightly inaccurate to me: my caramel, although it hadn't fully set, still hardened enough to have a soft caramel consistency after spending a night in the refrigerator, but the recipe indicates that you need only let it sit for an hour or two in the refrigerator before serving it. Ah well, live and learn.
My little bit of fun with this recipe was when I had to make the caramel decoration. Since I wasn't too excited about putting little shards of caramel all over the tart which I would then have had to fish out before giving slices to my nieces, I opted instead to try and make a caramel heart with an available cookie cutter. I think it served its purpose quite well in the end, and I prefer this bit of decoration to caramel pieces everywhere on the surface.

En Français: D’une manière générale, la recette était plutôt simple si on la suivait à la lettre. Je crois que l’astuce pincipale de cette recette est de laisser tous les ingrédients arriver à température ambiante avant de les utiliser (à part la crème fleurette évidemment). En fin de compte, je n’ai pas eu de problèmes avec le caramel et ai utilisé les bons conseils de Dharm quand à l’ajout de la crème fraîche et autres ingrédients au caramel chaud sans causer de dégâts à la cuisine. La seule chose qui n’a pas marché, et qui est la raison pour laquelle vous ne voyez pas de morceau de tarte parmi les photos, est que la recette indiquait un temps de cuisson de 15 minutes pour le caramel, ce que j’ai donc fait, mais d’après les commentaires d’autres pâtissiers téméraires, il s’avère que le temps de cuisson aurait du être d’au moins 22 minutes, et comme vous pouvez le deviner, le caramel n’a donc pas bien pris. Donc quand j’ai coupé la tarte après l’avoir laissé au réfrigérateur pendant quelques heures, le caramel a coulé et les morceaux n’étaient pas présentables. Il y a une autre erreur légère dans la recette en ce qui me concerne et elle se trouve dans le fait que malgré que mon caramel n’ai pas complètement pris, il a quand même suffisamment durci pour avoir la consistance d’un caramel mou après avoir passé la nuit au réfrigérateur, mais la recette indique qu’il ne lui faut qu’une ou deux heures pour durcir assez avant de servir la tarte. Bah, on en apprend des choses comme ça.
Je me suis un peu amusée avec cette recette quand est venu le moment de faire les décorations en caramel. Comme je n’étais pas très enthousiaste à l’idée de devoir mettre des tas de petits éclats de caramel dans la tarte que j’allais ensuite devoir retirer avant de donner de la tarte à mes nièces, j’ai décidé d’essayer de faire un cœur en caramel avec un emporte-pièce disponible. Je pense que l’essai a été fructueux et je préfère cette décoration à des éclats de caramel partout sur la tarte.

And how did it taste? you ask. Well, I admit I cringed a little when I saw the combination of milk chocolate and caramel as I am a dark chocolate girl myself and don't like things that are extremely sweet. My nieces, who are 6 and 4, both found the tart too sweet, if that tells you anything, so my sister and I (my brother-in-law didn't have any) had to eat most of it, and we both agreed that it was cloyingly sweet, although it improved considerably after spending a night in the refrigerator, which perhaps allowed the flavors to settle. I also think I would either cut the cinnamon out of the dough or only put half or less of the suggested quantity in there as it had a very strong cinnamon kick which took away from its chocolate flavor. But I want to thank our gracious hosts Veronica and Patricia for the challenge as I think I've got a handle on caramel now. By the way, in case anyone wondered, I used Callebaut milk chocolate as I didn’t have my trusty Valrhona on hand, but Callebaut is great chocolate too.

En Français: Et quel goût cela avait-il alors? me demandez-vous. J’admets que j’ai frissoné en entendant la combinaison de chocolat au lait et caramel car moi-même je préfère le chocolat noir et n’aime pas les choses qui sont extrêmement sucrées. Mes nièces, qui ont 6 et 4 ans, ont toutes les deux trouvé que la tarte était trop sucrée, ce qui dit tout, et ma sœur et moi (mon beau-frère n’en a pas mangé) ayant du en manger la majorité, nous sommes mises d’accord qu’elle était vraiment trop sucrée, même si elle s’est nettement améliorée après avoir passé la nuit au réfrigérateur, ce qui a peut-être permis aux parfums de se stabiliser si j’ose dire. Je pense aussi que si je devais refaire la pâte, j’enlèverai la cannelle ou au moins je diviserai la quantité à mettre par deux car elle donnait un accent très prononcé à la pâte, ce qui dévalorisait son goût chocolaté. Mais je voudrais remercier nos très grâcieuses hôtesses Veronica et Patricia pour ce défi qui m’a permis de bien maîtriser le caramel. Au fait, au cas où il y aurait des curieux, j’ai utilisé du chocolat au lait Callebaut comme je n’avais pas de Valrhona disponible, et c’est aussi du très bon chocolat.