Olive Oil Cake with Orange Mascarpone

On Christmas Day the McCluskey family holds an Italian Feast. This extravaganza is never lacking in food or alcohol. The amount of food we have could probably feed a small army! Consisting of appetizers, a buffet of Italian food, and of course plenty of dessert.

Sam and Ash diggin in!

 

Most of this feast is prepared by my aunt Kathy’s boyfriend, whom we like to call Chef Jeff. This year my cousin Dan made an appearance as Sou Chef, and lets just say he rocked it!

Dan, Jeff and Dad

These kitchen savvy men slaved over a hot stove preparing stuffed shells, sausage, meatballs, the famous sauce, along with many MANY other delicious plates. Dessert was left to the ladies, my cousin Pam always makes an amazing ice cream cake, my aunt Tracy brings here cookie plate (which is my favorite), there is the tradition of the green Jell-O mold made by aunt Elaine, and my mother makes buttermilk pie. Of course I made something too!! This year I decided to make Olive Oil Cake served with Orange Mascarpone.

This dessert is served at Maialino, a restaurant where I currently work. I chose to change up the topping a little. Instead of using vanilla Mascarpone I made whipped Orange Mascarpone. This cake was so easy to make and was a hit! One great thing about it, aside from tasting amazing is that it’s made without butter!!! I hope you enjoy it as much as my family did.

Olive Oil Cake: Making the cake is super easy. Just put all the wet ingredients in one bowl and all the dry in another. Whisk together and bake at 325 degrees until golden brown. Feel free to use a skewer to test!

2c all-purpose flour

1 3/4c sugar

1 1/2t kosher salt

1/2t baking soda

1/2t baking powder

1 1/3c extra virgin olive oil

1 1/4c whole milk

3 large eggs

1 1/2T grated orange zest

1/4c grand marnier

Orange Mascarpone: I didn’t really measure it when I did it. Just make sure it’s equal parts heavy cream and Mascarpone. Then add powdered sugar, zest and vanilla to your liking. All you do is whip it until it has light fluffy peaks.

200g heavy cream

200g Mascarpone cheese

1t vanilla extract

100g powdered sugar

orange zest (to taste)

Salted Caramel Brownies for the Boss!

These Salted Caramel Brownies are so good! I made them for my boyfriends coworkers. I highly recommend them, especially if you need to butter someone up!

Recipe: 1 1/2 sticks butter

12oz bittersweet chocolate

2 1/4c. sugar

6 large eggs

1 1/2t vanilla extract

1c + 2T all purpose flour

3/4t salt (I used less because I added salted caramels)

20 or so Whole Food’s salted caramels cut into quarters.

To assemble these chewy treats you want to first start by melting the chocolate and butter together. Let the melted chocolate/butter cool. Combine the dry ingredients except the sugar in one bowl and the wet ingredients in another bowl. Once the mixture is cool whisk in the sugar, then whisk one egg in at a time. After you have incorporated all the eggs you can fold the flower in. Finally take your quartered caramels and add them in.

Bake at 325 degrees for about 30-40 minutes. Until a skewer or butter knife comes out clean.

Nutella Ravioli, Strawberry Ice Cream from my new Ice Cream Maker!

Nutella Ravioli

This gift will either be the best thing that ever happened to me, or the reason I put on 20 pounds this year. If you know my boyfriend Allen and I, you know our relationship is primarily based upon our mutual love for food and wine. So, it’s no surprise that his Christmas gift to me would be an ice cream maker! Further more, you know that within 24 hours of getting this present we planned a night of way too much food that included a dessert made by yours truly.

This night was like any other, Allen and I planned on keeping dinner healthy and cheap. On this particular Sunday, we were watching a movie or probably talking about food. When the question came up, as it always does. What should we do for dinner?

Allen cooking us up some NY strips!

After debating this question for 30 minutes we came up with an Argentinian extravaganza. Sort of an ode to our trip to Buenos Aires. Needless to say “healthy, and cheap” immediately flew out the window. We headed to whole foods, and soon after we uncorked a bottle of wine, turned on Jack Johnson and the cooking began. Allen made NY strip steak with chimichurri sauce and mashed potatoes. I made Nutella ravioli with strawberry custard ice cream, none of which had anything to do with our trip to Argentina, but whatever.

The dessert was pretty simple to make. When cooking on the weekend I like to do this because lets be honest, no one likes to take work home with them. Not even when work is fun. I bought a jar of Nutella, a box of Puff Pastry, the ingredients to make strawberry custard ice cream, and went to town.

Nutella ravioli:

Just follow the directions on the back of the puff pastry box. I let the dough thaw for about two hours, until it was soft enough to unfold without breaking. I Cut the dough in half and rolled it out to about a 1/8in thick rectangle. I then took three tablespoons of Nutella (more if you want) and placed it in the bottom center of the rectangular shaped piece of dough. I egg washed the sides and sealed it like a ravioli. To make it look a little more refined, I used a fork and pressed the prongs on all the edges. Once finished, make sure to chill for about 10 minutes, egg wash, and then bake until golden brown. Super easy!

Strawberry Custard Ice Cream:

Mashed Strawberries

3 egg yolks (beaten)
1/2 pint (250ml) milk
1/2 pint (250ml) double/heavy cream
4 oz (100g) sugar
2 cups of strawberries
1 teaspoon of vanilla essence

Take the cream, vanilla, and half the sugar and put it in a large sauce pan. Set aside the rest of the sugar. Place the yolks and eggs in a large bowl. Once the cream comes to a boil whisk the rest of the sugar in with the egg mixture. At this point you will temper the eggs with the boiling cream. (Add a small amount of hot liquid to bring the eggs up to the same temperature as the boiling cream.) Once you have tempered the eggs, put the cream/egg mixture back on the stove with the heat on low. Continue to stir until the mixture has thickened. Make sure to be very careful at this point, you don’t want to cook the eggs to0 much, if you do the liquid with start to curdle. The custard should be think enough to coat a wooden spoon when you drag your finger though, your finger marking should stick without any liquid running down. At this point you want to chill the custard over night. Or if you’re ADD like me, stick that sucker on an ice bath and continue to stir every 15 miniutes until its cold. I even stuck the ice bath in the freezer to speed the process up.

Strawberry Custard Ice Cream

While the custard is chilling you will need to prepare the strawberries. Since strawberries are out of season right now I used frozen ones. I added sugar to them and started mashing. This part is tedious but worth it. I basically made Allen do it half the time. Mash the berries to your liking, I love small chunks! Once the custard is ready, fold the strawberry mixture in and let the ice cream maker to the work!

After two hours of cooking Allen and I sat down to a great dinner!!! Not super cheap and definitely not healthy, oh well! Allen’s NY strip turned out amazing and my first experience with my at home ice cream maker was a great one!! I cannot wait to make so many more flavors! (Thank for my Christmas gift Allen!)

Happy 2011 Blogging World!

Oh the New Year, a time of resolutions and goals. Like many of you, I brought in the New Year drinking Champagne and gorging myself on amazing holiday treats. As 2011 creeped up ever so quickly I realized that my blogging plan had fallen by the wayside. fortunately, that time was not wasted. In the past year I have experienced so many things. I interned at Mark Joseph Cakes, learning all I could about the wedding industry. Then I simultaneously began two jobs in the restaurant industry and in a bakery.

Tabla's Chocolate Kulfi Pop

2009 ended with my internship and brought forth two experiences that have changed me forever. In January I started at Tabla. Indian food was so foreign to me. Having never been to India myself I had no idea what to expect. What I found was a world of spices and a head chef who had the ability to teach the art of cooking, and run a kitchen in a way that I can only aspire to do someday. Chef Floyd Cardoz opened a door to a world I never knew existed and one I was always scared to walk into. Tabla opened my eyes and helped me to understand that to be first a cook and then a chef meant that I needed a core set of values and aspirations, before raw skill. I needed to be able to listen, follow direction, and learn how to work cleanly and quickly. These skills came way before I ever thought about making Indian Chili Souffle, Tiger Tea pave or Kulfi. Chef Floyd Cardoz along with Tablas head Pastry Chef Rachel Binder taught me these things. Although Tabla is now closed I will always remember my time there. I feel in love with the world of cooking, and service.

( http://www.tablany.com/ )

At the same time I joined Tabla I also took on a job at Momofuku’s Milk Bar, Christina Tosi’s brain child.

Momofuku's Birthday Cake

Walking into this kitchen was like stepping into a dream. Music blasted while cooks created soft serves using salt or zucchini bread, birthday cake icing (Funfetti) with the sprinkles we all love, and experimented with different cookie combinations. Anything crazy you can think of Milk Bar is doing it, or is at least trying. My first day consisted of making a 24 pound batch of compost cookies, cereal milk soft serve, filling crack pies and layering the chocolate chip cake. All while I was serving up the famous pork buns. Yes all, I know how to make Momofuku’s pork buns! Don’t everyone Facebook friend me at once.

( http://www.momofuku.com/ )

My time spent in this kitchen was short but taught me how to think outside the box. I learned that in order to come up with a “badass dessert”, I needed to fail a little. I also learned that to make money in a business, I needed to find a use for everything in the kitchen. I could use crumbled cake scraps to make truffles, or goldfish and chips to make cookies. The possibilities of creation were endless, and this was inspiring. I don’t think I will ever be afraid to mix barbecue sauce with cream to make BBQ soft server or worry about topping it with bacon brioche (kinda sounds yummy huh). I can thank Christina Tosi and all the girls (Milkmaids) for that. Chef Tosi also taught me that time is everything. The faster you work, the more you do. She once told me that when she first started out she would make herself a list, as all young cooks do. The infamous list of things that need to get done before service, and things that have to be done for production. She made this list, finished, and continued onto her next list. In the beginning I worked at a normal pace. After wearing a timer around my neck I became much more efficient at scooping 24lbs of cookies, and making three soft serves at once. Working at Milk Bar taught me that anything and I mean ANYTHING can be made into a dessert. Thanks Milkmaids!

As 2011 begins I am taking these experiences to a new restaurant. Danny Meyers newest adventure Maialino, an Italian restaurant located in The Gramercy Park Hotel. I hope to further my knowledge in the world of pastry here, Italian style!

( http://maialinonyc.com/ )

Stay tuned food lovers as I stick to my new years resolution, Blogging more.

Ashley Turns 19!

It’s my little sisters 19th birthday!!!!! There is nothing better then giving a custom cake…especially when you’re broke from living in New York City. When I came home to Cincinnati, I discovered I would be in town for Ashley’s birthday. So, I began to work on her special birthday present. I met with Ashley and spoke with her about colors and designs she liked. Then, created a birthday cake that I would take to her dorm, at The University of Cincinnati on her big day! This Cake took three days to make and she LOVED IT!

I made a Chocolate Geniose with a Black Raspberry jam filling and iced it with Pate a Bombe based Buttercream. The cake was chilled, covered in fondant, and decorated with fondant decorations and royal icing.

~ For more pictures check out my Flickr photos!

My First Wedding Cake at FCI!

During the last few weeks of school, I was assigned a wedding cake project. The Theme was Bollywood.  Students from the Pastry 2 class designed the wedding in detail. This included everything from the bride and groom, flowers, invitations, attire, food, and setting to the date and time the event took place.  After listening to the presentation, we were given the flavor of the cake and began to construct our designs.

Throughout the designing process of this cake, I focused on three things: The bride’s dress, the invitations, and the colors in the table setting. I wanted the cake to have traditional elegance while holding true to the Bollywood theme the couple was looking for. Since the two of them were originally from NYC, I wanted to tap into something they were comfortable with while still giving them the theme they desired.

Once I started sketching, I was so excited. I loved the colors, and after a few revisions I loved the design. The week of the test I was given three days to complete the whole cake. I spent the first day baking, filling, and icing the cake. The second day I spent making and coloring fondant and sugar paste. I also made and painted may of the jewels. On the third day, I covered the cake, assembled the third tier, and completely decorated the whole thing.

Although the conditions were sticky and pretty terrible, I thought my cake came out quite well. I was voted the best by my class, and by the pastry 2 class. Considering how hard I worked I’m very proud of this!! I hope all of you like it as well!

I wish the pictures were better, but I had a limited period of time to document this exam.

In the next few weeks, I will be applying to wedding cake companies in New York City. I will also be freelance designing cakes from home for special clients. If you like what you see and are interested in a specialty event cake personally designed and created by me, please shoot me an email at jessica.daniels9@gmail.com.

I am happy to cater to any event you have~!

Apple Strudel Day with Chef Jurgen

It’s just another day in class and I’m learning how to make Apple Strudel. I first had Apple Strudel at the famous Haufbrahaus in Munich, Germnay. As I ate this flaky dessert, I had no Idea how much work went into creating such a masterpiece. Chef Jurgen spent the morning teaching myself and my classmates how to make and roll out strudel dough. Then, we filled it with a number of different fillings. We make traditional Apple Strudel, Cherry Strudel, Sour Cream Strudel, Grape Strudel and finally Blueberry Strudel. The Apple Strudel was by far my favorite!

Fist, we made the Strudel dough and let it ferment for about 45 minutes. When it had risen to twice its size, we prepared our station to roll and stretch the dough to such a thickness that a newspaper  could be read through it!

Once the dough is rolled out, it’s buttered and the apple filling is spread on 1/3 of it. The edges are trimmed and the strudel is rolled into a large log.

The log is shaped and is put into the oven until golden brown. When finished cooking, it’s cut into wedges, dusted with powdered sugar and plated warm with vanilla ice cream. This German dessert is delicious and can be altered to have any type of filling imaginable!

A few more Strudel variations: Cherry, Sour Cream and Grape!

There’s Nothing Like Homemade Nutella!

What do you do when you buy too many hazelnuts at the grocery store? Make Nutella!! After a brief moment thinking about my first experience with Nutella, I convinced myself that making this chocolaty spread couldn’t be that hard – and it wasn’t!

Ingredients

500 grams Hazelnuts, ground in the food processor into a paste

3 tablespoons sugar

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

320 grams dark chocolate

Directions

Set oven to broil and toast hazelnuts until golden brown. Once toasted remove skin, place in a food processor and grind until the nuts release their oils and form a paste.

While nuts are grinding, add the sugar, salt and vanilla. Make sure to taste the paste, more sugar might be needed depending on its sweetness.

In a glass bowl melt the chocolate in a microwave and add it to the hazelnut paste. Once the ingredients are combined, let the Nutella cool to room temperature and then chill in the refrigerator.

When serving the Nutella, let it come to room temperature so that it is soft enough to spoon out.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie! Happy B-Day America!

Nothing says 4th of July like fresh homemade pie. This strawberry rhubarb combo mixes the natural sugars of strawberries with the intense sour of rhubarb for an awesome filling. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream and you’re ready to rock.

Ingredients:
Pate Brisee (Dough):

Flaky french pastry dough (homemade or store bought).

Filling:

1 Bag Frozen Strawberries

1 Cup Cut Strawberries

3 Stalks Rhubarb, cut in half lengthwise and into 3/4 inch pieces

1/4 Cup Flour

1 1/2 Cups Sugar

1 Tbs Butter Cubed

Directions:

Prepare dough and chill for 45 minutes.  Roll dough to an 1/8 inch to fit an 8 inch pie pan.  Mold dough to pan, trim sides, and chill for 45 minutes.

Combine strawberries, cut rhubarb, sugar, and flour in a bowl and set aside.

Fill pie shell with strawberry rhubarb filling and layer cubed butter evenly on top of the filling.  Roll out rest of dough, cut into 1/2 inch strips and lay over buttered filling to form a lattice top.

Bake for 20 minutes in a preheated oven at 400 degrees and for an addition 20-40  minutes at 350 degrees until crust turns golden brown.

To serve, slice into generous portions and plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!