use real butter

Recipe: almond blancmange

Just a few observations and tidbits tonight and then I’m going to send you all off to Tartelette’s place, okay?

So Bridget had asked me about the difference between tempered chocolate and untempered chocolate and if I could show a picture. Why yes indeedy, I can – because I had a lot of out-of-temper chocolates from yesterday’s post.

guess which one is out of temper?

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: french yule log

It’s that time again… time for another Daring Bakers Challenge! This month’s challenge is brought to us by the adventurous Hilda from Saffron and Blueberry and Marion from Il en Faut Peu Pour Etre Heureux. They have chosen a French Yule Log by Flore from Florilege Gourmand.

daring bakers: we knead to bake!

I very much have a love-hate relationship with the Daring Bakers these days. I love learning new techniques and skills that I would otherwise never think to try on my own and there are some really fantastic bakers in the community who inspire me to keep coming back each month for more punishment. I’m almost always glad to have completed a challenge no matter how many disastrous steps along the way, I just don’t know how long I will continue to keep it up.

At first blush, I rolled my eyes when I read that our challenge was a yule log. We did that last December. However, after reading up on the difference between this month’s French yule log and its jellyroll cousin, I was game. It’s a more complex assembly and required some fast thinking when various components didn’t work out. I felt the instructions were overly simplified in many places and just plain vague in others. In the end, it came together nicely, but I won’t lie to you and say I didn’t do a fair bit of cussing along the way.

**Jump for more butter**

Recipe: caramel cake with caramelized butter frosting

“…and try not to chew caramel.”

That is what the dental assistant told me after she cemented my temporary crown onto my molar. I smiled while my eyes darted about the room nervously – how did she know that caramel was front and center in this month’s Daring Baker’s challenge?

daring bakers: we knead to bake!

After all of the cooking and baking for this holiday, here we are slapped into sugar coma with the latest Daring Baker cake: Caramel Cake with Caramelized Butter Frosting by Shuna Fish Lydon, as published on Bay Area Bites. A huge thanks to our wonderful hosts this month: Dolores of Chronicles in Culinary Curiosity, ably assisted by Alex of Blondie and Brownie, Jenny of Foray into Food, and the always amazing Natalie of Gluten-a-Go-Go for the alternative bakers. I also want to thank our lovable Daring Baker founders: Lis and Ivonne, who continue to inspire and keep us in line!

adding water to the caramelized sugar

**Jump for more butter**