SMS #3 - Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling

This week's recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays was chosen by Tracey of Tracey's Culinary Adventures. Her pick for the week was Caramel Apple Turnovers with Sweet Ricotta Filling. These taste great. I loved them. And to think I almost skipped this week's challenge. They were very easy to make and tasted great, even the next day (I like to heat them up in a small toaster oven). Check out the recipe here.


Ever since reading Vera's post on Homemade Ricotta Cheese, I've been wanting to give it a try. This week's SMS recipe could not have given me a better excuse to make it. I cut Vera's recipe in four which yielded 1/2 cup + 1 Tbsp of ricotta. Although I used 2% milk, it turned out smooth, creamy and delicious. Would definitely make it again.


Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby is not a big fan of cheese but he still liked these apple pasties as the cheese flavor was not overwhelming. I gave one to a friend and she loved them too.
• Instead of egg wash I used the leftover egg white from the recipe and added 1/8 tsp of espresso powder to it. And I used water (as I’ve done many times before with turnovers) as glue. And instead of cinnamon sugar, I used a light sprinkling of raw sugar as I found the apple filling sweet enough as-is.
• I put the ricotta filling in a Ziploc bag and easily squeezed it onto each puff pastry square.
  
• The orange zest was a bit overpowering so next time I would use a bit less.
• Braeburn apples is all I had so I used them instead of Granny Smith apples. I would think that pears would work very well too.
• I baked my turnovers at 425F degrees for 20-25 minutes and skipped the 30-minutes refrigeration step. This allowed me to taste test them a bit sooner :o)
  

SMS #2 - Brooklyn Brownout Cake

Whoohoo! I joined my first online baking club called Sweet Melissa Sundays. The idea behind it is to bake every recipe from Melissa Murphy's book called "The Sweet Melissa Baking Book". I would like to thank Lorelei from Mermaid Sweets for setting this up.

The kick-off was last week but I wasn't able to participate. This week's recipe, Brooklyn Brownout Cake, was chosen by Elyse from Elyse's Confectionary Creations. This cake consists of two layers of devil's food cake, a brownie/ganache filling, and a chocolate ganache glaze for the finishing touch. It really doesn't get any chocolatier than this. It's pretty rich so a small slice goes a long way. If you like chocolate, you have to make this cake. Check out Elyse's blog for the recipe.

First I made Melissa's fudge brownies (sans walnuts). These dense, chewy, and very chocolaty brownies reminded me of the brownies I had at the Ghirardelli shop while visiting San Francisco. Speaking of Ghirardelli, I used Ghirardelli's unsweetened chocolate in both the brownies and the chocolate cake. Since I didn't have a 9" square pan, I used alu foil and turned my 9" x 13" pan into a makeshift 9" square pan :o)


While the brownies were baking, I started working on the chocolate cake batter. At first, the batter seemed grainy which worried me a bit. It wasn't until I added the melted chocolate and oil mixture that it became smooth. I used two 8" round cake pans and baked the cakes for 35 minutes.

For the cake's filling, I found the 3/4"-1" brownie cubes to be too large so I cut them into 1/2" cubes instead. In hindsight, I would have done what Elyse did and mash the brownies into the ganache. Some slices showed a hole in the filling which I didn't like too much. I did use my hands to mix the brownies into the ganache and boy, was it fun to lick my hands afterwards. I felt like a kid again! After washing my hands, I sandwiched the filling between the two cake layers and poured the ganache on top :o)


If you look close, you'll see a few air bubbles on the surface of my cake which means I stirred my ganache too much. That "defect", and my desire to decorate the cake somehow, prompted me to sprinkle half the cake with finely chopped white chocolate for a bit of contrast.


Final thoughts/tips:

• Hubby and I loved this cake. Each bite takes you on a tastebud-rollercoaster: first there's the fudgy chocolate cake, then the chewy and sometimes crispy brownie filling (if you get part of a brownie edge), followed by the satin smooth chocolate ganache. A glass of milk (or if you're not big on milk like me, a big glass of water) is highly recommended.
• Although the cakes deflated and sunk a bit, I saw it as an opportunity to fill this "empty space" with 1/2 to 2/3 of the brownie crumble :o)
• I used a thin knife which I dipped in hot water before cutting the cake for neat looking slices.
• The food processor is your friend when you need finely chopped chocolate, whether it's for cake decoration or making ganache.
• Don't forget to check out the other SMS bakers on the blog roll. Also, you might want to consider joining us. It's a lot of fun :o)