Dear readers, I’m sure you’ve noticed the decrease in my posts frequency lately. It’s mostly because I’ve been sick for a long period, and even writing the Hebrew version (which I’m commited to because of the newspaper column I’m writing) wasn’t easy.

But hopefully things will improve since Avi and I are in South America right now. We went on a vacations which we’ve planned for the last year and a half. So this means that Room for Dessert is also going on a vacation until early April, when we’ll be back home. Meanwhile I’ll post now and then about interesting food we’ll meet along the way. See you guys on the other side!

Ok, I guess it pays up most of the time.. As a formerly impulsive person, patience was a quality that was hard for me to acquire. Someone who enjoys instant pleasures and loves succeeding without putting in too much effort, finds it hard to get around the idea of a long process that brings fruit only on its end, and God forbid, even carries with it a few failures along the way. But like a few other qualities, my Grandpa, growing up, and life itself have taught me to overcome those urges, to wait.

Growing sourdough at home requires patience. Sourdough is, in fact, natural yeast, that replace all or almost all the yeast in recipes. It also enriches the products you make from it with a slightly sour taste, which cannot evolve in simple breads you make using regular yeast with no starter dough or lengthy making processes. The initial sourdough growing takes a few days, during which it usually needs to be fed once a day. After it’s ready it will also require some once a week TLC in the form of water and flour.

It took me 2 failed attempts and a successful third one to get my sourdough right. As soon as it started spreading that wonderful yeasty scent, I began looking for good sourdough bread recipes. I’ve tried 2 so far, both of them by Eric Kayser, a very talented French pastry chef. The first recipe I tried was of baguettes, which turned out tasty but I wasn’t that pleased with the texture. The second recipe I tried produced the most wonderful ciabatta breads! I tweaked with the recipe a bit - using whole wheat flour and bread flour mixed together, and I also let it rise for much longer than specified in the recipe, simply because of circumstance.

The ciabattas turned out having a wonderful stiff crust, big holes, which I adore seeing in breads, and a marvelous and balanced taste. Patience is required when making this recipe, it needs to rise 4 different times, but it is definitely worth your while.

Some notes and tips about the bread:

* There are two types of sourdough - a stiff one, that looks like a regular dough (in French: Levain dur), and a liquid one (in French: Levain liquide). The recipe in this post makes use of levain liquide.

* I used the clear instructions on Joy the Baker’s blog to make the sourdough. She has written a great step by step guide to preparing and maintaining sourdough, photos included.

* When I refresh my sourdough, which happens once a week, except for the water and flour I also add to it half a teaspoon of honey, which is a good choice of food for the yeast. A good friend from my pastry course, Idan, gave me this tip a few weeks ago. This doesn’t affect the taste of the products made from it, or at least not that I’ve noticed.

Cibatta au levain liquide / Adapted from Eric Kayser
Makes 4 ciabatta breads

Ingredients:
375 gr bread flour
130 gr whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp active dry yeast
150 gr levain liquide
350 ml water, warm
2 tsp salt

Directions:
1. Place both types of flour and the dry yeast in a bowl and mix them together.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients except for the salt. Start kneading.
3. When the mixture starts forming into a dough, add the salt. Knead for 10-12 minutes.
4. Let rise at room temperature until double in volume. With my sourdough it took about 6 hours.
5. Fold the dough to get some of the air out of it, and let rise again until double in volume (again, about 6 hours).
6. Move the dough to a working surface, be careful and try to avoid getting any air out of it at this point. Divide the dough into 4 equally sized parts. Let rise an hour at room temperature.
7. Gently shape each part into a ciabatta, by gently pulling the dough from each side. Don’t worry if the shape isn’t perfect, the most important thing is to keep as much air as you can inside the dough. Let rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Meanwhile preheat oven to 500F (260C). If you have a baking stone, place it in the lower third of the oven before preheating it.
8. If you want to produce a harder crust, sprinkle some water into the oven before putting the breads in it, which will create a moist environment. Bake the breads for about 10-12 minutes, or until knocking with your finger on one of them produces a hollow sound.
9. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Or at least the best I can remember ever tasting. A few weeks ago Nir, a good friend of Avi’s from work, invited us over to watch the finals of the “Big Brother” show, the Israeli version. I obviously felt a need to bring cake, so what if Nir’s house is 10 minutes away from ours But since we’ve only talked about meeting a few hours before the show, I didn’t have much time on my hands. Exactly on time I remembered seeing this cake on Fanny’s wonderful blog, and drooling on it several times.

I made the cake in a large loaf pan, and I also kept enough batter for 2 muffin sized cakes, so I’d be able to taste the cake before bringing it for people to eat in the evening. The instant my lips touched the warm and soft cake, I fell in in love! A chocolate cake that looks quite innocent and ordinary on the outside, completely takes you by suprise when you get to taste it. So rich and fudgy on the inside, with an intense chocolate flavor and a very pleasant sweetness. I’ve probably told you by now that Avi says that I use the description “the best ______ I’ve ever tasted” much too often, but when I told him that this was the best chocolate cake I’ve ever had, he looked at me for a second and simply said “yes”.

In the original recipe there is also a chocolate syrup that you’re supposed to pour on top of the cake after taking it out of the oven. I’ve made it but ended up not using it, since in my opinion it makes the cake overwhelmingly sweet.
Since then I’ve already made the cake again, and brought it to a Hannukah social gathering that our friends Daniel and Dana organized last week, and there too it was a huge hit.

Some notes and tips about the cake:

* In the original recipe Fanny says that you can make the cake by mixing all the ingredients with a wooden spoon. The first time I made it I tried to use a wooden spoon but couldn’t get all the many ingredients incorporated, and the butter, that is soft but not melted, didn’t make it any easier. So in this recipe I really recommend using a mixer, unless your hands feel strong enough for a vigorous mixing.

* Something we’ve learnt in the pastry course - Cakes baked in loaf pans tend to crack on top. The place of the crack can be controlled, so it will be nice and symmetrical. The way to do it is by passing a knife or a thin spatula in the middle of the cake (lengthwise), which will determine that the crack will be in the middle.

* If you, like me, often forget to take the butter out of the refrigerator in advance for cakes that require soft butter, you can cut the cold butter into cubes and place them in the microwave for 10 seconds. If it isn’t soft yet, place it for another 10 seconds, and so forth until the butter is soft, but note that it’s only supposed to be soft to touch, but not melted.

If you’re in the mood for cute little shapes, you can slice the cake
and use a cookie cutter to create beautiful mini cakes from each slice

Ultra Chocolate Cake / Slightly adapted from a recipe by Nigella Lawson
For a 30X11 cm and 7 cm deep loaf tin

Ingredients:
200 gr plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
50 gr cocoa powder
275 gr caster sugar
175 gr butter, soft
2 eggs
1 tblsp natural vanilla extract
175 gr chocolate, melted
80 gr double cream
125 gr boiling water

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease and line the loaf tin with baking paper, making sure you cut it well above the rim so you’ll have handles to later get the cake out from its tin.
2. Place all the ingredients except the boiling water in the bowl of a mixer. Mix using a paddle attachment until the batter is smooth.
3. Slowly incoporate the boiling water and mix until smooth.
4. Place the batter in the tin and smooth its top. If you want, see tips on how to control where the cake is going to crack while baking.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the cake is firm to the touch.
6. Cool the cake.
7. Before serving you can sprinkle Dutch cocoa powder on top of it, or powdered sugar or grated chocolate (dark, milk or white).
8. Keep in an airtight container at room temperature.

There are times when my need for baking arises merely for satisfying a craving for a sweet delight, that catches me ever so often. On these occasions I need a quick recipe at hand, one that I can whip up in a heartbeat and enjoy the finished baked good within an hour. Other times I feel like making a more complicated dessert, one that requires the patience to follow numerous steps throughout the recipe, and then the final assembly of the complete dessert. It is like therapy for me. Also, when I need to impress someone with a beautiful dessert, recipes of the second kind I mentioned are the ones that are gonna do the trick.

Here I made 24 cupcakes with no graham cracker and chocolate
base, so they turned out quite short

Two friends of mine started working at the same company a while ago, and needed to throw an entry party for all the other employees. They asked my help with making two desserts that will be croud pleasers - both to taste and to watch. The first one I chose is a dessert you really can’t go wrong with when bringing it to a party - its beauty gets a lot of ‘wow’s from the croud, and its taste doesn’t fall behind. The second are these cupcakes, which I’ve seen on the Martha Stewart’s show during the cupcakes week she hosted a while back. They are the bestsellers at “Trophy Cupcakes” in Seattle, and for a good reason - they have a crispy base made of crushed Graham Crackers and butter, a thin layer of dark chocolate above it, on top of that a moist chocolatey cupcake, and to seal the deal we’ve got a so tender marshmallow-flavored meringue frosting. Did I convince you yet? Those 3 different textures are heaven in your mouth, and I urge you to taste all of them at once, and not eat each layer separately.
The girls said the party was a success and that both the tart and the cupcakes were gone so quickly. If you’re in for a little effort, try these. You’ll thank me.

Notice the crispy bottom

Some notes and tips about the cupcakes:

* You don’t have a burner? Don’t worry, you can brown the meringue in the oven as well. Leave the oven on after finishing baking the cupcakes, and switch it to grill mode. Prepare the meringue according to the directions below, pipe it on top of the cupcakes and put them back in the oven until the meringue gets a color that you’re pleased with (some like it more brown than others).

* Don’t feel like sweating for these beauties? You can also ommit the 2 bottom layers (the Graham Crackers and the bitersweet chocolate), and simply make chocolate cupcakes topped with meringue. Note that in this case your cupcakes will be lower in height than the original ones, if you make the specified quantity (24). If you want them higher, simply make 2-3 less.

* 8 egg whites for the frosting?? Are you crazy?? Well, no There are many recipes that leave me with a lot of whites in my freezer, and that’s a beautiful opportunity to use them. You can also make only half of the recipe for the frosting, and simply top each cupcake with a smaller amount. The original recipe results in a very generous frosting amount for each cupcake, so half of it would still be good.

We used up the small meringue amount that was left along with a bit
of leftovers from the pie crust and made meringue topped cookies. YUM!

Chocolate Graham Cracker Cupcakes with Toasted Marshmallow / Adapted from Trophy Cupcakes’ recipe
Makes 24 cupcakes

Ingredients:
For the cupcakes:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup plus 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (not Dutch-processed)
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 flat teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup boiling water
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
80 gr unsalted butter, melted
2 Tablespoons orange juice
150 gr bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped

For the frosting:
8 egg-whites
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350F (180C) degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with cupcake liners; set aside.
2. Sift sugar, flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt together into the bowl of an electric mixer. Add in the eggs. Using the paddle attachment, mix ingredients together on low speed, until the batter is uniform.
3. In a large bowl, mix together milk, oil, vanilla and boiling water. Add to flour mixture and beat on medium speed for 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl and continue mixing on medium speed until the batter is uniform.
4. Place graham cracker crumbs, melted butter and orange juice in a large bowl; stir until well combined. Check the mixture - if you can take some of it between your fingers and unify it into a shape that doesn’t fall apart and all crumbly - that’s what where looking for. If still too crumbly, add some more juice, spoon by spoon, until you get it right.
5. Place 1 tablespoon graham cracker mixture into the bottom of each prepared muffin cup. Use a tablespoon or the bottom of a small glass to pack crumbs into the bottom of each cupcake liner. Place a teaspoon of the chopped chocolate above it. Reserve remaining graham cracker mixture and chocolate for topping.
6. Transfer muffin tins to oven and bake until the edges of the graham cracker mixture is golden, about 5 minutes.
7. Remove from oven and fill each muffin cup three-quarters full with cake batter. Sprinkle each with remaining chocolate and graham cracker mixture.
8. Return to oven and bake, rotating pans halfway through baking, until tops are firm and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes.
9. Transfer muffin tins to a wire rack and let cupcakes cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove cupcakes from pan and let cool completely.
10. Prepare the frosting: Place egg whites, sugar, and cream of tartar in the heatproof bowl of an electric mixer. Set over a saucepan with simmering water. Whisk constantly until sugar is dissolved and whites are warm to the touch, 3 to 4 minutes.
11. Transfer bowl to electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, and beat, starting on low speed, gradually increasing to high, until stiff, glossy peaks form, 5 to 7 minutes. Add vanilla, and mix until combined.
12. Pipe the frosting on top of each muffin. If you don’t feel like piping, place spoonfuls of the frosting on top of each cupcake and arrange it nicely.
13. Slightly burn the frosting using a burner, or put it back inside the oven (see tips).

Many of my preferred foods are tastes I acquired overtime. Take wine, for instance, drinking it is a ritual I love so much nowadays, but used to cause me a lot of “yuck faces” in my earlier years. The same goes for Tiramisu. The coffee dipped ladyfingers (I also wasn’t very fond of coffee in the past), the alcoholic taste that was too strong too often, and the fact of it being a cream based dessert, which I didn’t use to like back then - all of these made me not understand what the fuss is all about.

The yolks, after beating them by hand

Nowadays it’s one of  my favorite desserts. I think it started 2 years ago, while being on a trip to Tuscany. We ate a zabaglione based dessert which was actually perfect at the wonderful San Jacopo restaurant in Pistoia (Via Crispi 15, Pistoia) . Zabaglione is a traditional Italian dessert, made of egg yolks (heated to a temperature that destroys most bacteria, not to worry), sugar and an alcoholic ingrdient, tipically Marsala wine. It is also the base of the Tiramisu, in classic recipes.  

The yolks with Marsala and sugar, before heating

The Zabaglione is ready!

In Israel there are many “light” versions for Tiramisu, and I don’t mean from the calories point of view. Some of them omit the eggs, some of them replace the mascarpone with plain white cheese, and more changes that cause the recipe to drift further away from the original one. And as much as I like tweaking with recipes and adapting them, in this case, only the original version for me, please.

The final Zabaglione cream, the color of the bowl is a good indication
of the color the final cream should have

I’ve made Tiramisu for the first time for a dinner we’ve invited my Mother to. Mom remembered eating the most divine Tiramisu ever in a little restaurant in the marvelous Positano in Italy. I was aiming high, I know.. It was then that I’ve also discovered how easy it is to make Tiramisu, despite of what I thought before. The result was delightful - a classic and so tasty Tiramisu. I really love how the marsala taste goes wonderful with the coffee and cocoa. Although the one in Positano still remained my Mom’s number 1, the one I’ve made entered the honored 2nd place

The meaning of Tiramisu is “pull me up”, referring to the coffee and alcohol taste that strike you as soon as the first piece enters your mouth.  At Avi’s office they are playing a “20 questions” game once a week (a sort of a trivia game), and Avi is always proud of the fact that he knows all the answers to the food related questions. A few weeks ago there was a question about the meaning of Tiramisu, and apparently, I’ve never tought him that But on the bright side, on your “20 questions” you will surely know the answer

Some notes and tips about this Tiramisu:

* If you don’t have Marsala wine, or don’t like its taste, you can easily replace it with Port or even Brandy.

* When dipping the lady fingers in the coffee, make sure to do it as fast as you can, we don’t want the cookies to be mooshy.

* Coffee - the recipe calls for strong coffee, that’s in order for the coffee taste to remain in the lady fingers, despite the short dipping. How strong should the coffee be? According to your taste. I usually drink my coffee with 1 tsp of coffee in it, so strong for me means 1.5 or 2 times that amount.

* Sprinkle the cocoa powder over the Tiramisu just before serving, otherwise it will become moist from the cream layer, and will not be that attractive - tastewise and lookwise.

* Individual desserts always look better and more appealing to me. You can definitely make this recipe also in individual glasses. If they’re quite small, break the lady fingers to adjust them to the cup’s size.

* Folding the whipped cream into the Zabaglione is required in this recipe. Folding means gentle stirring, and is meant to prevent a beaten batter to lose the air that we’ve worked hard to introduce into it. One way of folding is holding the spatula in a manner that it touches the bottom of the bowl, and begin moving it in a form of the digit 8, while you cover as much of the bowl’s area as you can. After the folding process your batter should be uniform, though, so make sure it is before stopping.

* In order to give your Tiramisu the perfect finishing touch, use Dutch processed cocoa powder. Its taste is mild and wonderful, and it lacks that disturbing biterness of the simpler ones.

Tiramisu / Anna Maria Volpi
For a 20X25 cm pan, or a 20X30 cm pan, for a shorter Tiramisu

Ingredients:
4 large egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup Marsala wine (see tips for substitution options)
450 gr Mascarpone cheese
250 ml heavy cream
25-30 lady finger cookies (depends on the pan size you’ve chosen, and of the size of the cookies)
1 1/2 cups strong coffee
2 tsp sugar

Dutch processed cocoa powder, for sprinkling on top

Directions:
1. Prepare the coffee in a small bowl, stir in the sugar and let cool.
2. Place the egg yolks in the bowl of a double boiler. Beat them well by hand, until fluffy and their color becomes lighter (about 5 minutes).
3. Add in the sugar and Marsala wine and beat until incorporated.
4. Place the bowl on top of a double boiler and whisk until the zabaglione mixture thickens (this happens just before boiling point - when small bubbles appear).
5. In a separate bowl whip the cream until soft peaks.
6. In a separate bowl mash the mascarpone until creamy.
7. Pour the zabaglione mixture upon the mascarpone and mix until incorporated.
8. Add in the whipped cream, and fold it into the zabaglione-mascarpone mixture (see tips about folding).
9. Assemble the Tiramisu: Lightly soak the ladyfingers in the coffee, one at a time and each one from both sides, arrange them as the bottom layer in the pan. Spread half of the cream over the lady fingers, then soak and arrange another layer of lady fingers, and spread the remaining cream mixture upon them.
10. Chill for at least 3 hours before serving.
11. Just before serving, sprinkle with cocoa powder. Serve within 48 hours from the preparation time, after that the lady fingers will become too mooshy.