#meant to be sponge pudding but it turned out to be like a pancake?

[thebraxiatelcollection]

I really hate starting things, get really passionate about them, then just...lose interest in projects/hobbies.

[la-quarantine-bakery]

Maple sugary goodness: week of 2/22/21

A lot of maple sugar this week as it’s hardening into lumps.

Sourdough sesame spelt boule

Grade: B+

This was my first sourdough bread ever but at the time I didn’t realize that I baked a pancake, and even bragged to Reddit about it. Then I realized how far I was from mastering sourdough bread, from dough mixing to shaping to proofing.

This time I followed the recipe almost exactly, including the salt which was a bit too salty for me. The dough was less wet than a lot of sourdough doughs that I handled, which I think helped a lot with the baking, plus the tighter shaping. I also used whole instead of ground seeds in the dough which might’ve soaked up the moisture.

The result: the best looking sourdough that I had produced to date. Not the best tasting, but very photogenic and looks almost professional. I even got a like from Flora Shedden herself on Instagram.

Recipe: sesame spelt loaf from Flora Shedden’s Aran

Birthday gingerbread cake

Grade: B+

This cake was made over two weeks: first the sponge last weekend, and then the frosting and cookie crumbles this week.

The sponge was close to what I want from a layered cake, but the taste wasn’t great - I think the vegetable oil was starting to go rancid. I used baking powder to help with the rise. One of the cakes rose evenly and the other collapsed a bit, but the first cake made for neat layers.

The icing was made of coconut cream and mascarpone cheese because I didn’t get heavy cream, which worked out fine. I added gingerbread spice to overwhelm the weird oily taste from the sponge layers and also brushed the layers with leftover coconut milk. I think the taste of the frosting was quite nice.

Finally I added some cookie crumbles from sourdough gingerbread cookies to help with the taste and texture. And then added freeze dried raspberries on top, which actually tasted like raspberries rather than tasteless powder.

I still would’ve preferred more icing, and I still wish that my cake were neater, but overall my cakes are improving.

Recipes:

Cake from recipe - lychee cake from Miss Tam Chiak

Frosting: mix coconut cream from chilled can of coconut milk with mascarpone and flavor

Cookie crunch from sourdough gingerbread cookies (see below)

Sourdough gingerbread cookies

Grade: B+

I made this to test out the recipe as another way to use up sourdough discard. Too oily due to the usage of duck fat instead of butter. But it made for pretty tasty cookies on their own and nice crumbles for the cakes and pudding.

Recipe: sourdough discard chewy spice cookies from Make it Dough

Modification: gingerbread spice for the spices; less white sugar; 54g duck fat + 32g Greek yogurt for 84.5g butter

Homemade banana pudding

Grade: A-

This was done on a whim as I had an empty Vermont Creamery mascarpone cheese container from the cake, as well as a ripe banana and leftover cream cheese. So I thought, why not make my own banana pudding with cake layers, cookie crumbles, and banana cream cheese frosting?

It actually tasted pretty nice, although I gave most of it to my parents.

Recipe: inspired by banana cream cheese roll from King Arthur Baking Company

Maple sugar nian gao

Grade: C+

My maple sugar from last summer was starting to clump so I wanted to use it up, thinking it would taste good in a nian gao recipe. As it turns out, maple sugar is sweeter than white sugar, so the result is too sweet. Tastes okay pan fried with salt and eggs, but not what I wanted. Sprinkling lemon juice on top did not help tone down the sweetness.

On the other hand, I learned that the usage of rice flour in this recipe meant that I didn’t have to steam the nain gao for hours as it lent the nian gao more structure. So learned something new from the experiment.

Recipe: nian gao from the Woks of Life

Modification: maple sugar and maple syrup in place of brown sugar and molasses; no spices

Sourdough coconut macaroons

Grade: D

Wanted to use macaroons to decorate the cake and use up the last of the shredded coconuts. Way too sour, might’ve worked if I added more sugar. Poor Puffy and the other ingredients.

Recipe: coconut macaroons from Just One Cookbook

Modification: 30g of sourdough discard and 30g of maple syrup in place of egg whites and granulated sugar

Coconut flour maple shortbread

Grade: C

Too dry. Boo coconut flour. A nice subtle maple flavor though and used up the rest of Miyoko’s vegan butter.

Recipe: keto coconut flour shortbread cookies recipe from Wholesome Yum

Modification: maple sugar instead of white sugar at a lesser amount; last of Miyoko’s vegan butter

Coconut rice pudding

Grade: A-

Made with leftover coconut water and some rice. Surprisingly had a subtle sweetness despite not adding any sugar.

Sourdough pumpkin spice bread

Grade: B+

Mom gave me some pumpkins and I wanted to use up some Puffy discard and coconut flour, so made this Frankenstein recipe. There is a bit too much liquid (probably could’ve used another 5g coconut flour in place of 20g all-purpose flour) so after over an hour it was still kind of gooey. But it tasted pretty nice and is theoretically healthy. And I’m glad I know that applesauce can be used as a sugar substitute now.

Recipe: sourdough pumpkin spice bread from King Arthur Baking Company

Modification: for 1/3 recipe, 4oz recipe in place of some pumpkin, all of the sugar and oil; 10g coconut flour for 40g all-purpose flour; 1 instead of 2/3 egg