what's opera, doc?

when i think of opera, i think of bugs bunny in drag and elmer fudd in a magic golden helmet with horns. for as long as i can remember, "what's opera, doc?" (circa 1957) was always one of my favourite cartoons. another favourite of mine is "the rabbit of seville".

i love chuck jones. there's more bugs opera here. check out this creepy stop motion jim henson version of "carmen" from sesame street. i saw this as a little girl and to this day i cannot hear the main theme without seeing that creepy orange in my mind. but you didn't come here for an animation history lesson...

no, luckily this month's daring baker challenge i didn't have to recreate a cartoon opera, but make an opera cake.i had never heard of an opera cake before and was quite frightened! but, after reading the recipe i noticed that the cake itself was very much like my dad's traditional german black forest cake i made for his last 2 birthdays. the main difference was the almond meal in place of cocoa. it baked very fast, in only 7 minutes (man, i love my new oven), and had a very nice crumb to it. the simple syrup i infused with strawberry liqueur. after it cooled i put it into a measuring cup so i could make sure that each jaconde layer had equal parts of the syrup.i wanted to keep the flavours simple, and not over-power the white chocolate, and we were required to keep the colours "light". i love white chocolate. i also love strawberries. on my second trip to the liquor store looking for a strawberry liqueur, i had the tough decicion between a strawberry liqueur or a tequila-strawberry cream liquer. i didn't have any limes at home, so marie brizard it was. i macerated some sliced strawberries in sugar overnight and pureed them with the juice of one lemon the next morning. after straining the puree, i added it to the buttercream. i had a bit of trouble really understanding the recipe for the buttercream (i've never made an italian buttercream before), and, since it was allowed, i used the buttercream from the perfect party cake challenge. mmmmm!
the assembly was very straight forward and simple- once i found a ruler long enough to measure where to cut! i did decide to do the "mousse" layer: callebeut white chocolate and whipped cream. i added a touch of pink gel paste food colouring to the glaze layer to make it pink, and i sprinkled pretty pastel dragees.

*the only thing that i didn't really like was the ganache-type glaze on top. now, i don't know if it was because the cake was just out of the fridge, or because of the amount of white chocolate in it, but it was a bit gummy and smushed the mousse layer when we dove into it.

i'm not sure i'll make this again, even though it was very fun to make. who knows... maybe i'll try it in chocolate and mint! a big thank you to this month's hosts, ivonne and lis, and fran and shea for a great challenge, and don't forget to check out the other daring bakers! the recipe is quite long so if you're interested, it can be found on one of the hosts' sites.

volunteer tea

i have been feeling pretty awful this week, some type of flu. and it figures because the weather was finally great, there was a holiday on monday (victoria day), and at the end of the week was the annual "volunteer tea" at our daughter's school. the tea is to thank the parents who volunteer throughout the school year for everything they've done to make the kids' schooling richer. we've played music, baked pumpkin pies, one to one reading, scholastic book fair, made applesauce from the apples in the school garden, had a cookie factory, created art, made fossils (which was the coolest idea and one day i'll blog about that event), taken the time to plant flowers and veggies in the garden with them, sports day... the list goes on and on. the best thing is the assembly when the kids themselves say thank you to the various parents and teachers and why volunteers are so important. needless to say i was a bucket of tears this year (again actually).

every year mrs. patty wong arranges the best spread you can imagine: spiral sammies and olives, savory pastries, cheese and crackers! fresh fruit and tonnes of strawberries: mmm! oh and the sweets! don't even get me started! mrs. wong makes these raspberry lemoncream tarts that are just so wonderful and i'm going to ask her for the recipe. now, the highlight of the feast is always mrs. wong's coffee punch. you can never have just one cupfull and come to think of it, could liken a starbucks frappuccino to tasteless mush, it's so good. i asked her if it would be okay to share with the world and she looked at me and said, "why of course, dear."

mrs patty wong's coffee punch

*this needs to be made and frozen at least one day ahead

3 cups extra strong coffee (make it 3x as strong as you normally would)

2 cups sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 quart half and half

1 pint whipping cream

brew your extra strong coffee as per your coffee maker. while hot, dissolve 2 cups sugar. add in the vanilla and cool to room temperature. stir in the half and half and cream. pour the coffee mixture into a freezer safe container until you're ready to serve it. the best way to serve is in a punch bowl, still mostly frozen- don't forget it will thaw and still be oh so yummy!

birthday time!

i have always wanted to make one of those cakes that are gooey in the middle but never knew how. for christmas derek got me the williams-sonoma "cakes" book and i found what seemed like a pretty decent recipe for it: individual molten chocolate cakes (pg 131). Derek loves chocolate. i mean he really loves chocolate.indeed it was quite gooey in the middle, and a little cakey towards the edges. very lovely and warm.
happy birthday derek!

individual molten chocolate cakes

unsalted butter for preparing the ramekins
10 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 8 equal pieces
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
4 large eggs
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp instant coffee powder dissolved in 2 teaspoons hot water
1 tbsp confectioners' sugar for dusting

position a rack in the middle of the oven, and preheat to 350 degrees F. butter the bottom and sides of 6 3/4cup ovenproof ramekins, and put them on a rimmed baking sheet.
combine the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl and place over barely simmering water. stir occasionally until smooth and all of the chocolate has melted. remove the bowl from the pan and set aside to cool slightly.
sift the flour through a fine-mesh sieve placed over a small bowl. set aside. in the bowl of a stand mixer or large mixing bowl, combine the eggs, sugar, and salt. fit the stand mixer with the paddle attachment or a handheld mixer with the twin beaters. beat the mixture on medium-high speed until it thickens and the colour lightens slightly, about 4 minutes. stop the mixer occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl. reduce the speed to low, add the vanilla extract and dissolved coffee, and beat until combined. with the mixer running, add the flour 1 tbsp at a time. using a large rubber spatula, stir about one-third of the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture to lighten it. scrape the remaining chocolate on top of the batter and, using the spatula, fold the mixtures together just until no streaks of the chocolate mixture are visible.
pour the batter into a 4cup glass measuring cup, using the spatula to scrape out every last bit from the bowl. pour about 1/2 cup batter into each prepared ramekin. bake until the edges look firm and dull on top and the centre looks shiny and slightly wet, 16-18 minutes. you may see a few tiny holes on top. these cakes should be under baked, so do not bake longer than 18 minutes.
let the cakes cool in the ramekins on wore racks for 10 minutes. put the confectioners' sugar in a fine-mesh sieve and sift an equal amount over the top of each cake. using pot holders, transfer each ramekin to an individual serving plate. serve right away.