Daring Baker's Challenge: March 2010 Orange Tian

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris. You can find your copy of these recipes on the Daring Kitchen website.

I have to admit, I was not looking forward to this challenge. I'm not a big fan of marmalade, nor orange desserts. And the individual servings looked tedious and troublesome. Therefore, I put it off until quite late in the month.

I do have to admit though, the marmalade is the best marmalade I've ever had -- and would chose to have it on toast. (In fact, it's pretty impressive on homemade brioche!).

I ended up making the Orange Tian in a tart pan, and assembled it right side up, rather than upside down and flipped as the instructions call for. It seemed appropriate since the base was a Pate Sablee. The completed dessert also surpassed my expectations and was surprisingly good.

Would I make it again? Not sure, but I wouldn't be opposed to it -- that's for sure. And that marmalade might just make a regular appearance in our household.

Daring Baker's Challenge: Tiramisu

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession. (Recipe is located here)

OK, I  have to admit, I wasn't pleased to see that this was the challenge this month. I'm not a fan of Tiramisu--I know, sacrilege to those of you who adore it, but between the soggy cookies/cake and the overly alcohol flavor, I never liked it. Nevertheless, the point of Daring Bakers is to try something you otherwise wouldn't have -- and this was definately the case.

The most difficult part of this challenge was making the 4, count them 4, different components to the creme before mixing it together. It was interesting to make Mascarpone Cheese from scratch, but also making zabaglione, pastry cream, and whip cream to mix together was --- time consuming. It would seem that since 2 of the 4 items have to be cooked in what amounts to a double boiler, that perhaps they could have been combined.

I ended up using espresso for the flavoring -- instead of the marsala. And I used a Danish Pastry flavoring in place of the Rum Extract. I have to admit, it was pretty good -- better than any tiramisu I've ever had before, that's for sure. The recipe called for it to be assembled in an 8x8 pan, but I didn't think I had enough ladyfingers for 3 layers in an 8x8 pan, so I assembled mine in a bread pan.

Even after waiting overnight to taste it, the ladyfinger biscuits held enough texture to make interesting -- although if I were to make it again, I think adding toasted hazelnuts or chocolate nibs would really enhance the experience.

Will I make it again? Not sure, but perhaps for company with lots of notice -- then again, maybe I'll make the easy and delicous Carmel Walnut Banana Torte.