Daring Bakers - Challenge THREE!

And the challenge for the month of July is Filbert Gateau!

Posting a bit late this month (well only 2 hours & 50 mins late since I'm writing this at 2:50 am in the morning the day after posting day and for this unfortunate incident ya'll can go thank my studies, and I'm gonna stop rambling now) but it's so good to be back posting something baking-related and I know you all missed me so very much.

Ok. Straight to business. This month's challenge is Filbert Gateau! Gateau = cake! Yay! My forte! I love cake! This month's joyful recipe is chock full of hazelnuts, chocolate, butter and cream. If you're not salivating already, please call a doctor and get yourself checked out. No, seriously.

Anyway, I had no idea what filbert's were (I thought it was the name of the guy who invented this cake) but then I realised like a few minutes ago that it's what some people call le old "hazelnut"! Maybe it's an American thing. Who knows! Back to the hazelnuts!

Firstly, we gots to have teh filberts before we can make teh filberts gateau! But nut skin is bad! So take it off! Roast them in the oven till they smell oh so toasty.

Note: I bought the hazelnuts based on weight rather then volume. BAD IDEA. 1 cup hazelnuts does not equal 250 grams. Major nut overload and major hole in my pocket. Damn they are expensive!!

Put them in a towel, rub rub rub and then voila! All the skin magically drops off! NOT. Open the towel and alas witness the tragedy that is the stubbornly half-skinned hazelnut. Well, the warm hazelnuts in the towel make for an awesome heater. Especially since it's so cold here in Sydney now. Anyway, keep rubbing till your hands turn RAW and then maybe, just MAYBE you might be blessed with a plate of pretty filberts sans skins.

Here's my happy bunch! Quite tasty to pop right in yer mouth ;)

Boil some sugar till it turns nice and golden and molten (add some water even though you're not supposed to. Shh! Our little secret. It really does help though. Just don't over-do it.) You might have caramelised it to the point of fugliness so drop a little in some cold water and taste it.

Yum? Pour it all over your nuts!

Let it cool. Then ... CRACK!! You just made hazelnut brittle!

Food processor simply was not up to the task of making a praline paste (or maybe I was just too damn impatient) and so all I got was a crumbly mess.

Hmm ... maybe the liquifier can do a better job!

Paste! Doesn't look quite so appetising though...

Onward to making the core, the GENOISE!

Ah! Genoise. I think probably my favourite type of cake to make. Never ever fails when I do it. Or was it French Sponge? Are they the same thing? Who knows!

It never ceases to be amaze me how every part of an egg can be fluffed up, aerated and increased in volume by so much. Maybe if you pulverise the chicken shell and whisk it with water you'd be able to make something fluffy with it.

Pseudo-souffle...?

Voila! Yolks and whites all fluffed up! It's so interesting how no matter how hard you whisk a whole egg, you will never ever achieve even close the volume of separating, then whisking the egg.

Then, using my handy IKEA spatula, we fold together the yolk, the whites the flour, the nut meal and some melted butter, careful not to lose any of the air bubbles. Bubbles = fluffy cake! You could always cheat and put some baking powder in there. Think of it as insurance, not cheating. Bake batter for a while...

And out comes my cake. Very nice, if I do say so myself.

As you can see here, I positioned my cake next to a container of dental floss. "WTF?" the uninitiated might say, but I assure you, pleasant reader, I read no less than 10 people on the DB forums swearing by cutting cakes by floss! And so I tried it.

DISASTER. Ok maybe not "disaster" but it sure didn't work.

I used a regular serrated knife and got excellent results.
Results excellent enough for ... a photoshoot...?

"Stars Without Make-up".

WORK IT!!

I am insane. Someone me on track or we're gonna be here ALL day. Haha! You have no idea how long this post is taking me! I'm SO TIRED. This is about the moment when I start spewing out nonsense.

Whipped up some meringue for buttercream...

...took a dump of butter...

...and whipped it to tasty perfection!

And so does construction begin. I seriously need a kitchen. So messy! It's driving me nuts. It's probably not very hygienic either. Ah well! As long as it looks pretty and tastes nice.

Buttercream sides all fixed up and patched...

And GLAZED like a big fat doughnut! So shiny!

My first attempt at ganache didn't turn out so good. Choc seized up in revolt for being emasculated into liquid form (I have no idea what I'm trying to allude at. Honest.) and didn't want to play with old creamie. And so it made a sick mess. If you fail at first, cry and slit your wrists. Then try and try again.

I honestly believe that dark chocolate has one of the most amazing aromas of anything in the whole world. It is just simply stunning. Whenever I open the foil wrapping of a block I have to take a deep sniff of it and ah! So good.

Ganache 2.0 operational!

Not as smooth as I'd have wanted it, but we can't have everything in life can we? A normal kitchen would be nice though. At least my improvising skills are top notch!

And last but not least my finished cake! Nice? I suppose. Cake tasted not so nice. Pretty? I guess. Not my best work. What do you think? Please say "AWESOME!" or I'll go emo and quit The Daring Bakers. Haha. JOKE. NOT. BYE.