Daring Bakers December 2012 Challenge: Panettone! (Gluten free attempt)

The December 2012 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by the talented Marcellina of Marcellina in Cucina. Marcellina challenged us to create our own custom Panettone, a traditional Italian holiday bread! I used to adore Panettone, all soft, sweet, buttery, light, flakey and fruity. I’ve not been able to taste one since being coeliac, and as they are rather an art form to bake, I’ve never even considered attempting my own. That was until this challenge presented itself.

When I read Panettone was this months challenge a felt a mixture of dread and excitement. Making a gluten free Panettone, a sweet bread that replies so heavily on its gluten structure for its unique flaky, buttery goodness seemed like an impossible task, but I decided to give it a go anyway.

The recipe involves many stages. A yeast sponge starter, a first dough, second dough, filling and prove. However, I have learnt from my many gluten free experiments that gluten free bread does not like being touched after its first prove. There is no gluten to hold the bread structure together and so purposely knocking out any air you have managed to create in the dough during a prove, is a bad idea. However, this did mean that I could condense the steps required, make one dough and then leave it to prove, meaning the process itself was quite quick. I didn’t have a Panettone mould so I used the base of my giant cupcake tin!

So how did my gluten free Panettone turn out?....well…..it was ok. It was more like a giant scone than a Panettone. It tasted nice, it reminded my strongly of Stollen rather than Panettone. It was quite dense, cakey and closely textured, and on day of baking it was soft and moist. However, by the following morning it had turned a little dry and very crumbly, making it seem even more scone-like.

I’m going to say it was a semi success. It had a good flavour, but apart from that it was nothing like a traditional Panettone. I may try it again in the future, but I think I would look for a gluten free Panettone recipe as my dough wasn’t right. I did add more water, but I think it needed more as the structure inside was not right.

I had fun attempting the challenge and as the saying goes, it’s the taking part that counts! Click here to see my fellow Daring Bakers delicious looking Panettone.  

Gluten Free Panettone

(Recipe loosely based on The Italian Baker by Carol Field)

Sponge

4g active dry yeast
60ml warm water
35g gluten free plain flour

Dough

4g active dry yeast
30ml warm water
2 eggs

1 egg yolk
290g gluten free plain flour
100g caster sugar
150g butter, melted

1½ tbsp honey

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp almond extract

½ tsp salt

½ tsp baking powder (my addition)

1½ tsp xanthan gum

Fruit Filling

100g golden raisins or sultanas
50g dried apricots, chopped
50g dried cranberries

Zest of ½ orange, coarsely grated
Zest of ½ lemon, coarsely grated

Sponge

Mix the yeast and water in a small bowl and allow to stand until creamy, around 10 minutes.

Mix in the flour, cover with clingfilm and allow to double in size for about 20 minutes.

Dough

Grease a Panettone mould or large round, deep baking tin. About 5inches wide.

Mix the yeast and water in a large bowl and allow to stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

Mix in the sponge and beat well with a wooden spoon.

Stir in the eggs, sugar, honey, melted butter, extracts and salt. Beat well to combine.

Sift over the flour, baking powder and xanthan gum.

Mix together and beat well for several minutes, until a smooth and sticky dough is formed. Add more water if it seems too stiff.

Add the fruits and grated zests and mix into the dough thoroughly.

Scrape the dough into the prepared tin and cover the top with lightly oiled clingfilm.

Place in a warm spot and leave to prove for 3 hours.

Baking

Preheat the oven to 200°C.

Place your panettone in the oven and bake for 10 minutes.

Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C and bake for another 10 minutes.

Reduce the heat again to 160°C and bake for 30 minutes until the tops are well browned and a skewer inserted into the panettone comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out onto a rack and leaving to cool completely.

(I’ve found this gluten free panettone/giant scone is ok on day of baking, although like scones, it doesn’t keep well and so is best eaten on day of baking.)

Daring Bakers Challenge November 2012: Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

The Daring Bakers challenge this month was a great choice! Christmas is fast approaching and the Holiday season is the time for sharing and Peta of Peta Eats is sharing a dozen cookies, some classics and some of her own, from all over the world with us. Peta provided us with 12 festive cookie recipes and we got to choose which one to bake. It was a hard choice, but when I came to this recipe for chocolate crinkle cookies, I knew I had to bake them. These cookies have been on my ‘must bake’ list for literality years. I’ve no idea why it’s taken me so long to get round to baking them, so when they turned up on the list it seemed the ideal opportunity.

All I can say is – why on earth has it taken me so long! These cookies are amazing! I can’t believe what I’ve been missing out on all these months, years even! If you’ve never tasted them yourself, don’t delay and bake some soon, they are fabulous.

The cookies are made using a very soft dough that must be chilled, rolled into balls, coated liberally in icing sugar and baked. During baking the cookies puff up and crack, creating a crazy paving style surface of icing sugar with the dark chocolate cookie dough peaking through underneath.

The dough contains a generous amount of light brown sugar, melted dark chocolate and a few ground nuts, which all give the finished cookies a great flavour and wonderful soft and slightly chewy texture. The chew reminded me of a similar texture to a coconut macaroon. Although the cookies look like they will be crisp and crunchy, the outer shell is wafer thin and the inside is wonderfully soft and cakey with a pleasing chew in the centre. Almost brownie-like.

The recipe makes rather a lot of cookies and so I took some into work Monday morning to share with my colleagues. One colleague commented that they looked very festive, which made me smile, as that was exactly the intention of this months Bakers challenge. I hadn’t prompted her at all. When the cookies are first coated in the powdery icing sugar, they do look like fluffy snowballs!

I’m so pleased I finally got to bake these cookies and I will certainly be making them again. They would be great to have on hand for non mince pie lovers over Christmas. They would be ideal to bake with children too, as rolling the cookies into balls is fun, and your hands tend to get a little chocolate covered, and most children I know love getting a little messy, especially if it means they get to lick their fingers afterwards.

Thanks Peta for choosing such a great challenge. Click to see the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

Ingredients

80g hazelnuts, skinned (I used almonds)

30g caster sugar

175g dark chocolate, around 60%

330g plain flour (I used 300g gluten free flour)

20g cocoa powder

2 tsp baking powder

½ tsp salt

100g unsalted butter, softened

300g light soft brown sugar

2 eggs

55ml whole milk

1 tsp vanilla extract (I used ½ tsp almond)

90g icing sugar

Make the Cookie DoughPut oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 170°C.

Toast the hazelnuts in a shallow baking tray in oven until skins split and nuts are pale golden, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven (turn the oven off), then wrap hazelnuts in a kitchen towel and rub to remove any loose skins. Leave to cool completely, before blitzing the nuts with the 30g caster sugar in a food processor until finely ground.

Melt the chocolate, either over a pan of simmering water or in the microwave until smooth and set aside.

In a clean bowl, beat together the butter and brown sugar until creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in melted chocolate until combined. Add milk and vanilla (or almond), beating to incorporate.

Scatter over the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the ground nuts on top and mix together using a spatula until well combined.

Cover the bowl with clingfilm and chill in the fridge for 2 hours, until firm.

Bake the Cookies

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.

Sift the icing sugar into a bowl. Halve dough and chill 1 half, wrapped in clingfilm.

Roll heaped teaspoonfuls of the dough between your hands to create 1 inch balls. Place them on the baking trays until you have used all the first half of the dough.

Roll the balls in the icing sugar, making sure they are very thickly coated. Carefully place the coated balls on the baking trays, leaving a 2 inch gap between each one. (I managed to get 12 to a sheet).

Bake, the cookies in the oven, switching the sheets half way through if baking two trays at once. Bake for a total of 12 minutes. The cookies should be puffed and cracked when cooked and still be very sot to the touch. They firm up on cooling.

All the cookies to cool on the tray for 3 minutes before sliding the cookies, still on baking paper, onto cooling racks and leaving to cool completely.

Repeat with the remaining half of the cookie dough.

Store in an airtight container once cooled.

Makes about 50 cookies. (Recipe can be easily halved)

Daring Bakers June 2012: Battenberg

I was so excited when this months Daring Bakers challenge was announced. I adore Battenberg cake, its quirky cream and pink squares, the soft fluffy sponge and best of all, the outer coating of intense almond marzipan. I’d never attempted to make one myself and have not eaten one since having to go gluten free. This made the challenge feel even more special and I was determined to get it right.

Mandy of What The Fruitcake?! came to our rescue last minute to present us with the Battenberg Cake challenge! She highlighted Mary Berry’s techniques and recipes to allow us to create this unique little cake with ease.

The part that I found most difficult was preparing the pan with a cardboard centre divide in order to bake two coloured sponges in the same pan simultaneously. I couldn’t get the divide to stand up, but thankfully another family member came to my rescue and held it in place while I spread the coloured batters on either side. I suspect if you were careful, you wouldn’t need to bother with the divide at all, as I don’t think the cake batters would spread too much into each other as they are quite thick. I may try this next time, especially as you trim the cake to size anyway.

After trimming I had my 4 strips of cake and was ready to begin assembly. As the sponges were delicately flavoured with almond and would be covered with almond marzipan I wanted to introduce another flavour element and decided to use some zingy lemon curd, instead of the specified apricot jam, to stick my cake strips together. This worked well as it was the perfect spreadable consistency and the lemon and almond flavour complimented each other nicely.

The assembly process is a little fiddly and time consuming, but it wasn’t difficult. My finished Battenberg ended up a little rectangular, rather than a perfect square/cube but for a first attempt I was more than happy with the results.

The checked pink and cream squares made it instantly recognisable and it sliced into portions without falling apart, the lemon curd and marzipan doing their jobs well. The sponge was wonderfully soft and fluffy and surprisingly moist considering the dry ingredients were more than a usual cake recipe. The thin spreading of lemon curd added just a touch of freshness and sweetness to the cake, and the almond marzipan was, naturally, fabulous. I love how it is wrapped around the whole cake so you can get a bit of cake, jam and marzipan in each bite – heavenly!

I made this cake for a coeliac friend who I had invited round for dinner. We had recently been talking about food we missed and she had actually mentioned Battenberg, so she seemed the perfect person to share it with. This recipe is by Mary Berry and I’ve seen she also has a more adult coffee and walnut version too, which I’m sure is delicious, but for me the pink and cream squares are part of what make it so special and so childishly nostalgic to me.

Click here to see other Daring Bakers Battenberg cakes

Battenberg

(Recipe adapted from Mary Berry’s Baking Bible)

Cake
175g unsalted butter
175g caster sugar
175gm gluten free self raising flour
3 eggs
65g ground almonds
¾ tsp gluten free baking powder
½ tsp vanilla extract
¼ tsp almond extract

¼ tsp xanthan gum (if making GF)
Pink food paste

To Decorate
100g apricot jam (I used lemon curd)
225g marzipan, natural

Cake
Preheat oven to moderate 180C and grease an 8inch/20cm square baking tin. Cut a large rectangle of parchment paper, the width of the tin. Cut a sheet of card the width of the tin and wrap it in foil. Then fold this inside the centre of the parchment, to create a wall/divide to go through the centre of the tin. Line the tin with parchment paper, creating a divide in the middle with the parchment covered card.
Whisk together the dry ingredients then combine with the wet ingredients in a large bowl and beat together just until the ingredients are combined and the batter is smooth.
Spoon half the mixture into the one side of the prepared baking tin.
Add a few pinpricks of pink food paste to the remaining batter, stir until the colour is thoroughly distributed, and spread into the second half of the divided tin.
Bake for 25-30mins until the cake is well risen and springs back when lightly touched.
Leave to cool in the tin for a few minutes before turning out to cool thoroughly on a wire rack.

Assembly

Once completely cool, trim the very edges of the cake with a long serrated knife to cut away of the browned surface.
Cut each coloured sponge in half lengthways so that you are left with four long strips of sponge.

Neaten the strips and trim the tops if necessary so that your strips are all the same length and height.
Gently heat the apricot jam and pass through a small sieve (I used cold lemon curd).

Brush warmed jam onto the strips of cake to stick the cake together in a checkered pattern (one yellow next to one pink. On top of that, one pink next to one yellow).
Dust a large flat surface with icing sugar then roll the marzipan in an oblong shape that is wide enough to cover the length of the cake and long enough to completely wrap the cake, use a ruler to help you.
Brush the top of the cake with the jam and place the cake on the marzipan, jam side down. Brush the remaining three sides with jam and carefully press the marzipan around the cake, making sure the join is either neatly in the one corner, or will be underneath the cake once turned over.
Carefully flip the cake over so that the seam is under the cake and score the top of the cake with a knife, to create a diamond effect. (I also crimped mine with an icing tool).
Neaten the ends of the cake and cut thin slices off both ends of the cake, to create a good presentation.

Store at room temperature and eat within 3 days.

Daring Bakers February 2012 Challenge: Very Berry & Apricot Muffins

(I’m still in LA, but I set this post up to publish itself before I left. Never done this before so hope it’s worked)

I love berry muffins but very rarely bake them as I’m almost ashamed to admit, that I’m not that good at baking them. Ones I’ve made in the past have either have flat rather dry tops, or not been that different to an un-iced cupcake. However, this months Daring Bakers challenge was to make a quick bread in the flavour, and shape of our choice. As the whole group is about challenges, I decided it was time to give muffins another go.

I browsed the internet looking for my ideal muffin, and when I came across this one by Zoom Yummy, I called off the search. It looked fantastic and utterly drool-worthy. Packed full of berries with a soft texture and nicely risen. I had to do a little tweaking to make it gluten free and adapt it to my preferences but I was ready to get baking!

The main difference between a cupcake and a muffin is that muffins generally rely on a milk and oil base, rather than a butter base. They also generally use fewer eggs and you are actually aiming to achieve a lumpy batter, rather than a smooth one as this helps give them their light texture. Despite knowing this I think I slightly over worked my batter as there were very few lumps left. I’m too used to baking cakes!

I was a little worried about how full the cases were after I’d divided out the batter, but I went with it and sure enough they rose perfectly. Just high enough to create little domes without cracking and spilling out all over the tin. So fill them more than you might normally think is wise as the weight of the fruit holds the batter down a bit.

Frozen blueberries, cranberries and some fresh apricots are what made up my fruit mix. I loved the colours together, each so striking and bright. They looked so inviting when baked, each one bursting into the surrounding muffin creating little pools of vibrant jammy fruit.

I loved the muffins, but was slightly disappointed they didn’t go a lovely golden brown on top. I suspect this might be down to the flours I used. Next time I will try baking them at a higher temperature for a shorter amount of time and seeing if that helps. This is purely aesthetic though and the muffins themselves were soft and tender. I’m sure they would also be great with some almond extract or lots of lemon zest too, but I liked them plain and simple. Letting the natural mix of sweet, juicy, tart, jammy fruits shine through.

The Daring Bakers’ February 2012 host was – Lis! Lisa stepped in last minute and challenged us to create a quick bread we could call our own. She supplied us with a base recipe and shared some recipes she loves from various websites and encouraged us to build upon them and create new flavor profiles. I started from scratch with my own research. Click here to see the Daring Baker blogroll to see bakers quick breads.

Very Berry & Apricot Muffins
(Recipe adapted from Zoom Yummy blog)

Ingredients
100g white teff flour*
80g buckwheat flour*
60g brown rice flour*
150g caster sugar
3 tsp baking powder
250ml/250g milk
125ml/95g sunflower oil
2 tsp lemon juice
1 egg
300g fresh or frozen fruits & berries (I used equal mix of frozen blueberries, cranberries & fresh apricots)

* can be substituted for an equal quantity gluten free flour mix or regular plain flour

Method
Preheat the oven to 180C and line a muffin tray with 12 paper liners.
Mix the milk, oil, lemon juice and egg together in a bowl and set aside.
Place the flours, sugar and baking powder together in a larger bowl and mix to combine.
Pour the milk mixture over the flour mixture and use a spatula to gently fold everything together. You want a few lumps to remain, not a smooth batter, so don’t beat it.
Add your fruits and mix briefly.
Divide the mixture between the paper cases, filling almost to the top, more than you might normally think was wise. (I found I needed 1½ ice cream scoops of batter in each).
Bake for 18-22 minutes until risen and springy to the touch.
Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to cool completely.
Best eaten within 3 days or frozen on day of baking. Lovely served warm with custard for a quick dessert.

Daring Bakers January 2012 Challenge: Gluten Free Lemon & Almond Scones

Audax Artifex was our January 2012 Daring Bakers’ host. Aud worked tirelessly to master light and fluffy scones (a/k/a biscuits) to help us create delicious and perfect batches in our own kitchens!

I was delighted when this months Daring Bakers challenge was revealed to be scones. I have always loved scones and eaten and baked them many times in recent years. However, since going gluten free over a year ago I had yet to try attempting to make gluten free scones. I have eaten gluten free scones a couple of times when they have been bought for me by well wishing friends from supermarkets and they have all been revolting. Most have been dry and hard, with the texture of cardboard and flavour not much better. One particular batch must have used so much baking powder to try and achieve a rise to the scone that it stripped the skin off the roof of my mouth, leaving it feeling sore and tender – yuk!

So it was with slight trepidation that I set about this challenge. I decided to base my recipe on one I’d seen in The Gluten Free Baker book by Hannah Miles. I liked the fact that they included some ground almonds and buttermilk which I was sure would help with the texture and flavour of the scone. I decided to add in some lemon zest as I think lemon and almond compliment each other wonderfully.

When shaping the dough I simply formed it into a round and cut this into triangles rather than cutting out circles. I always feel this gives a cleaner cut, resulting in a better rise.

Once baked, they looked and smelt very promising. A little craggy in appearance, but I like to think this gives them homemade appeal. They smelt so inviting that I couldn’t resist eating one warm, straight out the oven.

The scone was warm, soft and tender. Slightly crumbly, but light and delicate. Not dense or tough like some bought gluten free scones I’ve tried. As it was warm, the flavour of the almond and lemon really shone through and when eaten with a big blob of raspberry jam, it made the whole thing taste deliciously like a Bakewell tart. The scones light and soft texture taking place of the frangipane topping. Mmm so good!

Thanks Audax for choosing this months challenge and giving me the push to bake my own gluten free scones. Click here to see the Daring Bakers blogroll.

Gluten Free Lemon & Almond Scones
(Recipe adapted from The Gluten Free Baker by Hannah Miles)

Ingredients
100g white teff flour*
75g brown rice flour*
40g ground almonds
50g butter
125ml buttermilk
½ tsp xanthan gum
20g caster sugar
½ tsp almond extract
Zest of ½ lemon
2 tsp gluten free baking powder
Milk and caster sugar for glazing

Method
Preheat the oven to 190C and have a baking tray to hand.
Place all the ingredients, except the buttermilk and butter into a large bowl and mix to combine.
Cut the butter into small cubes and add to the flour mixture. Rub the butter through the flour using the tips of your fingers until it resembles fine crumbs.
Pour over most of the buttermilk and use a round bladed knife to work the milk into the flour to create a dough. When a dough is starting to form, tip the mixture out onto a work surface and use your hands to bring it together into a soft dough. It shouldn’t be too sticky. Add a little more buttermilk if needed.
Knead gently for a few seconds and then form into a round ball. Pat this down to create a thick circle, about 2.5cm/1inch thick.
Cut the dough round into 6 triangles and arrange on the baking tray.
Brush the tops (not the sides) with a little milk or buttermilk and scatter over a little caster sugar.
Bake for 17-20minutes until just lightly golden around the edges.
Leave to cool for one minute before transferring to a rack to cool slightly.
Serve while still warm with plenty of different jams (and cream if you like) for spreading.
Best eaten or frozen on day of baking.
Makes 6 scones

Note
*If you can’t find brown rice or teff flours, you can use 175g of a plain gluten free flour mix, such as Doves Flour.

The Daring Bakers November 2011 Challenge: Chocolate Hazelnut Sans Rival

On reading this title I expect you are thinking ‘what on earth is a Sans Rival?’ If so, then rest assured I was thinking the exact same thing when I first heard about this challenge. It turns out that Sans Rival is a delicious layered meringue cake comprising of four nutty layers of meringue, sandwiched together with a French buttercream. ‘Sans’ means ‘without’ in French, so I assume this dessert is so good that it is to be considered without rivals – as in it beats all others!

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog. This month I stuck to just the Sans Rival cake.

We were having some relatives round for dinner and so I thought this cake would make the ideal dessert. It’s traditionally made with ground cashew nuts, but I chose to use hazelnuts instead and to add melted dark chocolate to by French buttercream as I adore the combination of chocolate and hazelnuts together. On assembling the dessert I also added a little raspberry jam between each layer, which made for a delicious trinity of flavours. I was especially delighted as this dessert was also naturally gluten free – hurrah.

I had high hopes for this dessert and it sounded simple enough. However, for some reason my meringue layers just refused to go crisp in the oven. They were meant to be baked for 30minutes, after which time they were nicely golden on top, but when I gave them a prod they were still sticky and gooey. I gave them another 20 minutes by which time they had developed a crisp outer crust. ‘Good’ I thought and took them out to cool. As they cooled they turned back to being soft and a little gooey. Back into the oven they went. This continued for 2 hours by which time I had had enough and decided they would just have to stay as they were.

Thankfully the French buttercream came together quickly and easily and resulted in a gorgeously silky dark chocolate cream that tasted divine. I could have (and did) eaten it by the spoonful. I really should make the effort to make this more often for other cakes as it’s just incredible, so smooth and creamy.

When it came to serving the dessert later that evening, my meringue layers had turned into something resembling more nougat than meringue. It was soft, gooey and chewy and actually made for a lovely tasting dessert with the chocolate and raspberry filling, but was definitely not the crisp layers it should have been.

Although my meringue layers were a disappointment the flavours of the desert itself more than made up for it. There was even one dinner guest who stole a forkful off someone else’s plate after she had finished her own! In summary, it tasted good, but after the stress of the meringue layers I probably wouldn’t make it again (well not this particular meringue recipe anyway). I was also disappointed in my presentation but the meringue just wasn’t playing ball. I halved the recipe below and baked a 6.5inch cake.

Click here to see the blogroll of other Daring Bakers Sans Rival Cakes

Sans Rival

Ingredients
10 large egg whites, room temperature
225g caster sugar
1 tsp cream of tartar
20g cocoa powder (optional and not traditional – I left this out)
240g roughly ground, toasted cashews (I used hazelnuts)

Method
Note: You will need four layers which will mean that you might have to bake in two batches. Be sure to use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch.
1. Preheat oven to 160C.
2. Line cake pan bottoms (9inch/23cm) with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides really well.
3. In a large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)
4. Fold in nuts, reserving enough to use for decoration.
(Note the more finely ground for folding into meringue. The coarsely ground for is decoration of finished cake.)
5. Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread in pans, evenly to edges. If doing batches, use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch.
6. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.
7. When cool, trim edges so that all 4 meringue layers are uniformly shaped. Set aside.

French Buttercream
5 large egg yolks, room temperature
225g caster sugar
60ml water
285g unsalted butter, room temperature
55g dark chocolate, melted
1 tbsp hazelnut liqueur (my addition)

Method
1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
2. Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 112C (or thread stage).
3. With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Add the hazelnut liqueur. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add the melted chocolate and beat well. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Assembly
4 tbsp raspberry Jam (my addition)

Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts. Refrigerate until ready to serve. I also added a thin spreading of raspberry jam between each layer.

Daring Bakers October 2011 Challenge: Povitica!

The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern European Dessert Bread that is as lovely to look at as it is to eat!

Povitica, pronounced ‘po-va-teet-sa’ is traditional Eastern European dessert bread that is traditionally served during the holiday season. It is also known as Nutroll, Potica, Kalachi or Strudia. It is a heavy sweet bread that requires quite a bit of time, skill and patience to make, meaning they often sell for extortionate amounts. Povitica is quite unique and unlike any other kind of bread I’ve ever come across. It looks a little rustic on the outside, but once sliced, reveals the most amazing swirls of thin dough interlaced with sweet sticky filling. I love how its not even just one swirl, but two or three individual swirls in each slice. It really is quite extraordinary, a real show stopper!

The traditional filling for this bread is an English walnut filling, but we were allowed to choose our own flavours. Keeping with the nutty theme I decided to use ground pecans and chestnut puree. As the swirls created inside the bread reminded me of cinnamon rolls, I also added raisins and cinnamon which together with the nuts gave it a wonderfully flavoursome and festive flavour.

The bread itself is quite heavy, by which I mean by weight rather than texture. On average a loaf weighs an amazing 2.5 pounds, over 1.2kg! Despite this, it wasn’t dense, chewy or hard going, but surprisingly soft, moist and springy.

The gooey sticky filling was divine, faintly coarse from the nuts, creamy from the divine chestnut puree (I adore this stuff) and the cinnamon and sultanas adding little burst of fruity stickiness when bitten into. It tasted a bit like the filling for a praline chocolate, just fabulous! The small amount of cocoa didn’t add much to the flavour, but ensured a dark filling, helping to create the striking swirl effect within each slice.

I so nearly didn’t attempt this loaf, unsure how it would reproduce gluten free, as so far my bread based gluten free baking has been a bit hit and miss. I’m so pleased I decided to take the plunge and make this bread. It was absolutely fabulous and that moment of slicing into the loaf and revealing the swirls tucked away inside was one of pure delight. I was dancing round the kitchen in such a good mood – It worked!

Bing gluten free the dough was a little fragile to work with and probably a bit thicker than gluten-containing dough, but I’m more than happy with my results. I had a little bit of a scary moment thinking about getting it into the tin in one piece, but in the end I went for the classic, quick scoop and plonk method using my hands and it worked fine.

I enjoyed the bread so much than I’m planning on using the recipe again, only this time slicing the roll into rounds and baking them as sticky buns or cinnamon rolls. It was so good! Thanks so much Jenni for introducing me to this bread and pushing me out of my comfort zone!

Click here to see other Daring Bakers Povitica’s

Povitica with Pecan, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Raisin Filling

To Activate the Yeast
½ tsp caster sugar
½ tsp buckwheat flour
2 tbsp warm water
1½ tsp dry active yeast

Povitica Dough
120 ml whole milk
40g caster sugar
½ tsp salt
1 egg
25g unsalted Butter, melted
260g gluten free flour (100g buckwheat, 80g white teff, 80g brown rice flour)
2 tsp xanthan gum

Pecan, Chestnut, Cinnamon, Raisin Filling
50g pecans
40g sultanas
3 tbsp sweetened chestnut puree
50ml milk
50g butter
1 egg yolk
55g caster sugar
1 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp cinnamon

To Activate the Yeast
In a small bowl, stir together the sugar, yeast and flour. Add the water and stir well. Leave to one side for 5 minutes until thick and foamy.

To Make the Dough

In a medium saucepan, heat the milk and sugar together until the milk is hot, but not boiling, and the butter melted. Set to one side and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the milk, egg, sugar and the salt until combined.
Add the flour mixture and xanthan gum and pour over the yeast mixture. Use a spatula to work the dough together into a thick paste. It may be slightly sticky. Beat the batter until smooth using the spatula, adding a little more flour if it seems particularly sticky, although it should still be soft.
Cover the bowl with the dough loosely with a layer of clingfilm and place somewhere warmish to rise for one and a half hours until risen and slightly puffed looking.

To Make the Filling

Grind the pecans with half the sugar in a food processor or spice grinder until very fine.
In a bowl, mix together the ground nuts, sugar, cinnamon, cocoa powder, raisins and chestnut puree. Heat the butter and milk together until the butter has melted and then pour over the filling mix and stir together well. Finally, beat in the egg yolk. It will be quite liquid.
Transfer to the fridge to cool and thicken slightly while the dough is proving.

Assembling the Dough

Thoroughly grease a 1lb (8 x 4.5") loaf tin well and line the base and up two sides with a long strip of greaseproof paper.
Spread a clean sheet over your entire work surface so that it is covered (I used two large overlapping sheets of clingfilm).
Sprinkle a couple of tablespoons of flour over the top and place the dough on the sheet and roll the dough out with a rolling pin, starting in the middle and working your way out, until you can’t get it any thinner. It should be very thin, as thin as you dare without breaking it.
Spoon the prepared filling evenly over dough and use a spatula or clean hands to spread it out into an even layer, covering the dough – it will still be very soft.
Lift the edge of the cloth/clingfilm and gently roll the dough up as if making a swiss roll. Try and keep it quite tight, using the clingfilm or sheet to help you lift and roll the dough.
Once the dough is rolled up into a rope, gently, curve one end up alongside the dough, while curving the other end down to create an ‘S’ shape of dough. This will give the dough its characteristic look when sliced.
Quickly scoop up the dough and place it into the loaf tin. Don’t worry too much about how it falls, as long as you keep it in its ‘S’ shape.
Brush the top of the loaf with any scrapes of leftover filling mixture (or a little milk and sugar if you prefer).
Allow the dough to rest for 15 minutes while you preheat the oven to 180C.
Once the oven is up to temperature, bake for 15 minutes before reducing the heat to 150C and baking for 45 minutes more. Cover the loaf with a sheet of foil for the last 15 minutes if it’s looking too brown.
Remove the bread from oven and leave to cool almost completely in the tin, before running a knife around the edge and turning out.
Serve in thick slices and marvel at the intricate swirled design of the bread and filling.
Eat within 3 days or store in the fridge and eat within a week – 10days.
Makes one Povitica loaf