Wednesday, July 30, 2008

Daring Bakers Challenge#3 - Filbert Gateau with Praline Buttercream



Its my third Daring bakers Challenge. I was feeling pretty confident after the last two challenges. And that was till I read this month's challenge.


This month's challenge is hosted by Chris at Mele Cotte . She chose Filbert Gateau with Praline ButterCream from Great Cakes by Carol Walter. The recipe was 6 pages long and had many steps. But the picture of the cake was just mouthwatering. I usually finish my challenge early. But this time I waited till the end to do it because of two birthday parties.
The only change I made to the cake was I used Cashew nuts(my fav nut) instead of hazelnut. I also skipped whipped cream since my family despises it. Seriously, they do :)

I did have some challenges though. The recipe called for a food processor. My friends would tell you that I DO NOT break rules. This helped me a lot when it comes to baking :) . So, I was ready to run to Walmart to get a food processor. But since I was not ready spend money for a food processor which I would probably not use after making the cake, I ditched the Walmart idea.


So, I just toasted the cashews and ground it like I did for the Opera Cake and mixed it with the cake flour and corn starch. Phew! one challenge down. The recipe also tells you pour the cake batter slowly and not to dump the clarified butter(ghee) into the cake batter. This would stop the cake from rising. And of course, in my haste to get the cake to the oven, I did exactly that. Needless to say, my cake did not rise well. I was so tempted to forgo dividing the cake into three lakes. Amazingly enough, I was actually able to cut the cake into three layers.


Now for the saga with pralines paste, I made the pralines as per the recipe. Then I realised that the recipe called for just 1/3 cup of it. So, I started making the pralines paste in small batches. Once I had the required 1/3 cup, I was 'generous' enough to distribute the 'Cashew Brittle' to my friends. I know, I'm a good friend :)

But even with all the mistakes and flops, the cake was just pure heaven.





You can find the full recipe here.

What do you think?


9 comments:

Shilpa said...

Wow..you used cashews... I am sure that would have come out great. Even I had not read about praline. I did not know what to do with remaining. So I just added it to buttercream :(

Medhaa said...

hey, wow cashews must be good. I too did not read about the pralines and have them still dont know what to do

Cakespy said...

I had a few flops myself, but guess what? There was no problem polishing off the end result. Yours looks delish!

Anonymous said...

Great job on your third challenge!

Aparna Balasubramanian said...

I liked the cashew idea. Might try it next time.
I'd say your cake looks quite good. At the end, what really matters is how good it tasted, and so this one's terrific.

Pamela said...

Great job, mine did not turn out as the most beautiful but it tasted great...how could it not?

Christy said...

Congratulations for finishing the challenge. This one's a little daunting, but I see that you've done really well!!

una donna dolce said...

I waited to the last minute this time too! Cashews sound great!

Lauren said...

Ooo, your cake looks wonderful! Love the cashew idea!!