Sunday, October 28, 2007

Well, this is exciting -- my very first Daring Bakers challenge. It's been difficult to wait for the posting date, and, at last, here it is.

The October challenge was hosted by Mary at alpineberry. The treat was to create a Bostini cream pie, a yummy concoction of vanilla custard, orange chiffon cake, and chocolate sauce. (Full details about this dessert along with the recipe can be found at Mary's site.)

My first step was to make the vanilla custard, which I did the night before I baked the cake so it would have time to chill thoroughly.



Next came the orange chiffon cake. I halved the recipe, scaling out the ingredients, and baked it in a 9x9 pan. It came out only ok as there was a slight bit of separation at the bottom of the cake. Not satisfied with this, I made a second cake, being sure to really whip the egg whites until nearly stiff and having the oven well-heated. This time I also turned the cake upside down to cool, since it is a foam cake. The second cake turned out fine -- no cracks, no sinking, no rubber layer. I used various cookie cutters to get different shapes for the plating.

The chocolate sauce was straightforward.

The hardest part of the challenge was plating, so I spent some time trying out various kinds of serving dishes:

Number one is tiny -- in a liqueur glass.


Number two is in a small dish.


Number three is on a dish.


And, number four, my favorite, is in a margarita glass.


In the end, it didn't really matter what the dessert looked like, because it tasted so good. With a lot of pleasure and no guilt, I just polished off the remaining custard, all by itself.

Now, I'm looking forward to seeing the creations of the other Daring Bakers, and, of course, to the November challenge!

33 comments:

Gigi said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
kellypea said...

Congrats on your first challenge! I had fun plating my bostini different ways, too. Now, if I could give the left overs away so they don't end up on my hips, the world would be perfect.

Anne said...

Great job on your first challenge! :) I love the different plating you did, the first one is my favorite. :)

Pille said...

I love the margarita plating too, but just like Anne, the first one in a liquor glass is my favourite. Well done for completing your first challenge!

BC said...

Each plating looks gorgeous!

Brilynn said...

Nice work on plating the bostini!

Anonymous said...

Very nice presentation variations! Knowing how rich this is, I think my favorite is also the little liqueur glass.

Anonymous said...

Congrats on your first challenge!

Belinda said...

Wow...a very nicely done first challenge! I love the variety of presentations you have chosen. I think that was my favorite part of this challenge...it really translated nicely into a variety of presentations. :-)

Deborah said...

How fun - all of those different platings!! They all look wonderful!

slush said...

OoOoOo, I love all the different styles of tinis! Beautiful! Grats on your first challenge.

Andrea said...

I love your presentation experiments! Great Daring Bakers spirit!!

glamah16 said...

Your right it doesnt matter how its plated if it tastes good. BTW I like all of your platings.

Unknown said...

good job on your first challenge, love all the presentations

Anonymous said...

Congratulations on completing your first challenge! You did a great job!

breadchick said...

Great job on your first challenge. Love the various presentation glasses!!!

Anne said...

love how you used different glasses to present the bostini's :)
you did great on your first challenge!

April said...

Great job on completing your first challenge. They all look amazing!

Lis said...

Yay Judy! I love all your presentations - very cute!

Congrats on your first challenge!

xoxo

Jen Yu said...

Oh my gosh! So many variations on the plating - you are really creative :) I like the martini glass the best. Great job and congrats on your first DB challenge!

jen at use real butter

Sheltie Girl said...

Lovely lovely job. I like the margarita glass presentation too.

Natalie @ Gluten A Go Go

Unknown said...

I think my faove is the tiny one!

Christine said...

Each plating is great! Congrats on your first challenge.

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Well done! Congratulations on your first challenge!

Cheers,

Rosa

Alpineberry Mary said...

Thanks for sharing your different presentations. It was fun to see. Great job on your DB challenge!

MyKitchenInHalfCups said...

I was going to go for # 1 because it's beautiful and the perfect portion size for this rich dessert but every one of these is fabulous.
So glad you've joined us Judy. Welcome.

marias23 said...

Congrats on completing your first DB challenge! Great job and I love your presentations. J'adore!

Helene said...

Beautiful job on your first challenge! I'll take numner 2 and 4...oh what the heck...I'll take them all....especially because of the custard!!

Julie said...

All your platings are so fun! Good call on cooling your cake upside down. I'm glad it worked out!

Dolores said...

Bostini margaritas... I love it! Congratulations Judy.

Jenny said...

Nice work! At least we had plating options for this challenge!

Gabi said...

Nice work on the plating- I love how they got progressively bigger!
Congrats on making your 1st challenge so beautiful!
xoxo

Peabody said...

I like the margarita glass best too...well done.