I've been a baaad, baaad Daring Baker!!!

Yes, yes! I'm guilty of being a horrid DBer for the past few months, skipping challenges left and right! As John Lennon sang, "Life is what happens when you're busy making other plans". Nevertheless, it's no excuse to let down my fellow DBers and skip challenges! So, this post will regale you the details of the August DB challenge: Pierre Herme's Chocolate Eclairs. Hey, it's better late than never, no? Also, I figure that I cannot skip a challenge that involves the DBers' sugah daddy, Pierre Herme. The recipe can be found in his book, Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme.

The whole process was quite simple. The recipe comes in three parts for the three different components: dough, pastry cream and glaze. I thought the most difficult part was trying to pipe in the pastry cream without having to split the baked and cooled choux. By the way, did you know that the eclair is a sort of French donut according to Wikipedia???


I thought that the eclair is already a perfect enough classic treat without trying to alter the recipe much. I mean, seriously, how can beat a creamy, sweet custard filling in a baked crisp yet soft dough topped with chocolate sauce? Seriously! So, the only variation that I did was to drizzle some melted white chocolate on top. Pretty?


Suffice to say, the eclairs didn't last long when I brought them to lab, where they were all snapped up by starving scientists. Thank goodness I had the sense to save some dough and baked up more choux. However, this time, I make profiteroles with them. Ok, so I was wrong before, you can beat the perfect eclair by filling the choux with ice cream! :D


Also, apologies for the overly gigantic pictures (for now). Photobucket isn't exactly cooperating...

My April DB challenge- Cheesecake Brulee Bites

I love love love mini, bite-sized treats! Which is why I was so elated to find out this month's DB challenge are bite-sized cheesecake treats! There's just something about diminutive, individually-portioned bites that is appealing to me. I think part of the reason is portion control so I won't overeat, but I can promise you that's a hard feat because these cheesecake treats are so very yummy! And the challenge comes in good time too as I have been hankering for creamy, rich cheesecake lately.

The lovely Deborah and Elle were the kind hostesses this month and chose the recipe from a cookbook that simply the most scrumptious title ever: Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey. Seriously, how can you not love it?

The recipe itself was very simple and straightforward. However, I had a slight problem with the cheesecake not setting beautifully. All I did to solve the issue was to freeze the cheesecake balls with the popsicle sticks for about half an hour. I just had a pretty decadent weekend and wanted something lighter. My daring adjustments include using Neufchatel cheese that supposedly has 1/3 less fat than normal cream cheese, and coating the cheese balls with sugar and bruleeing them instead of super rich chocolate.


The cheesecake balls didn't freeze completely but was solid enough to withstand a super hot torch. Unfortunately, they weren't as perfectly spherical as I wanted them to be and the not-so-perfect-ly-spherical shape was more detectable without a nice chocolate coat. Overall, the cheese pops were delish and just the right-sized "light" treat I wanted. Like the book its recipe came out of, these sure were sticky, chewy, messy and gooey, just the kind of dessert I like *winks*


If you want to salivate over more of these cheesecake balls, check out my friends' creations here and be prepared to be blown away!

Spring has sprung!

Once upon a March, a teeny weeny bunny faced a Daring Bakers challenge. It was the daring Morven's turn to host and she wisely picked a sprightly recipe for us: the Perfect Party Cake by the one and only Dorie Greenspan. Having only salivated at Dorie's books, the bunny was uber excited about the cake, only to despair having no special occasion to bake for.

Though the bunny's birthday is in March, she was away in a foreign land with her beloved sister for the occasion. Fortunately, the Easter holiday came to the rescue! Even though the funny bunny didn't celebrate the holy day, she had plenty of friends who did. The bunny quite liked cake allright, but being pint-sized, the bunny liked all things small and cute. She then decided that instead of baking a large, beautiful cake, she will bake cupcakes because there's really nothing more adorably delicious than cuppy cakes.

But how should the bunny ensure that she follows the challenge rules, for one of the rules is that it has to be a layer cake! Think and think, the bunny did, before she thought, "Eureka! Layer cupcakes!" And layer cupcakes, the bunny made.

She started with the batter, which was easy breezy and a beautiful daffodil yellow, very apt for a springy occasion such as Easter.


To make layer cupcakes, the daring bunny baked the layers separately; she baked half of them in cupcake baking cups and the other half sans paper in the cupcake pan, with only a tablespoon of batter in each.




The mini cupcakes (as if cupcakes weren't mini enough!) rose slightly and were a pretty yellow.


To start the assembly process, the funny bunny laid out the cupcake in a baking cup, which will be the bottom layer.


She then spooned a teaspoonful of luscious strawberry jam and smoothed it over the top...


... before she plopped the paperless cupcake (the top layer) on the jam-frosted cupcake!


And as if this isn't sufficient fabulosity, the bunny decided to be funny and slathered the top with Dorie's decadent vanilla buttercream, only to top it off with a sprinkling of fluffy flaked coconut.


Nothing is more fun than decorating cupcakes, but the bunny couldn't wait to tuck into this darling lemony cake! She split it in half, only to show off that the cupcake crumb is delectable and its layers simply exquisite (if she must say to herself!).


In no time did the greedy bunny polished off the pretty cupcake, leaving only mysterious yellow crumbs and flakes and pink paper on the plate.


Fortunately, the funny bunny managed to hide a bunch more cuppy cakes away from her tummy, so that her friends who celebrate Easter actually had a chance to enjoy them too! Really, she's rather impressed she had this much self-control considering how yummy the cakes were!


Now check out more daring creations of other talented bunnies and chickies that are popping all over the internet here. Please be kind to your computer; prepare some napkins for your mouth in case my friends' pictures are excessively mouth-watering!

French bread, oh, French bread. How do I serve thee? Let me count the ways...

French bread is one of my favorite things ever. It is so simple yet complex; crusty yet chewy; and delicious both unadorned and ... well, adorned! So imagine the joy (and slight apprehension, which I will get to later) when the wonderful Daring Bakers announced that our mission for February is to make French bread with Julia Child's (deceptively) simple recipe. Upon first inspection of the recipe, I was simply floored by its length and contents. I mean, really, we're going to need canvas? And plywood? Sounds more like an art project, no? And can you blame my slight apprehension? I'm not going to wax poetic too much about it but when you come right down to it, baking is artistic!

Unlike my normal baking/cooking projects, I set out to be uber organized this time. I printed out the recipe (10 pages long, thank you very much!), laid out all the special equipment and ingredients ("mise en place") before I even started. Baking French bread took way longer than my usual baking recipes (think a whole Sunday!), but it was totally worth it because my French breads turned out beautiful! It was Sunday anyway, so during the multiple proofs (or incubation steps, as we call it in lab/geek talk), I just tinkered around the house, reading the paper, watching TV and doing little chores.

I made the mistake of digging into one before it was cooled completely. I mean, it took 2 whole hours to cool and let the crust set, but I was just sooo seduced by the aroma of fresh bread out of the oven. I couldn't resist! The bread tasted good but the crust wasn't as crusty as I was hoping. Fortunately, the second bread that I let cool for the whole 2 hours was much better: super crusty crust and chewy, bubbly middle. Although it isn't a French bakery-standard bread, it comes pretty darn close! And as usual, there are a few hundred DB posts up today. Kinda crazy but oh so worth it to check out! So take a look the creations of my talented friends here!

As the title of this post suggests, how did I serve this divine bread?


1. By itself: So simple and delicious! This may make me sound like a freak, but my favorite part of bread is actually the crust. Whenever I get a loaf of bread, I always attack the ends. Chewy middles are a distant second in my opinion. So the high crust-to-innard ratio of baguettes is a huge plus to me!

2. With butter: Still very simple and oh, so decadent. I think it might be especially yummy if you can get butter from dairy farmers who make small batches of unhomogenized and sometimes, unpasteurized butter as featured in the NYT.

3. With butter and jam: To further bring your taste buds nearer to nirvana, add jam to #2. Not jelly please no! But J-A-M. My current favorite is this awesomely flavorful blackberry jam from Trader Joe's. I just ran out but I'm hoping it's not just a seasonal item...

4. With butter and roasted garlic cloves shmeared on top. Now, THIS is sheer heaven!


5. As part of a bánh mì: If you haven't tried one of these yummy sammie, you have to try one right now. And I mean, go to a pho place right NOW! Banh mi is a Vietnamese-style sandwich made with baguettes. It is usually made with pork, chicken, pickled carrots, some veggies and cilantro.

6. With chocolate: As exemplified by fellow DBer Tartelette here.

7. With extra virgin olive oil as dip: Droooooolz!

8. With cheese of all kinds: goat, brie, blue, Cheddar. Oh, the possibilities are endless!

9. With Nutella: I suppose Nutella could be considered chocolate. But I think Nutella is just so good it deserves its own category. I really think the USDA should really reserve a place for this delicious hazelnutty chocolatey goodness in the food pyramid. Don't you?

10. As crostini: Sliced thinly, toasted and topped with various yummies like chopped tomato and basil, garlic hummus and pine nuts, roasted tomato puree and sliced mozzarella, etc.

11. For croutons: I've never been a fan of croutons and consider this one to be a bit of a waste of good bread. But hey, I'm sure there are folks out there who beg to differ and can't live without croutons...


That's only eleven of the ways I can think to serve French bread. Care to share any of your own ideas?

It's just not meant to be... Argh!

Apologies for having to miss the new year's first DB challenge. I've been on overdrive at work because I'm going to be taking 2 weeks off to go home to Indonesia and Singapore for Chinese New Year. Needless to say, I've had no life whatsoever the past month because my lab's also trying to submit an abstract for a scientific meeting in June. And if this isn't enough, I'm thinking of joining a business plan competition centered around a food-related idea that will be web-based. Phew!

At the same time, I'm sad that I have to sit out on this DB challenge because I've never made lemon meringue pie before and I actually have some funky ideas on how to make the recipe mine, so to speak. I will definitely try this out in the near future, so keep a look out for it here. Meanwhile, please enjoy the other talented DBers' creations here!

Christmastime is here...

As you may have known already, I approach Christmas with mixed feelings. I despise the over-the-top commercial feel that the season now has but I love that it is the time of the year that everyone (and I mean, everyone!) tries to be kind. Growing up in Indonesia, my family never celebrated Christmas. We usually had a Christmas tree in the house though. Kinda weird, isn't it? Raised in a Muslim country, with Chinese parents and educated in a Catholic convent, it's little wonder that I'm confused! :)

It's unfortunate that I'm stuck in Chicago for the holidays, with my family so far away. I'm quite jealous of my friends who are going home to be with their families. If only my family didn't live so far away... Also, I'm going in to the lab this weekend, on Christmas Eve and day. I know, I know, pathetic, I know.

Fortunately, I have this month's Daring Bakers' challenge to console me: the Yule log or the buche de Noel. As you may know already, it is a traditional Christmas dessert in France and Quebec. According to Wikipedia, Napoleon ordered Parisians to keep their chimneys closed during winter due to the belief that exposure to cold air causes health problems. This perevented Parisians from using the fireplace and engaging in traditions involving the hearth. Supposedly, French bakers invented this sweet log-shaped dessert as a symbolic replacement around which families can gather and continue their traditions.

I have actually made a chocolate buche de Noel for a friend's Christmas gathering a few years back. It was super rich, chocolatey and decadent. Anyway, I just remember really liking it! Ivonne and Lisa are kindly hosting this month's challenge and the besides the basic genoise, dark buttercream (one strict rule is that it has to be dark!) and mushroom decorations, we're free to go crazy! Yippee!

The sources of the recipe are from Perfect Cakes by Nick Malgieri and The Williams-Sonoma Collection: Dessert.

Unlike the previous 3 DB challenges I've made, I managed to fudge this one up real bad. And I mean, pretty badly. I had to make each component of the yule log twice! Yes, the genoise, buttercream and meringues. Twice! Fortunately, they improved the second time I made them otherwise, I would've totally given up! The genoise cake recipe seems simple enough with the usual ingredients such as eggs, sugar, flour and cornstarch. The first time around, I spread the batter too thinly and baked it for too long. As you can see below, the sides were browned.


As a matter of fact, the cake nearer to the sides was baked to a crisp. I only made 2/3 of the genoise recipe and I think I might've spread it too thinly on the jelly roll pan. Big mistake! The second time around, I made followed the recipe as is and baked it for only 10 minutes. I also let the batter expand even more in volume before adding the flour mixture. Even though it looked allright, the genoise was a tad dry for my taste. I added a splash of vanilla extract into the batter, which made it very fragrant, but other than that, it's rather bland.


I decided to try out a luscious-looking raspberry jam I bought from the local grocery store as the filling. I mean, check out the label! It says "More Fruit than Regular Preserves". Now, who doesn't want that? Talk about raspberry, I miss summer already not because of the heat (oh, I hate summer heat and humodity!) but because of berries, which are my absolute favorite things in the world! So anyway, after spreading the filling oh-so carefully on the genoise, it's time to roll!


Unlike the thin, elegant yule logs I made previously and that I've seen on TV and in magazines, I decided to do something different (and a little crazy. Well, maybe a lot crazy). I though it would be interesting to make a thick log. I guess looking at my creation now, it's more like a stump than a log. Haha! To do so, I cut the genoise into 4 strips length-wise.


Rolling the genoise was a tad tricky but I manages to not ruin it, fortunately. The first strip was rolled into a tight cylinder. The next strip of cake was then just rolled around the first cylinder of genoise and so on, until all the cake is used up. Check it out!


Next, comes the buttercream. The recipe supplied was for a coffee buttercream. I personally have an aversion to coffee. I also don't like coffee flavored stuff (with the exception of coffee ice cream), so I decided to go with a chocolate buttercream. My first attempt was pure nightmare, with the buttercream curdling and looking totally gross. After realizing that the meringue has to be totally cooled and that the butter has to be at room temperature, the second try went smoothly.

I had the most fun with the meringue mushrooms and other decorations. I simply adore meringue. They're light, fluffy and never fails to please the palate. I wanted to try out something that I saw on the Food Network show, Sugar Rush. In the special holiday episode, host Warren Brown visited the DC restaurant Citronelle, and learned from chef Michel Richard who to fashion snowmen out of fluffy meringue. In addition, he stuffed the snowmen with ice cream. How decadent is that? Unfortunately, I somehow burned my meringues the first time I made them and by the time I had to make the meringues a second time around, I was quite discouraged and decided to just make simple meringue shrooms :)


Even though I didn't have the gumption to make the ice cream-filled meringue today, it's something I will definitely try out in the future. As a matter of fact, I got ahead of myself today and purchased the ice cream I was planning on stuffing the meringue with. Check it out!


Creme brulee ice cream by Ben & Jerry! I've never really been a big fan on B&J mostly because I think their toppings can get too damn chunky! So chunky that I can't fully enjoy the actual ice cream. I suppose that might be the whole point of B&J ice cream but I actually like the frozen cream part better than the toppings. I'm a purist, I know. But this creme brulee ice cream isn't as chunky as the typical B&J creation. It has a nice amount of swirls of caramelized sugar and a super rich custardy ice cream.


So, this DB challenge didn't go as well as I expected. I probably wouldn't make a buche de Noel using this recipe again. But thanks to this challenge, I've uncovered a new addiction: meringue! I loved the meringues so much that I ate about half of them! Not good, I know. I'm kind of expecting a stomachache soon, but they are sooo good!!! I suppose it's not too bad of an addiction, considering I need to lose a few pounds. After all, meringues are low in fat and high in protein! Anyway, I hope all of you have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Please check out my uber talented fellow Daring Bakers' creations here!

Po-tay-toh, po-taaah-toh bread dough goodness!

I enjoy baking with yeast and lament the fact that I don't get to do it enough. So I'm super duper happy that November's Daring Bakers challenge is the Potato Bread. Thanks to this month's host, Tanna, I got to play around with yeasty dough! Yippee!

Thus far in my 4-month-old membership to this wonderful group of bakers, I think the potato bread challenge is the one that allows our creative juices to flow the most. This is because not only can we make potato bread, we can use the dough for many other purposes, as long as it's savory. In other words, Tanna encouraged us to go crazy, which is awesome! Haha!

Adapted from Jeffrey Alford and Naomi Duguid's book, Home Baking: The Artful Mix of Flour & Tradition Around the World suggestions for the use of the potato dough are bread, rolls and foccacia. I decided to make foccacia and bread.

Due to the large variation of amount of potatoes and flour that could be used (with less potatoes being recommended for beginners), I used the the least recommended amount of potatoes and added approximately the lower range amount of flour. This resulted in an super sticky dough that was quite difficult to handle. Nevertheless, I managed to use a third of the dough for a foccacia, which I baked in a jelly roll pan that has been greased with olive oil. Now, I didn't go as crazy as I wanted to with the foccacia topping only because I was limited with ingredient availability and it was too damn cold to go out and get some. I ended up sprinkling my beautiful foccacia with rosemary, salt, caramelized onions and pine nuts. Here's what it looks like before I put it in the oven.


And this is what it looked like once baked.


The foccacia turned out to be soft and pillowy with a moist crust. It was a very delicious dough! The toppings were quite good too, although maybe I should've toasted the nuts and NOT caramelize the onions. Baking the caramelized onions made them a bit burned and I'm sure I overconsumed those yummy carcinogenic bits of onion. I enjoyed the foccacia with a teriyaki chicken breast salad. They made wonderful partners for dinner :)


The potato bread was a bit of a disaster for me. Once the dough rose, the top layer got stuck to the plastic wrap that I used to cover it while proofing. And then, I realized only after the bread was done, that I forgot to slash the top of the bread. So my bread turned out rather crappy. It didn't even rise beautifully in the oven. Boohoo!


Overall, I enjoyed baking with yeast, though I wish my potato bread didn't turn out to be such a bomb! In retrospect, I added way too little flour. I suppose getting a potato bread dough of good consistency will take some trial and error. But I was really happy with the way the foccacia turned out. It was an awesome challenge and now I challenge you to check out the other DBers' creations here! Let me just warn you that your stomach might start growling at the sight of their breads!

end of month in sight...

Usually, I'd be excitedly posting the monthly Daring Baker's challenge at this time of the month. Unfortunately, a recent existential/career crisis has catapulted my schedule into disarray, thus not allowing me to devote much time into my cooking/baking hobby (or really, anything else outside work). I'm kicking myself for missing this one out because it sounds like such a fun and delicious challenge, our Mary's Bostini Cream Pie! Sighs...

I guess all that I can do for now is to admire my fellow DBers' creations from afar and salivate over their pies. Check them out here!

These bunz will go right onto your bunz!!!

It's true! They are oh-so good but oh-so bad at the same time. But really, who cares as long as they taste good, no? *winks* Anyway, it's that time of the month again: the DB challenge! And again my fellow baking soul mates have yet come up with another unbeatable crowd favorite: cinnamon buns and/or sticky buns. We have our Pip in the City, the lovely Marce to thank for this awesome selection. The recipe we used is the one from Peter Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice. Since I'm not a huuuge fan of sticky buns, I chose to make cinnabunz only.

I associate cinnabunz with warm childhood memories. I remember having my first cinnabun some time when I was in my teens, while vacationing in America with my aunt's wacky family. At the time, I was living in Singapore and found every facet of American culture (including food, of course) supremely fascinating. My first cinnabun seemed to me a warmly luxurious and luscious , even though it was just a snack we bought at the shopping mall we were in. I distinctly remember the cinnamon-y fragrance just wafting into my olfactory neurons and the pillowy concentric dough melting in my mouth, transporting me to the realms of cinnabun heaven, albeit for a few minutes only. So I was uber excited about this month's DB challenge!

This isn't my first time baking with yeast, so I wasn't too nervous. I have made some yeast-based goodies before here and here, but never cinnabunz. I thought making cinnabunz would be pretty complicated, what with the pretty swirly shape and getting the pillowy texture right. I ended up making it twice because the first time round, I overbaked my buns despite only baking them for minimal time. The second time, I decided to crowd the buns a little bit more before baking and the buns' mouth feel turned out to be closer to the desired cinnabunny, chewy and pillowy texture!


Contrary to my expectation of cinnabunz being hard to make, it was pretty simple (especially if you have a Kitchenaid mixer, which I must say is a dream machine for all bakers!). The only adjustment to the recipe that I made was instead of using only cinnamon for the cinnamon sugar, I used a teeny bit more pumpkin pie spice, which basically comprises of a combo of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, allspice and nutmeg for extra spice! Besides spacing the buns correctly and slightly underbaking them for the right duration, the most challenging part of the recipe was the rolling of the dough! It was quite difficult to roll the dough tightly so that the concentric swirls aren't too far apart. Fortunately, despite the lack of talent in the dough rolling department, the bunz didn't turn out grotesque or anything!


Baking with yeast never fails to give me a sense of earthy satisfaction and accomplishment. I remember the first time I used yeast, I underestimated the temperature and ended up killing my poor Saccharomyces cerevisiae (geek talk for yeast). The maiden bread was a heavy, brick-like thing that was reminiscent of a brick. Since then, thankfully, I've become more adept at not killing the dynamic baking ingredient.

Points of improvement for the future includes possibly rolling the dough thinner so that the circular concentric layers aren't as thick and underbaking them even more. It's pretty cool to have made something that seems to difficult. My lab mates (who I share all my baked goodies with) are all amazed that someone (or really, anyone) makes cinnabuns from scratch at home. And as usual, it's a great joy to be able to share my passion (or at least, the results of it) with people around me! Do check out my fellow baking soul mates' efforts here. They're pretty darn awesome!

Inaugural Daring Bakers Challenge: Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart!!!

Yes, yes! I now officially belong to the The Daring Bakers community, the coolest online baking community/sorority ever! EVER! I feel like I'm one of the cool girls now! I'm so thrilled to be part of the Daring Bakers group and I was just so excited to bake my first DB creation: the Milk Chocolate and Caramel Tart (and yes, the name deserves to be capitalized). When I was informed of this month's challenge, I was floored by the delicious simplicity of it and could hardly wait make it! I mean, seriously, who can resist a layered caramel and milk chocolate tart with a delicious hazelnut crust? The recipe comes from Eric Kayser's Sweet and Savory Tarts.

The tart-making process, as usual, starts with making and blind-baking of the crust. I feel that the crust is enough to make or break a tart, whether it's topped of with fruit, custard or chocolate. So it was with some excited trepidation that I started on the crust dough. It is actually a very simple shortbread crust with some extras such as ground hazelnuts and a pinch of ground cinnamon. The crust turned out nicely but it was rather difficult to handle and roll because it was so sticky (even after a rather generous sprinkling of flour).


Next, came the ooey gooey caramel layer. I was even more nervous about this part because ... I've never made caramel sauce before! I know, I know, a baker who hasn't made caramel before? Who ever heard of that? So anyway, my virgin caramel-making experience was fraught with a few minor mishaps but it turned out ok too. Yay! Instead of using the dry method (the more difficult one), I cheated and used the beginner/wet method by caramelizing the sugar in some water and corn syrup. So, the first two times I tried, I made the fluke of turning off the fire once the solution came to a boil (which I was NOT supposed to do) and let it rest. Thanks to the miracles of Google, I finally figured out that I was supposed to let it come to a boil and then let it continue boiling (without stirring) until it turns a golden caramel color! It helps to test the caramel color by dripping some on a white napkin or paper plate. Isn't it a beaut?


After baking the caramel layer and letting it cool, we come to the decadent milk chocolate mousse layer. This part was pretty simple but I still managed to fudge it up, bleah! The chocolate mousse part only needs whipped cream and melted chocolate. I had a difficult time getting my cream to stiffen, only to realize that I probably shouldn't have left it at room temperature before beating it. Fortunately, this kind of mistake isn't irreparable; I just had to chill it and the bowl I beat it in before whipping it again. And voila! Whipped cream! Next, I just had to fold in the melted milk chocolate into the whipped cream to create the mousse layer before spreading it the cooled caramel tart.


I think the milk chocolate mousse part looks a little bit grainy, probably because I let the melted chocolate cool for too long before folding it in the whipped cream. However, the grainy appearance didn't seem to take anything away from the taste; it was very rich and very chocolatey. I sliced a sliver of the tart for myself after minimal cooling time (hey! I was getting hungry!). The tart layers had different "fork feels" in that the mousse layer is soft and cloudy, whilst the caramel layer is ever so slightly less soft than the mousse, chewier and stickier. And carpeted beneath it all, is a layer of crisp, nutty crust. The different textures of the layers also lend some complexity to a tart that would otherwise be just pure sugar (not that pure sugar is THAT horrible).

But anyway, this tart is pure sin, I tell you! As usual, I brought most of it to lab, where the always ravenous fellow grad students wolfed it down. Not only did I have a ton of fun making this tart, I had an almost "Zen" experience while doing so. Well, I always feel at peace with the world when I bake anything no matter whatever else was going on in my universe, but I felt especially fulfilled making this tart. Part of the reason is just the pure enjoyment of creating something so seemingly complex from simple everyday ingredients. The usual baked goods I make tend to be individual serving things such as cookies and cupcakes, so actually making and assembling something relatively big is a rare thing for me. So anyway, the appearance of the tart leaves a lot to be desired, what with the rather uneven layers and grainy-looking mousse, which I will definitely try to improve in the next DB challenge. Fortunately, the flavor, texture and taste of the tart is just nice. I love that the first DB challenge has already exposed me to new baking frontiers such as the art of making caramel and mousse. I'm just itching for our next project!