I almost didn’t do this month’s Daring Baker’s Challenge. Not only was my time short and my ass disturbingly enlarged by other eating, but the recipe for a white-on-white Opera Cake (chosen by the founders of the group, Ivonne and Lis) was rather involved. And, truth be told, my friend Dean makes a truly wonderful classic Opera Cake that I can have anytime I drop by his bakery Amadeus Fine Cakes. (If I invited Dean to come over to play guitar hero, he’d likely deliver one to me as well.)
But, I’ve been really enjoying being a member of the Daring Bakers so I felt that it was important that I do this challenge no matter what. After all, when you join a group, you make a commitment, right?
I ended up rushing through my cake. I made the glaze, the buttercream and the syrup late at night and made the mousse and baked and assembled the cake a day and a half later with a houseful of company. As a result, I didn’t get the best looking result. My buttercream layers weren’t very even and my mousse layer was visible here and there through the glaze. It wasn’t a showstopper but the cake tasted great and the recipe, although long, worked well.
Now that I’ve finished my third DB challenge, one thing is puzzling me. What do the other Daring Bakers do with all of the stuff they bake?
Each month I’ve had copious amounts of extra baked goods.
• March was Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake which I served at my Easter Feaster. I had nine at the table and still had a quarter of a cake left over.
• April was Jill O’Connor’s Chocolate Dipped Cheesecake Lollies. I scaled down the recipe, used only half the cheesecake and still had enough lollies to send home with my dinner guests (we were six that night).
• Now this month, we made this cream coloured Opera Cake. Despite having eight for dinner, I still had half a cake left over! I froze the leftovers to serve the next weekend, but I’m finding it fatiguing to manage my DB wares.
I hope the next challenge features a recipe that can be either easily scaled down or that is not meant to cater a huge party. Tune in next month to see what they throw at me!
