I've been thinking, and as long the poll on the sidebar is running, I'll be combining both my postcrossing and cooking 'exercises' in this blog. I've added a new tag - * cooking / recipes - there you'll be able to find recipes, tips and my other ideas about cooking. As soon as I decide to start a cooking blog as a section to this one, I'll repost everything there.
By the way, I have a travelling notebook about cooking that should be returning to me soon. If it's an interesting one, maybe I can turn it into something fun. So, who knows...
Today's topic are the éclair cakes I promised to do today in my previous post. Cooking them this very moment - the fist batch is in the oven (and smells heavenly ^___^). I think I should post the recipe and some other useful things about the cakes. As it's something you can find in every bakery or at almost every grocery shop, I think that it's tastier, cheaper and more fun to make them at home.
Éclair cakes
The dough
It's a typical scalded dough you can fill with creams and other fillings after cooking. As the dough tastes neutral, so the filling can be sweet or something salty, for example.
Ingredients:
250 ml water
100 g butter
a bit of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
250 ml flour
4 eggs
Cooking: (time: about 15 minutes to cook the dough + time to form the cakes + 20 minutes to bake)
Pour water into a pot, add sugar and salt. Then add the butter and melt it on medium heat. After the butter has melted turn down the heat, gradually add flour and stir well. Keep cooking on low heat and stirring the mass till it thickens and doesn't stick to the pot anymore. Turn off the heat and leave the mass to cool down a bit.
Add eggs one by one, mixing the dough well after each egg. Preheat the oven to 200-210C (390-410F). Put the dough onto the baking paper and bake for 20 minutes. Don't open the oven till done! Let the cakes cool, fill and decorate.
Advice and tips:
- The dough is quite thick, so be prepared to have some fun with it, as it will be sticking to pots, spoons etc.
- Do watch the dough and stir it well, it can easily burn.
- Remember to cool the dough for at least 5-10 minutes before adding eggs. Mix in the first egg very fast, as it can get cooked because of the heat and you won't be getting a good result.
- If you're using a mixer/blender that hasn't a covered top, be sure to mix in the egg by hand first. Or you'll be having a good time cleaning the eggs (separately) and the mass (separately) from the walls of your kitchen. ^^
- If your baking paper is cheap, you might want to cover it with butter a bit to be sure the cakes don't burn.
- You can put the dough on the baking paper using the pastry bag (which is more beautiful) or with a spoon if you have no pastry bag or something similar.
- The baked cakes are fluffy and hollow inside. To get this result you definitely must follow time and heat requirements! A preheated oven is good as the cakes start baking at a definite temperature right away.
- Don't ever open the oven (even if you're really curious) for the first 15 minutes! Ideal is 20 minutes - by that time the cakes are able to hold the form and are actually ready. The color of the cooked cakes - golden with a slight bit of brown.
The scalded cream
This cream can be used for a variety of cakes and tarts. Variate by adding nut crisp, cocoa powder etc. I made my mille crêpe using this creme and different fruit.
Ingredients:
500 ml milk
200 g sugar
4 egg yolks
50 g flour
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Cooking: (time: about 15 minutes)
Heat the milk. Mix egg yolks, flour, sugar and vanilla sugar in a pot. Pour hot milk into the yolk mass and stir well. Heat it on medium/low heat, stirring, till the mass thickens. Fill the cakes with cream.
Advice and tips:
- The cream is also thick, so has to be stirred well all the time.
- Fill the cakes while the cream is still hot/warm, as it thickens even more when cools down.
- Fill the cakes using a pastry bag. Usually the cake has either a small crack at the bottom side or on the side ideal to pour the cream through. Or just make a small cut with a knife.
- If you're experimenting, blend hard things like nuts well or else you'll have problems with the pastry bag - big pieces tend to close the small hole in the tip of the bag and the scalded cream won't go through.
- Actually the result turned out to be very sweet, so I advise to add much less sugar. Definitely put the cakes in a fridge for a while to cool, they do taste better from the fridge.
To decorate take some chocolate and butter (about 2:1 or 3:1) or cream and heat it in a pot (not boil!) or put for 30-45 seconds in a micro oven in a bowl. The more butter or cream you add, the more liquid and less thick the chocolate will get. Stir the chocolate mass well and dip the cakes in it to cover with chocolate. Dip right away because the mass will harden back as it cools. Let the cakes cool down in a cold place.
- The chocolate doesn't like high temperatures, so avoid boiling it and don't heat it in the micro oven (if you're using it) for too long or several times in a row. Better melt it over hot water (almost boil some water in a pot and put a separate bowl with chocolate pieces over it and hold till the chocolate melts), this way you can regulate the process better. Or google the temperature best for melting chocolate.
By the way, I have a travelling notebook about cooking that should be returning to me soon. If it's an interesting one, maybe I can turn it into something fun. So, who knows...
Today's topic are the éclair cakes I promised to do today in my previous post. Cooking them this very moment - the fist batch is in the oven (and smells heavenly ^___^). I think I should post the recipe and some other useful things about the cakes. As it's something you can find in every bakery or at almost every grocery shop, I think that it's tastier, cheaper and more fun to make them at home.
Éclair cakes
Today's result: About 40 pieces of small vanilla and chocolate cakes. ^^
The dough
It's a typical scalded dough you can fill with creams and other fillings after cooking. As the dough tastes neutral, so the filling can be sweet or something salty, for example.
Ingredients:
250 ml water
100 g butter
a bit of salt
1 teaspoon sugar
250 ml flour
4 eggs
Cooking: (time: about 15 minutes to cook the dough + time to form the cakes + 20 minutes to bake)
Pour water into a pot, add sugar and salt. Then add the butter and melt it on medium heat. After the butter has melted turn down the heat, gradually add flour and stir well. Keep cooking on low heat and stirring the mass till it thickens and doesn't stick to the pot anymore. Turn off the heat and leave the mass to cool down a bit.
Add eggs one by one, mixing the dough well after each egg. Preheat the oven to 200-210C (390-410F). Put the dough onto the baking paper and bake for 20 minutes. Don't open the oven till done! Let the cakes cool, fill and decorate.
Advice and tips:
- The dough is quite thick, so be prepared to have some fun with it, as it will be sticking to pots, spoons etc.
- Do watch the dough and stir it well, it can easily burn.
- Remember to cool the dough for at least 5-10 minutes before adding eggs. Mix in the first egg very fast, as it can get cooked because of the heat and you won't be getting a good result.
- If you're using a mixer/blender that hasn't a covered top, be sure to mix in the egg by hand first. Or you'll be having a good time cleaning the eggs (separately) and the mass (separately) from the walls of your kitchen. ^^
- If your baking paper is cheap, you might want to cover it with butter a bit to be sure the cakes don't burn.
- You can put the dough on the baking paper using the pastry bag (which is more beautiful) or with a spoon if you have no pastry bag or something similar.
- The baked cakes are fluffy and hollow inside. To get this result you definitely must follow time and heat requirements! A preheated oven is good as the cakes start baking at a definite temperature right away.
- Don't ever open the oven (even if you're really curious) for the first 15 minutes! Ideal is 20 minutes - by that time the cakes are able to hold the form and are actually ready. The color of the cooked cakes - golden with a slight bit of brown.
The scalded cream
This cream can be used for a variety of cakes and tarts. Variate by adding nut crisp, cocoa powder etc. I made my mille crêpe using this creme and different fruit.
Ingredients:
500 ml milk
200 g sugar
4 egg yolks
50 g flour
1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
Cooking: (time: about 15 minutes)
Heat the milk. Mix egg yolks, flour, sugar and vanilla sugar in a pot. Pour hot milk into the yolk mass and stir well. Heat it on medium/low heat, stirring, till the mass thickens. Fill the cakes with cream.
Advice and tips:
- The cream is also thick, so has to be stirred well all the time.
- Fill the cakes while the cream is still hot/warm, as it thickens even more when cools down.
- Fill the cakes using a pastry bag. Usually the cake has either a small crack at the bottom side or on the side ideal to pour the cream through. Or just make a small cut with a knife.
- If you're experimenting, blend hard things like nuts well or else you'll have problems with the pastry bag - big pieces tend to close the small hole in the tip of the bag and the scalded cream won't go through.
- Actually the result turned out to be very sweet, so I advise to add much less sugar. Definitely put the cakes in a fridge for a while to cool, they do taste better from the fridge.
To decorate take some chocolate and butter (about 2:1 or 3:1) or cream and heat it in a pot (not boil!) or put for 30-45 seconds in a micro oven in a bowl. The more butter or cream you add, the more liquid and less thick the chocolate will get. Stir the chocolate mass well and dip the cakes in it to cover with chocolate. Dip right away because the mass will harden back as it cools. Let the cakes cool down in a cold place.
- The chocolate doesn't like high temperatures, so avoid boiling it and don't heat it in the micro oven (if you're using it) for too long or several times in a row. Better melt it over hot water (almost boil some water in a pot and put a separate bowl with chocolate pieces over it and hold till the chocolate melts), this way you can regulate the process better. Or google the temperature best for melting chocolate.
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