Daring Baker Challenge: Piece Montee

The May 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Cat of Little Miss Cupcake. Cat challenged everyone to make a piece montée, or croquembouche, based on recipes from Peter Kump’s Baking School in Manhattan and Nick Malgieri.

I failed at the building the structure for a true Piece Montee. I even built a cone made out of carboard as the center, but couldn't pile the individual puffs on top of one another. I also didn't make the honey or chocolate glaze as "glue" because I was too tired and frustrated by the end of my third batch of pate a choux. 

March Daring Baker Challenge

The 2010 March Daring Baker’s challenge was hosted by Jennifer of Chocolate Shavings. She chose Orange Tian as the challenge for this month, a dessert based on a recipe from Alain Ducasse’s Cooking School in Paris.

It's that time of the month again! The reveal date of the Daring Baker challenge... and I am one day belated yet again. I only finished this month's challenge last Wednesday after much doubts about my ability to complete it. For some reason this recipe really intimidated me, so I tried to put it off as long as I could. I was intimidated by the seemingly complex steps necessary in yet another layered dessert.

February Daring Baker Challenge

The February 2010 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Aparna of My Diverse Kitchen and Deeba of Passionate About Baking. They chose Tiramisu as the challenge for the month. Their challenge recipe is based on recipes from The Washington Post, Cordon Bleu at Home and Baking Obsession.

I've made tiramisu many times in the past, but I've always used store-bought mascarpone cheese and lady finger. This month's challenge required that we make both mascarpone cheese and lady finger from scratch. I never knew that it was possible to make cheese at home! 

Daring Baker

I'm so excited that my blog has been approved to be a member of the Daring Bakers! Daring Baker posts monthly challenges, and we have to make the posted recipe and then share photos of the final product. I hope to take on the January challenge soon, due date is the 27th. More to come on this later.