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May 2016 By i sugar coat it! 14 Comments

Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate

Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate. Bittersweet couverture molded and filled with a decadent salted caramel ganache.

Today I bring you Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate bonbons!

I enjoy life most when it takes me to places I had not dreamed, or intended, only to learn it was exactly where I needed to be. Like a wrong turn on a road trip that leads to the juiciest, most perfectly grilled burger. Or missing a train and meeting the ONE on the next. So it has been, with blogging.

I started this blog a few years ago as a creative outlet, a place to document my adventures and mishaps in what was unfamiliar territory at the time, my kitchen. Views, shares, impressions, ads, clicks and SEO had not yet found their way onto the menu. Ahhh, the good old days! The more time I spent in the kitchen, the more my appetite grew for learning. Two years into blogging and the girl who avoided kitchens found herself enrolled in culinary school. HUH!?!

Unlike those whose love of food and its preparation started them blogging, it was blogging that sparked my passion for the culinary arts. I was already a pro at enjoying great food, but the real pleasure now comes from creating, preparing and watching what I make being enjoyed by friends and family. It's oddly intoxicating!

Sew Pretty, my very first blog, which was open to only family and friends, focused on my fashion and interior designs and book club - a few of my other passions. After taking a series of Wilton cake decorating courses at a local craft store on a whim, I Sugar Coat It was born and filled with decorated cakes, sugar flowers and decorated cookies. Smoothies, savouries, frozen fun and pastries were all thrown into the mix, over time. Now, here we are - chocolate, my first and ever-lasting love.

[Tweet "When chocolate and salted caramel mate: Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate"]

There have been times throughout my blogging years when I've reached the point of shutting it all down - last week, for instance. Blogging is a great deal of work and I do it all on my own, in addition to a full-time career. I enjoy it! It is beyond frustrating, however, to have someone just grab your work, remove your watermarks and pose it as their own. Even worse, when fellow bloggers you admire don't credit less popular bloggers. I could go on and on about the dark, ugly side of blogging, but that's a whole other post.

To keep going, I remind myself of the wonderful folks I've befriended through blogging, the opportunities I've had to work with some great brands, the creative freedom it provides, the exciting paths down which it has led me and the unknown adventures that await.

Now, back to these little Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate gems. Salted Caramel can most certainly hold its own, but when paired with dark (or milk) chocolate as a ganache, it's catapulted to superstar status. Don't take my word for it, whip up a batch and find out!

Check out my Confections page for more chocoliciousness!

Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate. Bittersweet couverture molded and filled with a decadent salted caramel ganache.

Print Recipe

4.73 from 11 votes

Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate

Salted Caramel Ganache Dark Chocolate. Bittersweet couverture molded and filled with a decadent salted caramel ganache.

Prep Time20

Total Time20

Course: Dessert

Servings: 20 bonbons

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

40 grams water
10 grams glucose
50 grams sugar
137.5 grams cream 35%
250 grams dark chocolate like Valrhona Caraibe
fleur de sel

Instructions

To a deep pot, add the water, glucose, sugar and cook until caramelized. Remove from heat.
Warm the cream in a separate pot. Remove from heat and gradually add to the caramelized sugar.
Stir in salt to taste.
Place chocolate in a medium bowl. I used discs, but If you buy in blocks, chop finely to allow for faster melting.
Pour the salted caramel over the dark chocolate and use a hand whisk to stir until combined and smooth.
Allow to cool at room temperature.
Once cooled, pipe into prepared molded chocolate, allow to set and then cap. Check out my Dulcey Bonbons post to learn how.

This post contains affiliate links. Each purchase you make using these links may result in a small commission for my blog, without additional cost to you. Thank you for your support in making I Sugar Coat It a little sweeter!

May 2016 By i sugar coat it! 35 Comments

Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts

These mouthwatering Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts are summer stuffed into bite-size sweet pastry, filled with fresh tangy curd and topped with a dreamy mousse!

These little sweet pastry cups of sunshine are simply mouthwatering! If you don't make these Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts at least once, we can no longer be friends. Seriously, I am fickle like that and apparently the world's biggest procrastinator.

Is a teaser post on Instagram that is thirty-five weeks old, still a teaser? No? Didn't think so. The thing is I wasn't overly thrilled with the photos and thought I would make a few more tarts with the leftover pastry dough and do a re-shoot, as the remainder of the initial batch went to my office. Well, I made a few more, had unexpected company and that was the end of that. All gone and no new photos to show.

So here we are...thirty-five weeks late, poorly lit and over-exposed, but adorable and bursting with flavour, just the same.

Pâte sucrée was definitely one of my favourite things to make back when I was in Baking Arts and still is. I get a thrill when it turns out just as it should - light, but strong enough to hold liquid fillings without leaking, with a cookie-like crumb. YUMMMMM!

I generally make one or two large tarts, this time however, I decided that bite-size was the way to go. Five tart shells in and the expletives were spilling freely. Good quality pastry rings can get really pricey, so I only own a few this size. Making them was easy enough, having to bake separate batches each time was a real pain. In the end, these Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts were worth every impatient, expletive-filled second.

Tips for Tart Shell Success:

Although fairly easy to make, there are a few tips to keep in mind when making this cookie-like dough:

Chill! I usually make it a day ahead and chill it overnight. If you are making it the same day, allow the dough to rest in the fridge for at least 2 hours after mixing and an additional hour after the dough has been pressed into the tart pan.
Avoid over-mixing. It's the difference between a tough crust and a light, buttery, crumbly texture. Over mixing will cause the gluten to develop, which may be good for bread, but bad for pâte sucrée.
Keep it uniformed. A thin, uniformly rolled dough prevents cracks and allows for the pasty to bake and cool evenly.
Shrinkage. (This brings to mind an episode of Seinfeld that involved George and cold water. 🙂 ) Allow for shrinkage while the dough is chilling by leaving a bit of an overhang on the edges that will be trimmed before baking.
Soggy-less. After your tart shell has baked and while still warm, brush on a thin layer of melted chocolate to seal the deal. Check out my post on How To Keep Your Pastry Crust Crisp.

The lemon-lavender curd was most certainly the star in these Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts. I made the lavender-lemon sugar a couple days before, by simply blitzing some sugar, lemon zest and culinary lavender buds in the food processor - one teaspoon lavender to one cup sugar is a good ratio for me. I could have gone the route of a meringue topping, but if you look through my blog you'll discover my love of flavouring whipped cream. It's just so quick and easy! The lemon curd coconut mousse brought serious star-power as well, without competing with the filling. It took a mini intervention to stop me from devouring it by the spoonful straight from the bowl. Paired with a little raspberry coulis and my attempt at plating, these went over splendidly with our guests.

If that special lady in your life loves citrus desserts and you are still looking for something special to make her this weekend, dare I say you have just found it!! She might also like these Lemon-Lavender Cookies, or these Mini Lemon Bundts! If the warmer weather is already upon you, how about these Limoncello Lavender Popsicles or these Boozy Blueberry Lemon Curd Popsicles? Yes? OK then, stop procrastinating and get to it! 🙂

Wishing all the mommas (and poppas who do double duty) a marvellous Mother's Day!!

[Tweet "A mouthful of sunshine packed into every bite! #Lemon #Lavender #Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts "]

These mouthwatering Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts are summer in bite-size sweet pastry, filled with fresh curd and topped with a dreamy mousse!

Print Recipe

4.50 from 8 votes

Lemon Lavender Coconut Mousse Mini Tarts

Prep Time20

Total Time2 14

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Tarts

Servings: 12

Author: i sugar coat it!

Ingredients

Lavender Sugar:

400 grams sugar 2 cups, you won't need it all for the curd
1 gram dry lavender buds 2 teaspoons
zest of 1 lemon

Pâte Sucrée: (see my post here for doubled recipe)

150 grams sugar ¾ cup
227 grams butter soft 1 cup, but cool
4 grams salt ¼ tablespoon
1 vanilla bean I use Rodelle Vanilla, scraped
50 grams egg 1
60 millilitres milk ¼ cup
437.5 grams pastry flour 4 ¼ cups
2.5 grams baking powder ¼ tablespoon

Lemon Curd:

113 grams butter ½ cup
280 grams lavender sugar 1 ½ cups
120 millilitre freshly squeezed lemon juice ½ cup
zest of one lemon
4 eggs
pinch of coarse salt

Lemon Curd Mousse:

400 millilitre can of coconut milk full fat chilled
250 grams lemon curd 1 cup, see recipe above
Lavender buds to garnish

Instructions

Lavender-Lemon Sugar: (make 1 day ahead)

Place sugar, lavender and zest in a food processor.
Pulse a few times until combined.
Transfer to an airtight container until ready to use.

Pate Sucree:

Cream butter then add sugar, salt and vanilla until light and fluffy.
Add egg until fully incorporated. Scrape down sides, if needed.
Sift together flour and baking powder, add to butter mixture.
Add milk and blend until smooth.
Work dough on a floured table. Chill until needed - about 1-2 hours.
Roll out chilled dough to about ¼ inch, use a small round pastry cutter to cut out the bases and sharp knife or pizza cutter to cut strips for the sides. Press evenly into tart rings and place on a baking sheet lined with a silicone mat.
Use a fork to punch holes in the bottom of the shell.
Place in the refrigerator to chill for an additional hour.
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
Weight the dough with pie weights or beans and bake until golden brown - about 15 - 20 minutes depending on your oven.
Remove from oven and brush with a thin layer of white chocolate and allow to cool. If your edges are uneven, use a microplane to shave away and smooth the edges.

Lavender-Lemon Curd:

Cream butter and lavender sugar in a bowl.
Beat in the eggs one at a time, then add the lemon juice, salt and zest.
Place bowl over a pot of simmering water and whisk continually until the mixture reaches around 170ºF.
Remove from heat and let cool, then cover the curd, making sure the plastic touches the surface and refrigerate.

Lemon Curd Mousse:

Chill a metal bowl and whisk attachment in the freezer for 5-10 minutes.
Add coconut cream and whisk to sift peaks.
Add in the curd and whisk to firm peaks.
Keep chilled until ready to use.

Assembly:

Pipe lavender-lemon curd into each shell.
Using a French piping tip, pipe the mousse in the shape of a Hersey's kiss and sprinkle with lavender buds.
Enjoy!!

Notes

Curd recipe adapted from Ina Garten's lemon curd recipe. Pate Sucree recipe adapted from class material.
Dough may be wrapped airtight and kept in the fridge for up to a week or the freezer for up to two months. If freezing, I like to roll it out and vacuum seal it for guaranteed freshness.

April 2016 By i sugar coat it! 11 Comments

Browned Butter Almond Financiers

These Browned Butter Almond Financiers are the perfect little treat with your afternoon tea, coffee or for weekend brunch.

Can you believe that Mother's Day is just over a week a way? I swear 2016, like its predecessor, seems to be kicking my ass and leaving me in the dust asking where the time has gone. While I ponder that...

How many of you are moms? Wouldn't it be wonderful to have a batch of these Browned Butter Almond Financiers for Mother's Day brunch? Hopefully you won't have to make them yourself, but if you do they are quick and easy to whip up and can be finished off with a number of toppings, for variety.

If you have never had, or heard of financiers, they are small French cakes that have a perfectly buttery crisp exterior that gives way to a light, moist interior. They are generally made with almond flour, but get their distinct flavour from the beurre noisette, or simply, browned butter. I love browned butter and use it in Banana Bread and Madeleines, among other baked goods. It adds a delectable, nutty flavour and fills my home with the most wonderful aroma when being made and baked.

[Tweet "These Browned Butter #Almond #Financiers are the perfect little treat with your afternoon tea, coffee or for weekend #brunch."]

The almond and browned butter are a flavour match made in heaven, but you can sub other nut flours - I love hazelnut or pistachio just as much. I actually made a batch using hazelnut flour that was a bit of a disaster in the looks department - not only did I forget to grease the molds, I also overfilled them. Good thing I always use a baking sheet along with whatever pan I'm baking in. Makes cleanup a cinch! Although their images don't appear in this post, they were bursting with flavour. You can sub it for the almond flour in the recipe below.

These mini bars are typically made in rectangle molds to resemble gold bars (or ingots), said to be developed by a pastry chef with a shop in the French financial district in the nineteenth century. They were to be a quick, on-the-go, cutlery-free and mess-free treat for the busy financiers (bankers, traders etc.) in the area. Brilliant, right! I love a food with a good back story.

You don't have to belong to the stock exchange crowd to enjoy these Browned Butter Almond Financiers. Simply invest in a financier mold (or you may use a mini muffin pan), some egg whites, flour, almonds, beurre noisette and toppings of your choosing (don't use strawberries - too watery) and whip up a batch for the special women in your life. Yup, that includes you!

If not these, how about these Mother's Day Treats:

Chalkboard Cookies

Banana Butterscotch Cake

Cookie Bouquet

Berry Beet Smoothtinis

These Browned Butter Almond Financiers are the perfect little treat with your afternoon tea, coffee or weekend brunch.

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Browned Butter Almond Financiers

These Browned Butter Almond Financiers are the perfect little treat with your afternoon tea, coffee or for weekend brunch.

Prep Time15

Cook Time12

Total Time27

Course: Dessert

Servings: 12 -18

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

50 grams almond flour about ⅔ cup, or hazelnut flour
50 grams unbleached ½ cup, all-purpose flour
2.5 grams baking powder ½ teaspoon
125 grams superfine sugar about ⅔ cup
100 ml browned butter liquid
100 grams egg whites about ½ cup
3 grams vanilla bean paste ½ teaspoon
raspberries blueberries, granola, nuts for topping

Instructions

In a medium bowl, sift together the almond flour, all-purpose flour and baking powder. Add sugar and combine.
Add the liquid browned butter and use a spatula to mix to form a paste.
Add the egg whites a little at a time until well combined and smooth.
Refrigerate overnight for best results.
Preheat oven 350ºF.
Prepare financier mold or mini muffin tin with non-stick spray and place on a baking sheet.
Remove paste from fridge and add to a piping bag fitted with a plain tip (can be done without a piping tip).
Pipe each cavity to about two-thirds full and ad toppings. You may also choose to add the toppings halfway through baking to keeping them from sinking too far into the batter.
Place in the oven and bake for 12-15 minutes (depending on your oven). They should be a springy with a golden brown colour.
Best enjoyed while warm, or within the same day baked.

April 2016 By i sugar coat it! 22 Comments

Coffee Cake Muffins {Sweet Mornings Review & Giveaway}

Have your cake and eat it too, with these Coffee Cake Muffins complete with cinnamon crumble topping from the book Sweet Mornings by Patty Pinner.

Patty Pinner's book, Sweet Mornings - 125 Sweet and Savoury Breakfast and Brunch Recipes, offers a plethora of delicious and comforting dishes page after page. In addition to the recipes, Pinner offers a list of essential ingredients and indispensable kitchen tools at the onset and snippets of the people and stories behind each recipe.

The book is organized into two sections, Sweet Beginnings with recipes like Aunt Zaida's Almond Coffee Ring, Aunt Evelyn's Banana-Macadamia Bread, Tuesday Morning Blueberry Loaf, Cowboy Coffee Cake, Pan-Fried Peaches, Lemon-Coenmeal Muffins, Banan-Nut Waffles and Mama's French Toast Casserole, to name a few.

The other section offers Morning Savories such as Miss Lola's Scrambled Eggs, Fried Green Tomatoes, Sunday-Best Sausage Bread Pudding, Big Mama's Chicken and Waffles and Waffle Syrup.

There are enough recipes packed into this book for a year's worth of weekend brunches. I was immediately drawn to the muffins on the cover when I received my copy of the book from the folks at Agate Publishing . Turning to page 113, I was introduced to Mama's Coffee Cake Muffins, dripping with vanilla glaze. The introduction to the recipe tells about her mother's cooking as an expression of love and her collection of staple spices, including cinnamon, which was called for in some of her most prized dessert recipes - because 'a dish should smell as good as it tastes.'

No argument there. These Coffee Cake Muffins were the perfect addition to our brunch table last weekend. The cinnamon in the batter and the crumble topping filled my home with the warm, aromatic memories of childhood and really shone in the end product. The Dude said they were a keeper. He is finicky and fussy about food, so that's BIG! My favourite part, as with all muffins, was the top - that brown sugar cinnamon crumble was like...DANG!

My baking preference is from scratch, so I was pleased to see that most of the recipes in the book were from scratch. Although a photo did not accompany every recipe, there were enough well-photographed, full-page images to hold my interest. I would have loved to have seen more images in place of the non-scratch recipes. I usually scale my ingredients and appreciate when books provide metric measures as well.

Apart from those things, I see myself revisiting this book for future brunch ideas, beginning with an encore of these Coffee Cake Muffins, followed closely by Banana-Nut Waffles, then French Toast Sandwiches. You too can sweeten your mornings by picking up a copy of Sweet Mornings, or enter below for a chance to win your very own copy!

The folks at Agate Publishing will provide one winner with a copy of Patty Pinner's book, Sweet Mornings - 125 Sweet and Savoury Breakfast and Brunch Recipes.

To enter, tweet the message in the box and leave a comment below, telling me your favourite sweet or savoury breakfast/brunch.

Giveaway is open to Canadian (void in Quebec) and Continental U.S. residents only. Prize value is approximately $25. Contest is open to residents of legal age in the province, territory or state in which they reside at the time. Winner must answer a skill-testing question. No purchase necessary. Winner will be chosen by random number generator. Contest will run for one week starting 5:00pm Sunday, April 24th and ends Friday, April 29th at 11:59pm.Winner will be contacted via email and given 48 hours to respond. If not, a new winner will be randomly chosen. Winner’s name will be displayed in this post. Email addresses are not made public, nor shared with any third parties.

The winner is Starla, comment #4, randomly chosen using the random.org widget. This giveaway is now CLOSED.

Thanks to Agate Publishing and Patty Pinner for providing permission to share Mama's Coffee Cake Muffins recipe.

[Tweet "Enter for a chance to sweeten your mornings with a copy of Patty Pinner's book, Sweet Morning!"]

Have your cake and eat it too, with these Coffee Cake Muffins complete with cinnamon crumble topping

Print Recipe

4.67 from 3 votes

Coffee Cake Muffins

Have your cake and eat it too, with these Coffee Cake Muffins complete with cinnamon crumble topping.

Course: Breakfast

Servings: 12 muffins

Author: Reprinted with permission from Sweet Mornings by Patty Pinner, Agate Midway, 2016.

Ingredients

TOPPING AND BATTER

Nonstick cooking spray for greasing
2½ cups all-purpose flour divided
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1½ teaspoons ground cinnamon divided
½ cup unsalted butter 1 stick, divided, melted and cooled
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¾ cup sour cream room temperature
2 large eggs room temperature, beaten
1 teaspoon baking soda

GLAZE

1 cup sifted confectioners’ sugar
2 –3 tablespoons whole milk room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 12-count muffin pan with the cooking spray. Set aside.
To make the topping: In a medium mixing bowl, combine ½ cup of the flour, the brown sugar, and ½ teaspoon of the cinnamon. Using your fingers, a pastry blender, or the tines of a fork, cut 4 tablespoons of the butter into the flour mixture until it becomes crumbly. Set aside.
To make the batter: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, sift together the remaining 2 cups of flour, the remaining 1 teaspoon of cinnamon, the baking powder, and the salt. Add the granulated sugar, the remaining butter, and the vanilla extract and mix for 2 to 3 minutes on low speed. Set aside.
In a small mixing bowl, combine the sour cream, eggs, and baking soda. Stir until well combined. With the mixer running at low speed, slowly add the sour cream mixture to the flour mixture ⅓ at a time and beat for 2 to 3 minutes, until well combined. Turn off the mixer.
Divide the batter evenly among the cups of the prepared pan, filling each about ⅔ full. Sprinkle each evenly with the topping. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a wooden toothpick inserted into the center of a muffin comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes.
To make the glaze: In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the confectioners’ sugar, milk, and vanilla extract until fully combined. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins.
Using a serrated knife, separate the muffins from the pan and then tap the pan gently on the counter to release them.
Transfer to a serving platter and serve warm.

Notes

Reprinted with permission from Sweet Mornings by Patty Pinner, Agate Midway, 2016.

April 2016 By i sugar coat it! 13 Comments

Key Lime Meringue Nests

The perfect warm weather dessert, these Key Lime Meringue Nests are vanilla meringues filled with decadent white chocolate key lime ganache, topped with fresh fruit.

We are finally expecting spring-like weather! YAAAYY! With the warmer weather ahead, my mind has turned to easy, colourful desserts for outdoor entertaining, like these Key Lime Meringue Nests. Think... Mother's Day brunch!

I call these lazy desserts. A look around my blog and you will quickly learn that I make everything from scratch. However, when a friend shows up with a broken heart, a six-pack of pre-mixed girly drinks and a box of meringue nests, you play along. I was a little confused by her bag of randomness, but who among us hasn't done some strange shit when love goes south.

After a couple drinks and a whole lot of sobbing and cussing, I took a look at the box of meringues sitting on the counter between us and rolled my eyes. I looked back at my friend and asked if she had planned to use them for shots, at which she laughed/cried/laughed...

Mood lightened, I went to the fridge and dug up some containers of leftover ganache I'd recently made for filling bonbons. Of the five flavours, we settled on key lime, her favourite dessert. I scooped some out and filled a piping bag, which I then placed in a cup of warm water to soften the chilled ganache. All the while listening to her contemplate out loud how, why and where things might have gone wrong with the relationship. Once piped into the shells I topped with fruits, mint leaves and sprinkles (proven cure for a broken heart).

Two Key Lime Meringue Nests between us, a couple rounds of mortal combat and a few more girly drinks later, the tears and expletives turned to giggles. I guess you can call me the broken heart whisperer. Watch out Cesar Millan... 🙂

My preference is for a meringue with a crisp outer shell that gives way to a marshmallow-y interior - these store-bought shells were far from that. Normally, that would turn me off, but they worked for this application. Once the moisture from the filling had a chance to permeate the shell, it created a perfect balance of creamy and crunchy textures.

The star was definitely the key lime ganache - creamy, tangy and sweet all at once. I've adapted from one of my chocolate confections course recipes. The original included egg yolks, which provided a brilliant yellow colour, shine and body. I've cut the recipe in half and omitted the egg yolks in the version below and increased the chocolate. Having tried both, I am leaning toward the egg version - it had a much nicer mouth feel. This type of ganache, with the egg yolks, is meant primarily for truffles and bonbons.

I had three shells left in the package and decided to make them the following day so that I could photograph and share them with you, plus, you know... have a second helping. 😉 Shockingly, the Dude really liked them, so I had to share. Although these Key Lime Meringue Nests didn't mend a broken, they allowed for a brief, sweet interlude - something we could all use, heartbreak or not.[Tweet "Bite into summer with these Key Lime Meringue Nests!"]

The perfect warm weather dessert, these Key Lime Meringue Nests are vanilla meringues filled with decadent white chocolate key lime ganache and fresh fruit.

Print Recipe

5 from 5 votes

Key Lime Meringue Nests

The perfect warm weather dessert, these Key Lime Meringue Nests are vanilla meringues filled with decadent white chocolate key lime ganache and fresh fruit.

Prep Time15

Cook Time15

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

Meringue Nests:

1 recipe meringues or store bought

Key Lime Ganache:

75 grams whipping cream
25 grams glucose
250 grams white chocolate chopped
75 grams fresh key lime juice or regular limes
a touch of green food colouring optional

Instructions

To make the meringue:

Follow the instructions from the recipe link above and pipe flat, round discs onto a parchment or silicone line baking sheet, using a plain tip. You can use a small offset spatula to smooth and level the discs after piping. Using a decorative tip, like a 1B or French, pipe a wall around the outer edge of the disc. Bake as per recipe.

To make ganache:

Add cream and glucose to a medium saucepan and bring to a light boil.
Gradually whisk in the egg yolks.
Pour the mixture over the white chocolate, while still hot and stir with a whisk until smooth and homogeneous. If all the chocolate does not melt, place the bowl over a pot of simmering water and stir until melted, or use an immersion blender.
Stir in lime juice and allow to cool.

April 2016 By i sugar coat it! 37 Comments

Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread

This fully loaded Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread, with browned butter, dark chocolate and caramelized bananas, is next level decadence!

We polished off this Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread over a week ago, but I am salivating as I write this post. I know, I know... it's banana bread. It's been done a million times. You'll never see me make claims of anything being 'the best', but I gotta say this is pretty damn amazing.

I L.O.V.E banana bread!! Bananas were among the tropical fruit trees my grandparents grew in their backyard - mini bananas to be precise. They were my introduction to bananas as a child, but were too soon replaced with the store-bought standard that is more readily available in these parts. I see the minis often at the West Indian and Asian markets, but I can't seem to bring myself to buy them. Perhaps I'm just not ready to compete with that perfect childhood memory of sweet little pops of sunshine in my lunch box.

My grandmother would sometimes pick the bananas while they were still green and cook them as a side dish. My undeveloped palate just could not deal. She would boil them with a little salt and they would make their grey, slimy way onto our plates alongside more desirable items. Me, being the uber-stubborn child I was, would eat around them, to my grandmother's disdain. She and I had many a stand-offs when it came to food. Now that I know a little about resistant starch from green bananas and its benefits, I like to think my grandmother was ahead of her time.

When she wasn't force-feeding green bananas to five-year olds, she would use the over-ripened bananas for banana fritters/pancakes, cake, ice cream and bread. Although, she never added chocolate to her banana bread (she made a version with freshly grated coconut instead), we still managed to get along splendidly. Sweet order was temporarily restored to my five-year-old world.

So yeah... I LOVE bananas and banana bread! I make it quite often, but have only shared Chocolate Pecan Crunch and Peanut Butter & Jam versions in past posts. I especially love (and I've mentioned this a few times on the blog) using leftover slices of my less decadent version to make French toast. Talk about a brunch treat!! You should definitely try it some time.

As I was making a batch of browned butter (beurre noisette) for a recipe in an upcoming post, the Dude was lamenting about how long it had been since I made banana bread. He then suggested I use the browned butter in the banana bread, because he had really enjoyed it in a test batch of cookies I was working on the previous week and in these Chocolate Raspberry Madeleines. He certainly has his moments of genius!! But why stop at browned butter...

How about caramelized bananas, bitter-sweet chocolate chunks and perfectly toasted walnuts?

Those bananas left neglected on your kitchen counter are just begging to be reincarnated as this Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread. They deserve nothing less, friends! Absolutely nothing less.

[Tweet "Give your neglected bananas a sweet, dying wish - Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread"]

This fully loaded Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread, with browned butter, dark chocolate and caramelized bananas, is next level decadence!

Print Recipe

5 from 4 votes

Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread

This fully loaded Walnut Chocolate Chunk Caramelized Banana Bread, with browned butter, dark chocolate and caramelized bananas, is next level decadence!

Prep Time15

Cook Time1

Total Time1 15

Course: Dessert

Servings: 1 loaf

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

Browned Butter

454 grams butter 1 pound, You will only need 70 grams for the recipe. The remainder can be stored in the fridge

Caramelized Bananas

165 grams brown sugar ¾ cup, packed
30 grams butter 2 tablespoons
2 ripe bananas sliced
7 grams vanilla bean paste 1 teaspoon
a bit of coconut milk from the 1 cup below just enough to loosen the mixture
1 gram salt ¼ teaspoon

Banana Bread

Caramelized banana mixture see above
1 egg
250 grams coconut milk 1 cup, full fat
70 grams browned butter ⅓ cup
100 grams unbleached 1 cup, all-purpose flour
130 grams whole wheat flour 1 cup
11 grams baking powder 1 tablespoon
2.5 grams cinnamon 1 teaspoon
180 grams chocolate 1 cup, coarsely chopped
87 grams walnuts ¾ cups, coarsely chopped

Instructions

To make browned butter:

Keep a close watch on the butter through the entire process so that it does not burn.
Cut butter into cubes and place in a saucepan and allow to melt over medium heat.
Once melted, a white-ish foam will start to form over the butter.
Continue to cook until brown flecks start to form at the bottom of the saucepan and the butter takes on a golden, hazelnut colour. Hence, the 'noisette' in the name.
Remove from heat and allow to cool. Once cooled, line a strainer/sieve with cheese cloth and pour into a mason jar.

To make caramelized bananas:

Add sugar to a saucepan and cook until caramelized (dry method), stirring constantly.
Stir in butter and vanilla, then add banana slices.
Add just enough milk to the caramelized banana mixture to loosen it. Add salt.

To make banana bread:

Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Prepare pan and set on a baking sheet.
Use an immersion blender to blend the caramelized banana mixture.
Whisk in the egg, remaining milk and browned butter.
In a medium bowl, sift together all-purpose flour, whole wheat flour, baking powder and cinnamon.
Add wet ingredients mixture to flour mixture and stir just until combined. Fold in half the chocolate and nuts.
Pour into a prepared loaf pan and top with remaining nuts and chocolate. Drizzle with a couple teaspoons browned butter.
Bake for 60 to 90 minutes, or until a cake tester comes out clean. Allow to cool in pan for a few minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.
Drizzle with chocolate and enjoy!!

April 2016 By i sugar coat it! 22 Comments

Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles

These Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles are melt-in-your-mouth magical with a thin dark chocolate shell filled with a creamy Baileys Salted Caramel Irish Cream truffle filling.

I've been keeping a dark, little secret, ya'll. But before I spill my beans... OMGEEE!! Did you know that Baileys is available in Salted Caramel? I wasted no time grabbing a bottle (or two) when I saw them at the LCBO. I think it worked splendidly in these Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles!

Strange thing though...I've made a truckload of truffles over the years and just realized that this is the first time I'm sharing them on my blog. WHAT? I was certain I had already shared a few here, but after searching my blog, came up with a truffle-adjacent post. I clearly have a case of social media mess-up. I tend to share stuff on my Instagram account long before I post them here and in doing so, convince myself that they are also on my blog. This coffee hazelnut was one of my faves and these fifteen seconds were simply orgasmic, yet they never made it to the bog!

OK, I think I am ready to spill the beans. Hold on to your chef's hat my friends, I'm officially a bonafide Chocolatier!! Well, a trained Chocolatier that is - I'll be sticking with my full-time career for a while longer. I've dropped a few hints about my training in past chocolate-related posts, but I could not bring myself to tell you what I was up to. Then I became ill and had to take an extended break and wasn't sure when, or if, I would be picking it up again. The thing is, laying in bed gets old pretty fast, so instead of a year break, I was back at it in half the time.

The Dude and one of my best friends have been encouraging me to celebrate my successes - big and small - something I have a real tough time doing. So there, now you know and now I am in full Woody Allen mode, freaking out about whether I should have told you (enter silent scream here).

When I enrolled in my first culinary courses a few years back, I was simply looking for a way to stay occupied during the long, cold winter months. Chocolate wasn't even on my radar, unless I was savouring it, ok, stuffing my face with it. Although I have always been fascinated by it, I didn't even know studying chocolate, much less being certified in the art and science of chocolate making was in my reach.

Then, while registering for a second round of pastry program courses, I saw a few chocolate courses listed as electives. I soon discovered that it had a program all its own and yada yada yada... I'm now what the culinary college calls a Professional Certified Chocolatier! EEEEEEK!!! I haven't given up on pastry, however. I'll be picking that up that torch again soon.

I'll tell you more about the experience and share some creations and techniques with you in future posts, including my chocolate show-piece from my final. Till then, I'm pretty sure I hear these Baileys Salted Dark Chocolate Truffles whispering your name...

And they are saying bite me! These little shots of Baileys Salted Caramel in truffle form, are melt-in-your-mouth magical. The ganache on its own is sublime, but even more so when paired with the dark, paper thin, sexy snap of the chocolate shell.

I piped the ganache into truffle shells made from tempered chocolate, but you can just as easily make small recipe adjustment and pipe them with a fancy tip or scoop them into balls and dip these babes for a similar result.

Ready to make your own batch? Let's do it!![Tweet "Melt-in-your-mouth magical shots of Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles."]

These Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles are melt-in-your-mouth magical with a thin dark chocolate shell filled with a creamy Baileys Salted Caramel Irish Cream ganache.

Print Recipe

4.55 from 24 votes

Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles

These Baileys Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Truffles are melt-in-your-mouth magical with a thin dark chocolate shell filled with a creamy Baileys Salted Caramel Irish Cream truffle filling.

Prep Time30

Total Time30

Course: Dessert

Servings: 30 -40

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

Ganache

250 grams milk chocolate 1 cup, I love and use Valrhona
62 grams butter ¼ cup, unsalted
20 grams liquid fondant 2 tablespoons, optional
35 grams Baileys Salted Caramel Irish Cream 2 ⅓ tablespoons

Truffle shells:

300 grams dark chocolate 1 ⅔ cups, tempered
Edible paint or dust to decorate
sea salt flakes to garnish

Instructions

To make the ganache:

Melt the milk chocolate over a double boiler, until smooth and free of lumps.
In a separate bowl, combine the fondant and butter.
Pour the melted milk chocolate over the butter mixture and stir with a whisk until smooth.
Stir in the Baileys and allow to set to a consistency fit for piping or scooping into small balls.

To make truffle shells:

Pre-crystallize chocolate by placing in a large stainless steel bowl, fit securely over a pot of simmering water. Water should not touch the bottom of the bowl.
I used the seed method - melt 80% of chocolate to 45ºC, remove from heat and add the remaining 20%, as needed, stirring continually until working temperature of 31-32ºC is achieved.
If making shells, cast in appropriate molds, pour out excess and allow shells to form. Pipe truffle filling into shells and cap.
If dipping, shape the truffle filling into balls and use a dipping fork to coat with a thin layer of chocolate. Allow to set.
Decorate as desired.

March 2016 By i sugar coat it! 14 Comments

Sriracha Beet Chips

Made in the dehydrator, these Sriracha Beet Chips are a snacktastic blend of crispy, spicy, sweet and downright delicious.

I've been a Rodelle Ambassador for almost a year now and my excitement goes through the roof each time I receive a package stuffed with their wonderful baking ingredients. For my most recent shipment, I asked them to included a bottle of their Sriracha Seasoning. I've been on another dehydrator kick and I wanted to give my vegetable chips new flavour.

In addition to carrot and sweet potato chips, I made a batch of Sriracha Beet Chips - my best batch yet!

Instead of using a knife to slice the the beets, I ran them through my spiralizer, which produced paper-thin beet ribbons. So pretty, but so very messy. On the bright side, this meant shorter drying time. When I sliced them, they would take ten to twelve hours to produce crispy chips. This spiralized method had me snacking within six to eight hours.

I would normally pretreat my vegetables by blanching before dehydrating. According to my dehydrator instruction manual, this helps to extend shelf life, enhance nutritional value and helps vegetables (and fruits) retain the colour. Here's a shocker - microwave blanched vegetables have a brighter colour than steam blanched veggies. HA!
This time around, I decided to go the raw route - or what I refer to as the lazy route. I skipped the blanching, plunging in cold water, draining, patting with paper towels, seasoning and dehydrating and just washed, peeled, sliced, seasoned, dehydrated and snacked and snacked and snacked!

The Sriracha Seasoning added a perfect balance of sweet and spicy flavour and a little goes a long way. I also tried it with shrimps recently and WOW, what a kick!

[Tweet "Deliciously crunchy guilt-free snacking - #Sriracha #Beet Chips."]

Made in the dehydrator, these Sriracha Beet Chips are a snacktastic blend of crisp, spicy, sweet and downright pretty.

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5 from 2 votes

Sriracha Beets Chips

Made in the dehydrator, these Sriracha Beet Chips are a snacktastic blend of crisp, spicy, sweet and downright pretty.

Prep Time5

Cook Time6

Total Time6 5

Course: Snack

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

3 Medium Beets organic
Coconut Oil I sprayed the coconut oil, about 1 teaspoon should work fine
Sriracha Seasoning

Instructions

Wash and peel beets.
Use a spiralizer or mandolin to slice beets paper thin.
Place in a bowl drizzle with oil and toss with sriracha seasoning.
Arrange on dehydrator trays, single layer.
Dehydrate at 50-55 C (120-130 F) for 6 - 8 hours. Dehydrating times may vary from model to model. You will also need to take into account the thickness of the slices.
You will want to eat them all straight, they're just so good! However, in the event you have left overs, store them in an airtight container

Disclosure: I am a Rodelle Ambassador, which means I am occasionally provided their ingredients to use in my baking. This post also contains Amazon affiliate links. Purchasing from these links results in a small commission for I Sugar Coat It. Thank you for supporting the brands and companies that help make I Sugar Coat It a little sweeter. 🙂

March 2016 By i sugar coat it! 31 Comments

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake

Silky, smooth Italian Meringue Buttercream layered between rich, decadent chocolate mud cake to create this Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake topped with chocolate flakes and eggs.

Question. If you were chocolate, which would you be - dark, milk, white, or a mashup of two or more? I know, and have known since the beginning of time, that I am fully committed to the dark camp. I'll admit to occasional, brief dalliances with milk and white, but most often in the company and with the approval of dark. Yes, we're open like that. 😉

I once took a Chocolate Personality Test that confirmed my affinity for dark chocolate and revealed the following about my dark side:

tends to question authority
preference for red wine
tendency for individual over group sports
more likely to want to legalize marijuana
prefers NPR to pop music

Another test indicated that I am 100% Dark Chocolate! Sophisticated, intelligent, and highly opinionated, I like my chocolate intense and strong. I have a flare for drama and I have deeply held beliefs and opinions. I'm energetic, decisive and successful. Fierce and bold, I am 100% pure, delicious dark chocolate! Ummm... HELLS YEAH! LOL

Speaking of delicious, dark things...

This Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake packs a serious chocolate punch with dark chocolate, dark cocoa, chocolate flakes and chocolate egg shells. It would have been pretty damn close to chocolate perfection, had I stuck with my original plan. Instead, I used buttercream in place of ganache. This mud cake is rich and moist, made even more moist with a generous swirl of salted caramel, can easily stand on its own. The addition of salted caramel ganache would have been overkill for certain someones, so I used it in another dessert (stay tuned).[Tweet "What's your chocolate personality? Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake."]

I also made salted caramel buttercream, but found it too sweet paired with this particular cake. So good old vanilla buttercream it was, which I then clad in heaps of chocolate flakes. It was looking pretty brown, so I added random hints gold by lightly dusting with edible gold. To top it off and give it an Easter theme, I made some stylized egg shells (this post shows how I make chocolate eggs). A couple people felt these looked more like masks than eggs, but that's the beauty of art, I suppose.

It had been a while since I made mud cake (see here and here) and I could not remember where it fell on my yum-meter. Happy to report this Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake was a real hit!

But back to chocolate personalities... what's yours? Google 'chocolate personality tests' and find out. I'd love to know!

Recommended:

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake |isugarcoatit.com

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4.50 from 4 votes

Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake

Silky, smooth Italian Meringue Buttercream layered between rich, decadent chocolate mud cake to create this Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cake topped with chocolate flakes and eggs.

Prep Time30

Cook Time1 30

Total Time2

Course: Dessert

Servings: 9 " round cakes

Author: I Sugar Coat It

Ingredients

Salted Caramel:

300 grams granulated sugar 1 ½ cups
200 grams heavy cream just under a cup
5 grams sea salt 1 teaspoon

Cake:

200 grams dark chocolate 1 ¼ cup, coarsely chopped
255 grams butter just over a cup, cut into cubes
430 grams whole milk 1 ¾ cups
400 grams granulated sugar 2 cups
2 large eggs lightly beaten
125 grams unbleached 1 ¼ cups, all-purpose flour
85 grams self-rising flour ¾ cup
85 grams cocoa powder ¾ cup
90 grams salted caramel ¼ cup

Buttercream:

125 grams water ½ cup
340 grams sugar just over 1 ¾ cups
250 grams egg whites 1 cup
113.5 grams sugar just over ½ cup
5 grams pure vanilla extract 1 teaspoon
675 grams butter 3 cups, cubed and room temperature

Decorations:

chocolate flakes

Instructions

To make the caramel (can be made days in advance):

Scald milk in a small saucepan and set aside.
In a medium heavy-duty saucepan, dry caramelize sugar, stirring continually with a wooden spoon.
Remove from heat and slowly add warm cream and salt, stirring until combined.
Set aside to cool.

To make the cake:

Preheat oven to 325ºF.
Place sugar and milk in a saucepan and stir over low heat until the sugar is completely melted.
Remove from heat and stir in butter and chocolate until melted. Set aside to cool.
Add the beaten eggs and sift in the dry ingredients. Whisk until smooth and without any lumps.
Pour the mixture into the prepared cake pan and swirl in a ¼ cup of caramel.
Bake for 1.5 hours, or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.
Let the cake cool completely in the cake pan before turning it out.

To make the buttercream:

In a medium heavy-duty saucepan, combine water and the 340 grams of sugar and cook to soft ball stage (116ºC/240ºF).
While the sugar is cooking, add the remaining sugar and egg whites to the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment.
Begin whipping the egg whites on medium speed, once the sugar mixture reaches around the 110ºC/230ºF mark. You want the egg whites whipped to soft peaks by the time the sugar reaches soft ball.
When the sugar reached sift ball, remove from heat and while the egg whites are still whipping, slowly and steadily pour the sugar syrup into the bowl, keeping the steam of hot syrup as close to the edge of the bowl as possible.

To decorate:

Place the cake on a bowl, or cake pan that is slightly smaller than the cake's circumference and set on a sheet pan. This raises the cake up for easier application of the flakes, while the excess is contained in the sheet pan. You can also use a cake turntable to make rotating the cake easier.

Notes

Sweet Tips:
If you want to omit the salted caramel, simply increase the sugar quantity by ¼ cup.

As always, to achieve a full, fluffy meringue, be sure all equipment and utensils are free of grease. You can get super anal like me and have separate bowls and utensils reserved for meringues, or simply use lemon or vinegar to clean the bowl, whisk attachment and spatula prior to use.

Be very careful when working with hot sugar. Keep the stream of syrup slow and steady and as close to the inner side of the bowl as possible.