Zabaglione Gelato

I felt very un-Italian recently when Matt and I ate at a local Italian restaurant and I didn't know what zabaglione was.  Seeing as how I have my own ice cream maker now, I decided to prove how Italian I actually am by making my own zabaglione. 

Zabaglione is a traditional Italian custard made with Marsala wine.  It is made to order is restaurants and served warm.  I found a very easy recipe in The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz to make a wonderful gelato.  The half a cup of Marsala wine that is added at the end of the recipe is accentuated by the zested lemon that is infused in the warm milk.  Other than those two ingredients, the base is a simple ice cream recipe of milk, sugar, heavy cream and egg yolks.  It can't get much easier than that.

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February Daring Bakers: Flourless Chocolate Cake with Vanilla Ice Cream

I usually don’t order chocolate flourless cake at restaurants.  Some may call me a heathen, but I don’t like desserts that are that rich.  So I was actually pretty excited when this month’s Daring Bakers challenge (my first DB challenge!) was a flourless chocolate cake, or chocolate Valentino, and ice cream.  It would give me the opportunity to try making one myself because if I don’t order it at restaurants I definitely don’t make them on a regular basis. 

The February 2009 challenge is hosted by Wendy of WMPE's blog and Dharm of Dad ~ Baker & Chef.  We have chosen a Chocolate Valentino cake by Chef Wan; a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Dharm and a Vanilla Ice Cream recipe from Wendy as the challenge.

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Vanilla-Black Raspberry Swirl Ice Cream

I was so excited about giving my dad his ice cream that I forgot to take a picture of it.

My newly purchased ice cream maker was screaming to be broken in and my dad’s birthday was coming up so I decided to kill two birds with one stone and make him some ice cream for his birthday.  His favorite flavor is Baskin Robbins’ Baseball Nut and I remembered him saying once that it is a seasonal flavor only available during the summer.  So I thought I would get the “Daughter of the Year” award by making him some of his favorite ice cream.  I found out later that it’s available year round now, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. 

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Cupcakes by the dozen

Any recipe that I have been interested in trying lately has quickly turned into me asking the question, “I wonder how this recipe would compare to that recipe?”  It’s a good thing.  It’s causing me to think more analytically about a recipe and really break down the ingredients and think about the roles they play.  If I’ve bored you thus far I apologize.  It has been a very long week and my brain has been in full on analyst mode so it’s going to take a paragraph or two to get it all out.

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Cake decorating 101

I recently took a cake decorating class at The Cake Works, a cake and wedding supply store in Campbell, CA. I obviously know how to bake but have wanted to perfect my ability to make the things I bake pretty. That and I bought a pastry bag and three tips over two years ago and they have sat neglected at the back of my pantry since coming home with me. So off to class I finally went. For four nights I would enter the store wearing clean clothes only to leave two hours later covered in buttercream. But it was well worth the mess! Now I have my own toolbox arsenal of pastry bags, tips and frosting dye as well as the know-how to actually use them.

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