The pokemon crochet journey!

Okay so I'm a little late this month with both of my challenges, OOPS. But I did make them and this one was quite exciting. I went out and bought a new candy thermometer! And I whipped up some delicious delicious nougat to share with everyone. It was a nice soft nougat too. Even though after it was done, my mum decided she preferred a harder style. The March 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Rebecca of BakeNQuilt. She challenged us to learn to make classic nougat and to make it our own with our choice of flavors and add-ins. I made a chocolate and peanut soft nougat! Ingredients are as follows: 100  g salted roasted  peanuts, roughly chopped 100  g dark chocolate,  chopped 2  medium egg whites pinch of salt 1/2  teaspoon vanilla bean  paste 350  g caster sugar 100  g golden syrup 50  g liquid glucose 1/4  teaspoon cream of tartar 100  g unsweetened smooth peanut butter And another 200g of dark cho...

Beauty surrounded the Daring Bakers this month as our host, Sawsan, of chef in disguise, challenged us to make beautiful, filled breads. Who knew breads could look as great as they taste? For the challenge, I have made a sweet bread! Even though I am tempted to re-make this recipe at some point with some ham, pesto, sundried tomato and roast capsicum. Cinnamon Sweet Bread Ingredients * 1/4 cup warm water * 3/4 cup warm milk * 1 large egg * 60 gm butter, softened * 1/4 cup white sugar * 1/2 teaspoon salt * 3-1/4 cups flour, approximately * 2 teaspoons dry yeast * 1/4 teaspoon cardamom, optional - this was about 8 pods ground up. * 60 gm butter (melted, for the layering) * 4 tbsp cinnamon (layering) * 1/2 cup sugar (layering) I combined the egg with the milk, water, sugar, butter and yeast then I set it aside to froth for about 10 minutes. I added 3 cups of flour into the bowl and then I kneaded everything together. In the end I didn't need...

So as my resolutions suggested, I'm going to try and participate in every single baking and cooking challenge from the Daring Kitchens this year. The January 2014 Daring Bakers' challenge was hosted by Francijn of "Koken in de Brouwerij". She challenged us all to bake layered cakes in the tradition of Baumkuchen (tree cake) and Schichttorte (layered cake).  I had made this cake back in November and I think it turned out quite well for a first attempt. But there were a lot of things I wanted to fix up for my second attempt at this cake. I got my recipe from Global Table Adventure for the actual cake and I am not sure where I found my almond paste recipe but looking through google shows that this same recipe is used in many different places by many different people so I can't go wrong with it. The first attempt of my cake was made with a nut free marzipan recipe as a work colleague of mine has a nut allergy.  This time around I'm going to be ...