Boulder Bundt Cake {Baked in America/Outsider Tart} #AugustBreak

Last August (August Break 2011) I bought a copy of Baked in America by the Davids [Outsider Tart]. This August I am showing you the Boulder Bundt Cake (pg 144) from said book.
If you are a coffee/toffee lover this is the cake for you! It's amazing. My bundt/tube pan wasn't big enough and it was overflowing and a tiny part of it at the top was under done, but it is amazing.
I love coffee flavored stuff and this has hit the spot! If you have the book then by default you own the recipe and if you have trouble finding coffee extract as I did, no worries, just make it yourself!!
I am sorry that I am not sharing the recipe with you, but I have already shared a few recipes from this book. I have my own rules of sharing recipes from books. I  really love this book, it's one of the few I have baked a lot from. It's an all around good book has a little bit of everything you would ever need!

For those of you in America you have your very own version coming out soon! You get a cool cover...the UK cover isn't as exciting and the cake on the cover isn't even in the book! A gripe of many Amazon reviewers! lol. It's also has a different title- Piece of Cake: Home Baking Made Simple. I think this cover is way better!! I thought it was a brand new book and almost pre-ordered it! I would buy it just for the cover; yes, I judge books by their covers. I try not too, but I love art and book covers are a form of art. :0)

Austrian Coffee Tart with raspberries!!

Looking for something different to make I spent a few hours scouring my books for something that looked tasty. Instead I found something that sounded tasty. Even though this book is full of great pictures, the pictures that accompany the pastry are very helpful, I of course chose a recipe without a picture.

This recipe filled some criteria that I was looking for. 1. Having spent my Christmas gift money on a tart tin it’s probably about time I used it. 2. I was desperate to use my coffee extract I recently made 3. It was different then my normal bakes found on here. 4. I have yet to bake from Home Bake by Eric Lanlard (first thoughts on the book)

I had a few hiccups (see * below) I am more confident today about it then I was yesterday. Still not 100% sure it’s right; this time a picture would have been helpful! (see: Coffee Extract update for my insanity) But after reading the top of the recipe “This light-as-air tart is based on an Austrian classic. It is like across between a tart, a meringue and a macaroon.” That’s exactly what I thought when eating it. The raspberries really compliment the tart. If you have or will attempt this recipe and your results were/are different I would love for you to share with me!! Also Eric Lanlard if you happen to read this please let me know if this is what it’s suppose to look like! lol thanks!  ;0)

Sweet shortcrust pastry 

• 115g (4oz) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 50g (2oz) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, plus extra for greasing
• 25g (1oz) icing sugar (confectioner sugar) sifted
• 1 egg yolk (save the white for the rest of the tart)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour into a mixing bowl. Add the measured butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs (mine never look like fine breadcrumbs but it does look like breadcrumbs (I wonder how often I can type breadcrumbs in one sentence!!))

Stir in the sugar and make a well in the center.

Lightly beat the egg yolk with 1 tbsp cold water and the vanilla. Add to the well in the flour mixture and mix in with your fingertips. Gather together to make soft dough. Wrap in clingfilm and chill for an hour before rolling it out.

Once chilled, knead he dough minimally, then roll out on a lightly floured surface until a little larger then a 23cm (9in) loose-bottomed flan tin. Use some extra butter to grease the flan tins base and sides.

Lift the pastry over the rolling pin, drape in the buttered tin and press over the base and up the side. Trim the excess pastry by rolling a rolling pin across the top.

Prick the base of the pastry with a fork.

To blind-bake which you will need to do for this tart recipe:

Pre-heat the oven 200C/400F/gas mark 6.

Line the raw pastry with baking paper (grease proof) and fill with ceramic baking beans. *Eric says that they conduct more heat then the dried beans often recommended. I would agree that this pastry turned out better then the one I made for a coconut cream pie (Before Blog) where I used lentils. It got puffy and the cream filling didn’t fill it right. Still tasted good though.

Bake for 6-10 minutes until pastry is golden brown.

Remove the paper and beans and bake for a further 5-10 minutes to dry out the base.

If you wanted to use this for a liquid base (which we aren’t here) brush the inside of the pastry with an egg beaten with 1 tbsp of milk after taking out the baking beans and cook for the full 10 minutes. It helps keep the crunchiness longer.

Austrian Coffee Tart with Raspberries

• 22cm (8 ½ in) blind-baked sweet shortcrust pastry tart case
• 3 punnets of raspberries
• icing sugar for dusting

• 250g (9oz) icing sugar (confectioners)
• 1 tbsp coffee extract
• 4 egg whites

Pre-heat the oven to 170C/325F/gas mark 3. I just turned my oven down after baking the tart case.

Put the icing sugar, coffee extract and one of the egg whites in a large bowl. Using a wooden spoon at first, and then an electric hand whisk, mix and beat them together until really fluffy.

In a separate bowl, whisk the remaining egg whites to soft peaks.

Fold these gently into the coffee mixture, using a large metal spoon.

Pour this into the pastry case, and bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.

 *I ran into a time problem here. I had it baking for 15 minutes when I realised I needed to get my daughter from preschool. Time just got away from me, so I turned the oven off and went to get her. We did make it back at about the time it should have been done, but I turned the oven back up to 170C and baked for a further 10 minutes before taking it out and letting it cool. Needless to say I am not 100% sure this has turned out right. It is one of the few recipes that does not have a picture accompanying it.

To serve cover it in raspberries and dust with icing sugar.

Coffee Extract!

This was like one of those times when you discover something you've never seen or heard before and then find it everywhere you go!

For instance: my friend bought a gold Picasso (UK car).

I assumed there was no way it was a very popular color and I started waving to all the metallic gold Picasso's I saw, again, assuming it was my friend. So, wrong it's always some random person, not my friend. (In all reality it's probably only one other car and I'm waving to the same person over and over again!) 

My point being is I found a recipe I wanted to try and it had coffee extract listed in it's ingredients. I was intrigued having never seen it in any store or for any other recipe.Then all of the sudden it seemed like every recipe I read had it listed! Seriously. So, I went on a hunt for it. 

For the longest time I couldn't find it locally. Searching online to see where I could get my hands on some I came across a recipe. Perfect. 

This recipe comes directly from Island Vittles. (site no longer available) 

Ingredients: 

·        2 cups (480 ml) granulated sugar

·        1 cup (240 ml) hot espresso (I used double strength regular coffee)

1.     Preheat a large non-stick pan over medium heat. Sprinkle enough sugar in the pan to lightly cover the bottom. Do not stir. As the sugar melts, sprinkle more sugar over the hot spots. This keeps the temperature even, and prevents scorching.

2.     Continue with this method until about half of the sugar has been incorporated. Stir gently with a wooden spoon to melt all the sugar into a smooth caramel. Add the remaining sugar, about 1/4 at a time, and continue to stir to keep the caramel smooth.

3.     Continue to cook until the caramel is almost the colour of coffee. The easiest way to see this is by smearing a bit of the caramel on a white card. Expect some smoke when sugar gets this hot — turn the exhaust on and BE CAREFUL!!

shades of caramel

4.   Remove from the heat, and gently stir in approx 2 tablespoons of the hot espresso/coffee — beware of splatters! Add the coffee, a little bit at a time, until it is all incorporated, stirring well between additions.

5.     Store in a glass jar at room temperature indefinitely.

Notes: 1. Always keep a bowl of ice water close by when working with molten sugar.  If you burn your hand, plunge it into the ice water and keep it there for at least 2 minutes. This will minimise the burn. 2. In place of espresso, you could use double strength regular coffee.

I made mine with really strong espresso and until I use it in a recipe I can't really comment on if it's turned out right. Extract tastes disgusting and this tastes disgusting so from that comparisons my fingers are crossed it's okay! 

Stay tuned for upcoming bakes with coffee extract! 

UPDATE: (June 26) Okay so I think this will be one of those recipes I think I'll keep coming back too. I made this Coffee Tart and I was concerned as it didn't have a distinct coffee flavor. So, not gonna lie I was annoyed. I thought about it and I only used espresso powder.....maybe I needed proper espresso.....so I ran to my local Starbucks where they sold me 7 shots of espresso to make up the 240ml. Thank you ladies! Did I mention they know me and my mum friend there pretty well! :0) Then quickly (it takes 10-15 minutes) I remade the extract. While I was remaking this extract I did think about vanilla extract and how you don't always taste vanilla in some bakes, but without it it would be noticeable. So, maybe this is one of those times when it's not suppose to taste strongly of coffee, but without the extract it would taste differently? I don't know! It looks and tastes (disgusting) about the same. It's slightly thicker, but not much difference. So, then I thought I am going to re-make the tart to see if there is a difference in the taste. But I talked myself out of that because my husband really only likes chocolaty bakes and I couldn't eat all of the first tart, plus a second one. It's good, but not that good! Maybe another time. I already have a cake with coffee extract on my baking calendar!