Thanksgiving | (Part 2) Apple Rose Tarts & Pumpkin Cake Tarts

 

Continuing with my theme of using ingredients I had on hand, I also made apple rose tarts and pumpkin cake tarts for Thanksgiving (for co-workers, Friendsgiving and the actual family get-together). Although quite simple in theory, the apple tart in particular can be labor intensive if you hand slice your apples like I did. I think I told myself I was practicing my knife skills . . . but I would recommend using a mandolin slicer if you've got one!

The apple tarts are inspired by my baking friend Anjali, who in turn was inspired by a Pinterest post. The crust is a Pâte Brisée, and the rose is made from thin slices of Gala apples, coated with some sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and melted butter.

I also added an apple compote (using Golden Delicious apples) underneath the rose to add flavor and moisture, which I think makes a big difference. After baking, I brushed with some apricot nappage for a glaze.

 

 

The pumpkin tarts use a Pâte Sucrée crust, baked with the same pumpkin brown butter cake batter I used for my Thanksgiving cake.

 

 

After baking, I leveled the top of the tart-cake, brushed on the brown sugar simple syrup, and then topped with mascarpone mousse.

Both were tasty treats and great for gifting. My personal favorite is the apple tart!

Thanksgiving | (Part 1) Pumpkin Brown Butter Cake

For Thanksgiving this year, I made a pumpkin layered cake, inspired by . . . ingredients on hand. I recently moved, and while I am excited to have a more functional oven and kitchen, I haven't had time to organize the pantry or find all of my tools. Looking at what I had (canned pumpkin, nuts, butter, sugar, mascarpone mousse for Friendsgiving tarts), I decided to make this cake with brown butter sage pumpkin layers, butterscotch pecan filling and mascarpone mousse frosting, with white chocolate leaves and cake crumbs for decoration.

The brown butter sage pumpkin cake comes from Martha Stewart, the butterscotch pecan filling comes from annie's eats and the mascarpone mousse is one of my favorites from Extraordinary Desserts that I've used multiple times.

Brown Butter Pumpkin Cake with Butterscotch Pecan Filling

Makes one 9" cake, or 12 cupcakes

Filling: 

• 1 cup granulated sugar
• Small squeeze of fresh lemon juice (optional, helps prevent crystallization)
• 1¼ sticks (5 oz.) unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 cup heavy cream
• 1 cup chopped toasted pecans

 Cake: 

• ¾ cup (1 ½ sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 ⅔ cups all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup fresh sage (chiffonade)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs

Also make mascarpone mousse (or any other frosting such as buttercream) and a simple syrup (try brown sugar).

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Make the cake: Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-low heat. Add sage strips and cook until butter turns golden brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer mixture to a bowl; let cool slightly. Meanwhile, whisk together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. In another bowl, whisk together pumpkin, brown sugar, eggs, and sage-butter mixture. Add flour mixture; whisk until incorporated. Pour batter into floured pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until done (about 60 minutes, or when a cake tester comes out clean). Cool, wrap and chill in refrigerator or freezer.
3. Make the filling: Warm heavy cream in a small saucepan (do not boil). In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar and lemon juice and stir with a whisk to combine (add water as necessary to resemble moist sand). [Note: If you're comfortable making a wet caramel, consider skipping the lemon juice. I added too much and ended up with a citrusy filling instead of a true butterscotch flavor.] Heat until sugar caramelizes into a golden amber color. Remove the saucepan from the heat and carefully add the heavy cream slowly, whisking constantly to incorporate. Whisk in the butter, a couple cubes at a time, stirring to incorporate completely before adding the next portion.
4. Cool the butterscotch in the refrigerator at least 45 minutes, until the mixture is no longer warm and has a slight chill.  Place the chilled butterscotch in a stand mixer bowl and beat for about 2 minutes, until it has thickened and lightened. Fold in the chopped pecans.
5. Cut cake into 3 layers. Brush cake layers with brown sugar simple syrup, spread filling, repeat, and cover cake with mascarpone mousse. Freeze until ready to decorate and serve. 

Pumpkin Chocolate Mendiant - Happy Thanksgiving!

For Thanksgiving this year, I decided to present something along the lines of individual plated desserts versus a single cake. It was a lot more work, but a fun way to make use of my pastry school education. Plus, I needed to make up for the time that my pumpkin chocolate tiramisu failed to make it to the holiday gathering (in retrospect, that recipe I used was all sorts of wrong).

This dessert has a base disc of flourless hazelnut chocolate cake, a layer of pumpkin pastry cream, a layer of pumpkin-chocolate crème légère (basically the pumpkin pastry cream mixed with melted chocolate, frangelico and whipped cream), and a topping of mascarpone whipped cream. On the side is a cranberry compote, made with whole frozen cranberries, sugar, lemon juice, frangelico and a little corn starch to pull it together.

The dark chocolate cage was the most involved step. Fortuitously, my dad had 3" PVC pipe lying around, so we sawed that into short rings for holding the cylindrical shape while the tempered chocolate set. Family teamwork!

I'm only calling this a mendiant because that is the name of a similar dessert we made in pastry school. Obviously it is not the same as the chocolate confection also known as the mendiant, but I have yet to figure out a better name.

Marble Chocolate Turkey Cupcakes - Thanksgiving Part 2

This was inspired by a holiday coupon book, with pictures of Betty Crocker creations. The cupcakes are marbled vanilla and chocolate (made with cocoa powder for a dark chocolate flavor), with vanilla pudding mix. The frosting is silky smooth dark chocolate. The turkey feathers are piped semi-sweet and white chocolate, with a Hershey's kiss head.


Making both batches of cupcakes made me late to Thanksgiving dinner, but I was a baker-obsessed.

Pumpkin Brown Butter Cupcakes - Thanksgiving Part 1

You know that yummy sweet-savory buttery goodness that lines the layers of a cinnamon bun? Well, imagine that captured in a cupcake! Here, browned butter is incorporated into a pumpkin-sage cake, with browned butter icing on top. I've made the icing into a thicker consistency so that it holds form (for easier transport to Thanksgiving dinner). However, with the addition of more milk, this icing can drip off the edges of the cupcake for a nice gooey effect as well.

I have been working on my chocolate tempering work, so these cupcakes are topped with a bit of white chocolate flair.