Beer and Bread UNITE!

A couple months ago I ran across a recipe for beer bread and I have now had 2 successful baking experiences with this recipe. I grew up on beer bread and my mom has used the same recipe for years. Now that I am older and pursuing my baking career, I thought it was time to challenge her bread. This is the recipe I used: (I tweeked one I found online)

Beer Bread

(Yield: 1 loaf)

3 cups flour (1 part cake, 1 part bread, 1 part whole wheat or use only all purpose)

1/3 cup of sugar

1 tbsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp salt

12 oz beer (1 beer)

*¼ cup melted butter (make sure it is completely melted so it can soak into the breads crust and doesn't just float on top)

Method

-Combine dry ingredients and mix well. Add beer and mix until homogenous.

-Pour into parchment lined or sprayed loaf pan and bake.

-Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit or 175 degrees Celsius for 40 minutes, then pour *melted butter over loaf and bake ten more minutes.

Variations

-Add roasted walnuts

-Use different types of beer

I made this bread with the intention to pair it with Jambalaya, but my family ended up eating steak and grilled veggies that night. It still proved to be a great side and people seemed to be pretty impressed with the obvious beer flavor :)

P.S. My bread puts my mom's to shame, but let's keep that on the DL.

Coconut Charlotte Russe

So I know I wrote that I was going to make a hazelnut Charlotte Russe, but I started to think about the flavor vs. the time of year and decided that making a coconut Charlotte Russe would be more appropriate for summer (plus the added fact of it being a new challenge).

I made the Charlotte Russe using a recipe for a sponge cake and instead of using vanilla extract I used imitation coconut extract. For the cake's filling, I made a coconut creme anglaise by adding toasted coconut to my milk and cream mixture as it heated over the stove. The toasted coconut created such a deep and delicious coconut flavor! It was fantastic! That creme anglaise got mixed with bloomed and melted gelatin and then I quickly folded in soft-whipped heavy cream. Combining gelatin with cold ingredients is always risky so it is important to temper it into the creme anglaise (add some of creme anglaise to melted gelatin, then add that back to creme anglaise). If you get lumps in this mixture, just put it over a double boiler. If you have added the whipped cream already you cannot fix the bavarian and should just restart.

My finished product had two layers of sponge cake soaked in a dark rum simple syrup and two layers of coconut bavarian cream. And like a traditional Charlotte Russe it was surrounded by ladyfingers. Lastly, I topped it with a mixture of half toasted coconut and half un-toasted coconut (toasted sweetened coconut is scrumptious because the coconut sort of caramelizes on its surface... talk about a party in your mouth :P).

A Charlotte Russe can be any combination of flavors. I advise anyone who likes this type of cake to be adventurous and use your favorite flavor combination and see how it turns out.