Baking Madness

My Grandma's birthday was a few weekends ago, and of course I couldn't go because I had work. To make up for my absence, I decided to make some of the desserts for the party. I whipped up three desserts, and from what I was told, there were another 3-4 desserts brought to the party. Talk about overkill.

I decided to forego the usual mocha chiffon cake with butter cream icing and chose a very understated almond cake. Recipe wise, it was pretty simple, except it required lots of marzipan. I swapped it out with almond paste and almond meal. It smelled divine when it came out of the oven, and I was told it was very good, although just a tad dry. Next time, I'll infuse it with a liquor or simple syrup.

This egg white roll I totally made up on the fly. I had ten egg whites laying around after I finished with the Leche flan, and I didn't want it to go to waste. It's similar to Brasos de Mercedes, but instead of using an egg custard filling I used blackberry jam. As you can see, I spread it out too much, causing the filling to ooze out after rolling.

Leche flan. I had no idea how unbelievably simple this dessert is. First you carmelize brown sugar in a pot. And no, you don't add water, you just heat the sugar and keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. When it's carmelized, you pour it into the baking dish. In another bowl, mix together 10 egg yolks, 1 can evaporated milk, 1 can condensed milk, and a splash of vanilla. Pour into the baking dish and bake at 350 degrees in a water bath until the flan is firm (knife in the flan comes out clean, about an hour). Don't forget to cover the top of the dish with foil... why, I don't know. Steaming?