Daring Baker - March Challenge - Meringue Coffee Cake

The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.


This was definitely a fun challenge and I was a little worried how it was going to turn out because I've never made meringue and well.. I always worry about how things are going to turn out.  They were actually quite tasty, I felt that some pieces were a bit dry because I didn't lay out the inside ingredients well enough but all my friends who tried it, LOVED it!


Definitely a success, despite it taking four hours to complete, half the time was just waiting for it to "rise" which it never really did and I wonder if that also lead to the dryness.  That or I'm used to gooey, calorie ridden coffee cakes from outside places. :)


Pictures to come!

Daring Cook - March Challenge - Papas Rellenas and Ceviche

Kathlyn of Bake Like a Ninja was our Daring Cooks’ March 2011 hostess. Kathlyn challenges us to make two classic Peruvian dishes: Ceviche de Pescado from “Peruvian Cooking – Basic Recipes” by Annik Franco Barreau. And Papas Rellenas adapted from a home recipe by Kathlyn’s Spanish teacher, Mayra.


What an amazing challenge!  I've always wanted to learn to make ceviche because I love raw fish and lightly cooked in lime juice ceviche.  Then when I was in Peru I had some of the most amazing ceviche dishes and even got to try La Mar while I was out there.  The ceviche was a lot easier than I thought it would be and with the help of a friend and then later a juicer (poor friend of mine juiced half my limes by hand before I remembered I had a juicer).  

It came out beautifully.  I used yellow tail and talapia.  The yellow tail tasted best when only lightly cooked and the talapia was great either way.  

The Papas Rellenas were what I was really afraid of.  It looked like so much work!  And it was pretty labor intensive, but the recipe was actually easier than I thought it would be.  My timing was a little off so I was definitely scrabbling around the kitchen try to get everything cooked (hard boiled eggs, raisins) and minced and then into the potato cocoon.  I think it might have been easier if I had peeled and cut the potatoes and then boiled it.  One of them came out not that soft but it was too late to cook it longer.

However everything still tasted fantastic!  Thanks to a tip for frying that I learned from the tempura challenge, frying these bad boys were a breeze!  And they were seriously delicious.  I even made vegetarian ones for two friends who don't eat meat.  Instead I used everything but the meet and added spinach and mushrooms.

Can't wait to try this recipe again!