Self layering coffee panna cotta for the Daring Bakers February 2011

Your not going to believe it.....this is not a time consuming layered dessert, it is a mix and pour panna cotta which settled into the 3 layers you see in the picture whilst it was setting in the fridge.

Crazy huh! I could not believe my luck when I unmolded the panna cotta and saw the beautiful dessert which looked like I had spent hours slaving away but in reality spent only minutes creating.

The picture for the original recipe did not look like this at all so I am unsure if it was my recipe tinkering that resulted in the layers or it was just luck. I did notice that the tall mini serve glasses did not layer quite as well and wonder if that is because they set faster due to their small size. 

The February 2011 Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Mallory from A Sofa in the Kitchen. She chose to challenge everyone to make Panna Cotta from a Giada De Laurentiis recipe and Nestle Florentine Cookies.

I had previously made a recipe similar to the one provided before so decided to be a little daring and try out this recipe from the Cuisine Magazine site here. 

But then being even more daring as I am (only where cooking is involved mind you) I modified it a bit as I only have leaf geletine and I hate measuring liquids in anything other than cup increments so I weighed it.

The changes worked well and the finished product resulted in a lovely tasting panna cotta which had a gorgeous wobbly breast effect (which incidentally is what I always think of now when I see panna cotta thanks to one of my favourite blogs Not Quite Nigella)


Then I made the florentine cookies using the recipe provided but substituting golden syrup for the dark corn syrup and omitting the chocolate. They were ok on their own, certainly not something I would rush out and make. To me they seemed more like an ANZAC biscuit I have always thought florentines to be lovely large cookies with cherries, almonds and other treats held together barely by the mixture.



The florentine did however work well with the panna cotta, the crisp and buttery biscuit was a lovely contrast.





Thank you Mallory I enjoyed this challenge and I'm looking forward to seeing all the other Daring Bakers results.

Recipe after jump


Coffee Panna Cotta (recipe modified from Cuisine Magazine) serves 6 and make sure you read all the notes at the bottom of the recipe before you attempt it.

55g caster sugar (1 7/8 ounce)
20g (3/4 ounce) freshly ground coffee (mine was ground for espresso machine)
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) full cream milk
2 and a half leaves gelatin
270gm (9 1/2 ounce) unthickened pouring cream

Place gelatine into a bowl and cover with cold water whilst you heat the milk (I usually ripe the sheets into 2 or 3 pieces so they are smaller and fit into a small bowl).

Pop sugar, milk and coffee into a saucepan and bring to a simmer stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Squeeze excess water from gelatin and add to the milk mixture and immediately remove from heat. Stir to dissolve all gelatin.

Add cream and stir well.

Get a large jug with a handle and place a sieve over the top lined with 4 layers of muslin. If you do not have muslin you may use clean unused chux type dishcloths or even a coffee filter or paper towels. Pass the coffee mixture through the lined sieve into the jug. Ensure as much of the mixture as possible gets through, you may need to replace the top layer if it becomes clogged.

Half fill  6 X 150ml capacity plastic dariole molds stirring the mixture in the jug between each pour. If you do not have dariole molds you can use glasses or what ever you have at hand. Then carefully add the remaining mixture to fill each mold to the same height.

Allow to set in the fridge overnight (but covered with plastic or in an airtight container).

When ready to serve I ran a knife carefully around the edge as recommended in the challenge and then gently warmed the top with a dishcloth soaked in warm water before placing the plate on top of the mold and then turning both over. When I lifted the mold the panna cotta slid out perfectly.

Notes for recipe - the weights for the liquids are actually weights on a set of scales I use electric scales that can convert between ounce and gram which I love.

Use unthickened cream - in Australia Thickened cream has added gelatin so you are changing the ratios and may end up with a panna cotta that is harder and more set than you intend. I use the blue carton Pauls brand.

The gelatin brand I used says on the front Rheingold schnell-losliche Blatt-Gelatine it is light blue on the front and white with lots of darker blue writing on the back. I believe it is a normal strength gelatin sheet.  If you use a different strength gelatin it will effect how the panna cotta sets but not the taste.


Dariole molds are available in kitchen and baking stores. The ones I use are small single plastic molds, so pretty much it is a fancy way of saying little plastic cups.

When filling the moulds I did it in 2 parts which I think assisted distributing the mixture for the layers.




Nestle Florentine recipe can be found by clicking here



I made half a batch and substituted golden syrup for corn syrup.

Peanut Butter choc chip Whoopie pies

You can probably tell by the pictures that these Whoopie Pies were a valentine treat made with lots of sweet love.

Yup in the lead up to Feb 14th I really think I can put a heart onto anything. But don't worry hearts or not these whoopie pies are actually a perfect anytime treat.

Originally I made the heart toppers and popped them into some mini cupcakes, but alas my valentine does not care for overly sweet cupcakes.

Then someone asked me to make up a batch of whoopie pies for their special valentine and I realised I had my solution (thank you Anna).

I find that the classic marshmallow filling below makes enough to join 2 batches of whoopies cakes, so I made up one plain chocolate chip for my friend and then modified the peanut butter whoopie recipe from "Whoopie Pies" by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell to incorporate chocolate chips.

You can pick it up for a good price with free delivery at The Book Depository

Recipe after jump

Cute as a Button Blossom cookie tutorial

Some of you mentioned you kinda liked my button blossom cookies in my last post.

I have to admit I'm a bit taken by them myself, there is something super sweet about button cookies.

Forget cute as a button, I think the saying should be cute as a button cookie.

This cookie was part of a set I designed and made for my sister in law's baby shower. She's an artist and sits more on the quirky cool side of things than traditional, so I thought baby bottles and onesies wouldn't cut it.

They were probably more cutesy than she's used to but hey, I am who I am and I think she was happy with them.

and big thanks to all of you who follow me on facebook and helped me out with these ones. I was unsure of whether to put the stitching around the edges and you convinced me it looked better with the faux stitching.
Some of you also recommended different colours so here you go while doing this tutorial I made up a few of your suggestions.

Blue button with green stitching

Pink button with pink stitching

Yellow button with pink stitching

Yup you get the picture this cookie looks pretty good in a variety of colours.

As a thank you I've done up a little tutorial to show how I made them.

Cute as a Button Blossom Cookie

Equipment and Ingredient for blue buttons with blue stitching
Cooked blossom cookies CLICK HERE for chocolate cookie recipe (my blossom cutter was 5.3cm or 2.1")
White ready to roll fondant
light blue (or colour of choice ready to roll fondant) I coloured mine with a little Wilton sky blue
Small rolling pin
Paintbrush and water
2 different sized round cutters (I used my the wrong ends of 2 wilton piping tips one of the big ones like a 134 and a #2 but just use anything you have on hand if you have a set of small round cutters perfect)
Edible writing pen in blue (optional)

Roll out white fondant cut out blossom shape using the same size cutter as you used for the cookie and adhere fondant to cookie using  a small amount of water. Using the small rolling pin gently roll the fondant to make it the same size as cookie. Repeat for all cookies


Roll out light blue fondant and using the larger size circle cutter cut out enough rounds to place in the middle of each cookie. Adhere blue rounds to the center of each cookie with a small amount of water.

The Wilton tips in this picture are a little different that the ones I suggested as I was making a different size, like I said use what you have.

Using the slightly smaller round cutter press lightly into the larger round fondant cutout to leave an impression. Using the end of the paintbrush gently push 4 indents to replicate the holes in a button.

If you would like to add 'stitching' in edible pen I recommend allowing the fondant to dry a little. Then draw on the stitches using short stokes all around the edge of the cookie.