I've Heard of a Martini.. But a Bostini?

TWO HUNDRED and NINETY NINE (299) As of the time that I am writing this - October 28th at 9:15 p.m. (eastern standard time) The Daring Bakers have grown to 299 talented members. This number includes 99.9% of our new November members. Deadline for membership is day of posting, which is Monday the 29th. So this number could (and most likely will) grow. *blink* *blink* Holy fakk. I think I can safely speak for my beautiful partner in crime, Ivonne, here too.. WE'RE STUNNED! WE'RE GIDDY! WE'RE SO DAMN GRATEFUL! =) squeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! Soooo.. get ready! You've got about 219 Bostini Cream Pies comin' atcha in the next 24 hours! heee! This month's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by one of my most favoritest gals of ALL TIME, Mary of Alpineberry. Mary is our top blog administrator and Gate Keeper. Not only does she make sure things are in tip top shape on the Daring Baker's private blog, but she is also responsible for guiding all new members through the gates. She does a wonderful job and the Daring Bakers wouldn't be this fantastic group that it is without her! Thank you so much for all that you do, Mary! =) So yes, this month Mary took on another responsibility.. hosting the October challenge. She had to pick a recipe that she thought we'd all find challenging in some way. She had to figure out what was allowed and what wasn't allowed by means of creativity and allowing our members to make the recipe their own. She had to pay close attention to the DB blog to answer any questions that might arise AND she had to do all of this with a great big smile on her face. teeee! Check out my spider! He rocks! So the recipe? Bostini Cream Pie. It's a twist on the traditional Boston Cream Pie. Vanilla custard topped with an orange chiffon cake and then drizzled with chocolate glaze. What's not to love?? Mary allowed us to change up the flavor of the cake as long as we kept the color light. I didn't feel the need to do so - I love orange and chocolate. Hell, I love just about any citrus with chocolate. Hell, who am I kidding? I love ANYTHING with chocolate. Sheesh. My opinion on my Bostini? It didn't take long - major bonus, as I procrastinated yet again this month. I was not thrilled with the custard though. I found it to be quite bland. It was very thin and kind of runny the night I made it, but the next day it thickened up nicely. It was "just okay". I cut the custard recipe in half - which meant I had to cut the vanilla bean in half. Perhaps if I had left it whole, the custard would have had more pop. This is what I did with the chiffon cake. I cut the recipe in half, but I left the full amount of orange zest in it - holy cow! FANTASTIC cake! I will definitely make this cake again, it was just wonderful. The final component was the chocolate sauce.. 'kay well I don't need to say anything about that, right? It was chocolate.. how could it be bad? :D Although I wasn't "taken" by this dessert, I am very grateful to Mary for choosing another dessert with chiffon cake. Helene was here during the Strawberry Mirror Cake so she really did most of the work, while I watched and paid attention. So this opportunity to make a chiffon cake again, by myself, was awesome. I was tickled pink when I saw that they turned out perfectly and did not have the rubbery layer of egg like some gals had to deal with. I guess I can chalk that up to having the best baking guru ever, eh? *smoochies* Okay, going to keep this month's post rather short - well, short for me. :P I've got 218 Bostini Cream Pie's to go drool over - I better get on that! If you'd like to make this dessert yourself, check out Mary's post for the recipe. And don't forget to click on the Official Daring Baker Blogroll link on my sidebar to check out everyone else's KICK ASS posts! :) xoxo