Wednesday, October 19, 2011

Rodelle Baking Challenge!

Rodelle BakingChallenge – Kicked off October 1 and runs until December 25, 2011.

I was given the wonderful opportunity to help promote the Rodelle Baking Challenge.  They were very kind and sent me a couple of their vanilla beans to work with, and then post about my experience, along with info on the challenge.

How the vanilla beans arrived!

Out of their container.    


What the seeds actually look like
I have never worked with vanilla beans before, so I was VERY excited for this opportunity.  Seeing as how I have never worked with them before, I did a long web search to find a recipe that looked good. I came upon THIS recipe @ The Busty Baker for vanilla bean cupcakes, and decided to pair it with a vanilla bean buttercream (just a basic recipe – I substituted v.b. seeds for the extract in the recipe).

I have taken pictures to document my experience, and I am thrilled!  The end result is fantastic. 

For those of you that have never used vanilla beans before – give it a try! You take a paring knife, split the bean down the centre and then scrape out the seeds (I used the end of a childs plastic feeding spoon, and this worked well.) I was quite surprised when I opened the bean, as I had no idea what to expect for the seeds.  At first, it didn’t even look like there was anything inside, but as I scraped I discovered that the seeds are all “stuck” together – it was kind of clumpy, and I thought I did it wrong. BUT – as I mixed it in the recipe, I noticed that they came apart and there were tiny black seeds.





As I mentioned, I am thrilled with the recipe I chose, and the flavour is quite tasty. 






all mixed up and ready to transfer

ready to bake

buttercream mixed up

frosted

upclose

and I had to add a shot of  my big helper!

Now – onto the baking challenge!




Bakers share their baking moment on the Rodelle Facebook page…the most creative posts with photos or videos are more likely to stand out. The winners are selected by the Rodelle team and with a variety of criteria. Everything from creativity to sentimentality is taken into consideration. Rodelle is sweetening the pot this year by adding a KitchenAid® Mixer to the three grand prizes, which include a yearlong supply of premium Rodelle baking essentials: vanilla beans, baking cocoa, pure vanilla extract, almond/lemon/anise extracts and vanilla sugar. Three runners up will win a yearlong supply of pure vanilla extract, vanilla beans, and rich dark baking cocoa. People are invited to upload entries from October 1 through December 25, 2011. Winners will be announced New Year’s Day, 2012.

“At Rodelle, we are all about the finest ingredients bringing holiday magic to baking,” says Joe Basta. “Our goal is to inspire families to take their baking to a new level– using Rodelle really does make a difference,” he adds.






About Rodelle:
Rodelle has created premier baking and cooking essentials since 1936. Originating from the south of France, the Rodelle family revolutionized the standard for gourmet flavors when they came to the states, bringing with them, their passion and expertise for the flavor industry. In 1984, Rodelle became part of Custom Blending Inc. where a relentless commitment to high quality continues. Today, Rodelle provides home bakers and culinary professionals alike with the finest ingredients on the market. From Madagascar Bourbon vanilla beans to Dutch-processed baking cocoa and Herbs de Provence, quality comes first. The company is wind powered and has consistently given a portion of sales back to its growing regions.







** I was sent the product at no charge in exchange for this post; this has not influenced my oppinion in any way.**

3 comments:

  1. Thanks for stopping by my blog, http://babyfeetandpuppybreath.blogspot.com/
    I am your newest Facebook fan!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Caitlin - they are delicious - I just wish the recipe made more than 12 - there is only ONE left

    ReplyDelete

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