I hope you tuned into Duff Till Dawn on Food Network (the new cake competition series on Food Network!) and happen to catch myself and my partner Kara Andretta from Kara's Couture Cakes! Yeeaaah we brought our "A" game and.... well... OH you thought you could get the results that easy?! I can't tell you silly! Wouldn't want to spoil it for anyone who has it still floating around on their DVRs. If you haven't caught the episode, or don't live in the states, you can get access to one through iTunes here>> Duff Till Dawn, Season 1.
Kara pulled out her all the stops, as per-usual, and created the most delicious cakes to ever grace my pallet. She pulled out 3... yes THREE... flavor combos (where most on the show usually only pull out one)! I kid you not, I saw drool... straight UP DROOL on the audience's lips.
Kara unleashed a secret ingredient not so well known here in the states... why you ask? Why isn't this secret weapon a staple in all pantries? Welllllll... cause it's ILLEGAL IN THE STATES! WHAT!!!??! Yeah that's right. But only in the states... this bean, called the Tonka Bean, in it's raw form is illegal. If you ate, I dunno 75 of them in one sitting (you NEVER WOULD, this is meant to be used very sparingly like it's sister spice, Nutmeg), you could run into some problems. It is widely used in the Europe without any restrictions. Learn more about the Tonka Bean and this outdated law here: TONKA BEAN.
We happen to happen to have found a Tonka Bean alternative that is legal in the states, you can find it at the amazing pastry resource: Pastry Portal.
Bring apricot into the mix and WOW the taste buds of, I dunno......Kevin Smith!! And I quote: "you turned me onto apricots!"
With out any more delay...
Oh the crunchy deliciousness to follow...
Combine water and sugar in a medium sauce pan and cook to 234°F (the sugar will still be clear at this point)
Remove from heat and add pine nuts.
Stir continuously and quickly to coat all nuts with sugar; they will begin to crystallize and should separate rather than clump.
Place the pan back over medium heat and stir continuously. This will toast the nuts as the sugar begins to caramelize (this is when the sugar begins to look amber like the picture below).
Add butter to the nuts once the sugar has caramelized and coat evenly.
Pour the caramelized pine nuts out onto a silicone baking mat and spread out, separating them into individual pieces or small groupings as much as possible while they cool.
Once cooled, chill in the refrigerator for 5 minutes.
Remove from refrigeration and place in a plastic ziplock bag, then crush with a rolling pin.
Time to put it all together!
Next recipe coming to you from Kara and myeself, our Southern Take on Chocolate Cake. Light chocolate cake soaked in bourbon simple syrup, salted caramel American buttercream, and bourbon candied pecans.
Don't drool on your keyboards... that's gross 😉
Guess what else we have for you?! All those hard to find delicious pastes (we use them in all the Duff Till Dawn Trio of recipes)
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease sides and bottom of 2 – 8” round pans. You can line with parchment on bottom and sides if you wish for easy removal.
Add all dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, sugar, and salt) to a stand mixer bowl and mix with a paddle until thoroughly combined. This replaces sifting.
In a separate bowl, combine all wet ingredients (vanilla bean paste, apricot paste, honey, egg whites, milk, and vegetable oil) and whisk to combine. Set aside.
Turn mixer to low and slowly add chunks of butter. Continue to beat on slow until there are no chunks of butter remaining and the mixture becomes crumbly.
On low speed, add 1/3 of the liquid ingredients and then turn to medium. Mix until a light paste forms. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.
Add half of the remaining wet ingredients and beat on medium high speed for 4 minutes. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl.
Add the remaining wet ingredients and beat on medium speed for 5 minutes.
Divide evenly between the two prepared cake pans.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean and the sides have begun to pull away from the side of the pan.
Allow to cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan. Place on a rack to finish cooling.
*Vanilla extract can be substituted for vanilla bean paste.
Note: the apricot paste is highly concentrated natural flavor, substituting jam or preserves will not produce the rich flavor the paste is designed to.
Start with a grease free mixing bowl and whisk. Wipe with lemon juice or vodka to ensure.
Measure all ingredients using a scale.
Whisk sugar and meringue powder together in the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment.
Add egg whites to sugar mixture in the bowl until incorporated.
Create a double broiler by placing mixing bowl over a pot of simmering water until the sugar mixture hits 135˚F. Do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water, you just want to heat bowl with the steam.
Whip on high speed for 20 min in stand mixer or until room temp.
Change to paddle attachment, adjust to medium speed and slowly add shortening, then butter.
Beat until fully incorporated and light in color.
***It might seem like it's “breaking” at some point, where the butter may look curdled. No worries, keep beating and it will come back together. It won’t generally happen so long as the temperatures are respected.
This can be made in advance and refrigerated. To reconstitute: microwave container of buttercream for 20 seconds, just barely removing the chill from the outside of the container. Place buttercream back into a stand mixer and beat on high until light and fluffy. Again, at this stage there may appear to be a “break” in the emulsion, but allowing it to continue to beat and warm to room temp will remedy the problem. 
