Tag: French

Raspberry Pistachio Roulade … Spring Roll? Errr Swiss Roll!

“I love spring anywhere, but if I could choose I would always greet it in a garden.”
Ruth Stout

The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade captures the colours of spring nicely. It’s light, refreshing, moist and quick to make. Even better that you can make it ahead. I made it while experimenting with GF roulades. Made one with just almond meal and didn’t let it bake enough, so it stuck to just about everything in sight. I was really annoyed as I had baked in a hurry!

The word roulade originates from the French word “rouler” meaning “to roll”.

Sometimes you should just sit back and relax and bake with time on hand. Hurry does make curry and that’s just what happened. While the failed roll was baking, I got the filling together. The filling was finger licking good. {My earlier Gluten Free Strawberry Almond Roulade came out really well}

I did unroll the sticky roulade and dry bake it and served up some sort of Eton mess! Yet the filling played on my mind, so another normal Swiss roll was baked at leisure the next morning. The good thing was that the filling was ready!

 So while the roll baked and then cooled, I spent the morning out with Coco in my little garden. While I was  ‘shooting’ ladybirds, she stuck her nose into every tomato plant, tried to catch a butterfly or two, begged for a game of ball … she’s a little busy body!

I love this part of the year, spring as it should be, but a little muddled up. The weather really warmed up 2 weeks ago and we thought we’d skipped spring altogether.

Then some ‘western disturbances’ etc hit the area, some rain, scattered hail etc. It’s pretty much like Spring now. Whatever it is, it’s nice.

The plants are happy. Tomatoes are GROWING, Thai chilis’ full of flowers, eggplant and lime are in full bloom, and the kumquat tree laden again. The oregano sprigs have taken root and look quite happy, as does the mint. Dill and coriander play home to ladybirds and bees as the flowers on them bloom. Pretty all the way!

Pretty was the roulade too. Baked, rolled, cooled and ready to go, it got put together in a matter of minutes. I dressed it up with a little leftover cream and sprinkles prior to serving.

I used a frozen raspberry fruit concentrate from Del Monte to add a touch of tang and flavour. I’ve used it in the Dark Chocolate, Raspberry & Quark Layered Cake & in the Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cream Cake. 

You could also use a berry preserve, maybe even a bitter marmalade. The filling was given a lift with some white baking chocolate that a friend sweetly sent, gifts like these a constant source of inspiration.

Pistachios went in for colour, and because I just love them! The good thing was that as the Raspberry Pistachio Roulade sat in clingwrap overnight, the cake and the pistachio nuts took in some moisture, the cake becoming beautifully moist. The nuts swelled up and added a nice texture to every bite.

You could just slather it with preserves and serve it for tea, fill it with whipped cream for a comforting dessert on the go, or give it an adult twist   spiking the cream with your favourite liqueur. If you use kirsch, you could consider some balsamic cherries in the filling. Another good option might be Frangelico and Nutella, or maybe Kahlua and coffee cream. Let your imagination lead you.

The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade was plated on this classic white ceramic platter from one of my favourite online stores Urban Dazzle. It’s actually a snack platter that accommodates a dip or relish on the side quite nicely. I use it often, and this time it doubled up as a dessert tray! White always works!!

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Recipe: Raspberry Pistachio Roulade 

Summary: The Raspberry Pistachio Roulade captures the colours of spring nicely. It’s light, refreshing, moist and quick to make. It’s a nice make ahead simple homey dessert. {serves 6-8}

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes
Ingredients:

  • Swiss Roll
  • 3 eggs, separated
  • 75g powdered sugar {50+25g}
  • 50g plain flour
  • 1 vanilla bean, scraped
  • Filling
  • 150ml whipping cream
  • 50g white baking chocolate
  • 3-4 tbsp Castor sugar
  • 30g shelled pistachios
  • 75g raspberry fruit filling {or a fruit preserve}
  • Slivered pistachios and flower sprinkles for top

Method:

  1. Swiss Roll
  2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line a Swiss roll tin with parchment paper.
  3. Beat the egg whites with 25g sugar to stiff peaks. Reserve.
  4. In another large bowl, beat the yolks with the remaining 50g sugar until thick and mousse like. Add the scraped vanilla bean and beat again.
  5. Sift the flour over the yolk mixture and gently fold in.
  6. Next gently fold in the beaten egg whites in 3 lots.
  7. Pour batter into prepared pan. Sprinkle with sliced pistachio nuts if you like.
  8. Bake for about 20-25 minutes until light golden brown and firm to touch.
  9. While this is baking, lay out a clean kitchen towel, bigger than the size of the tray, and sift sugar evenly over it.
  10. Once the roll is baked {might look uneven but don’t worry. Mine was uneven, but came together quite fine}, overturn immediately {very carefully} onto the sugar sifted towel, and gently peel parchment off. Trim the edges if required.
  11. Now roll with the towel lengthwise, and leave to cool completely. {The longer side will be the length of the roll}
  12. Cream Filling
  13. Place the white chocolate with 50ml cream in a heat proof bowl and run in microwave for 1 minute {until melted}. Stir until smooth, and then cool.
  14. Beat the remaining 100ml cream and sugar until medium peaks form. Fold in the white chocolate mixture.

  15. Assembling

  16. Unroll the cooled cake, place on a sheet of parchment, and spread the raspberry fruit filling over it with an offset spatula.

  17. Sprinkle over with chopped pistachios.
  18. Sp

    read the cream filling over it, leaving a little border right around to avoid the filling oozing out.

  19. Now with the help of the parchment paper, roll it right back into a roll, pulling the paper slightly to make a tight roll.

  20. Place seam down on clingwrap and chill for a couple of hours. {I left mine overnight}. Unwrap gently and lay seam side down on your serving platter.

  21. Pipe over some left over cream filling, slivered pistachios and colourful sprinkles if you like.
  22. Slice with a sharp serrated knife and serve! Happy SPRING!

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Food Event | Gourmet Dinner with French Michelin Star Chef Baptiste … ITC Maurya & Four Seasons Wine

“After one taste of French food … I was hooked. I’d never eaten like that before, I didn’t know such food existed. The wonderful attention paid to each detail of the meal was incredible to me. I’d never really drunk good wine before, and knew nothing at all about it. It was simply a whole new life experience.”
Julia Child

A few days ago we had the pleasure of attending an exclusive gourmet evening with celebrated French Michelin Star Chef Baptiste. As part of a joint initiative of the ITC Maurya and Four Seasons Wines, 30 year old Chef Batiste delighted patrons in Delhi pairing modern French cuisine with a selection of award winning wines from Bouvet-Ladubay & Four Seasons.

It was an invitation only, formal sit down dinner hosted at the beautiful  roof top West View at the ITC Maurya located in the heart of New Delhi. A pleasantly beautiful early winter evening, an open air antipasti bar, soulful  live music and good company as always ... a promise of good times.

Michelin Star Chef Baptiste Fournier has been voted one of the top 6 young chefs in France by the famed Gault Millau guide. Baptiste took over as the Executive Chef of his family owned restaurant, La Tour, at the young age of 29 and received his Michellin Star in 2011.  He has traveled the world over discovering new cuisines and flavours. The use of  fresh ingredients on his menu is characteristic.

Photo courtesy Rekha @ http://mytastycurry.com/

The evening opened under the capitals night sky with a nice, chilled bubbly from Bouvet-Ladubay. It was a nice cozy group. Delhi food bloggers Ruchira, Rekha, Sangeeta and me chatted non stop enjoying the charming good company of ITC Maurya GM, Media Relations, Richa Sharma.

It was a matter of time before Saby joined our incessantly talkative group. Saby {or Chef Sabyasachi Gorai} was just back from an award winning spree in New York where he won the “Best Chef of India” award @ the Varli awards in NYC. Needless to say, the rest of the evening went in animated conversation amidst peels of laughter! {quick clicks by the cel phone!}

We moved indoors for a sit down five course dinner. I opted for non-vegetarian, enjoyed the eggplant caviar with French clams, yet one course down, rapidly changed to vegetarian. The culprit was a sensational Beetroot, orange and goat cheese mousse that vowed one and all. It was the star of the show!

Portraits courtesy Sangeeta @ http://healthfooddesivideshi.blogspot.com/

Next came an artichoke risotto with black truffle which I loved. It had an edgy sourness to it and I loved the neat, small portions. The risotto did evoke mixed reactions as not everyone enjoyed it. I certainly did, right down to the last ‘scraping’ morsel! Nice!! Wine pairing was again the Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc.

Fourth down was a white bean and tomato ragout in basil pesto which was meh. We heard from Abhay Kewadhkar, Director Four Seasons, that the lamb served in the non vegetarian course was one of the best he had ever had! Talk about mixed fortunes and the constant movement from vegetarian to non vegetarian menus. Sometimes I wish we could pick and choose from both!! Wine pairing … excellent Four Seasons Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

The downside was the delay between courses served, and as the time lag grew, one could see many guests choosing to leave early. Dessert made an appearance around 11pm, close to the Cinderella hour. Since the headcount was quite low by now, I guess they decided to serve both the listed desserts! The pineapple ravioli served with a basil sorbet, with a little passion fruit coulis was awesome. Really refreshing and pleasing to the palette. 

Well past 11pm and the the second dessert made its way. Well worth the wait!! A Hazelnut and white chocolate, ice and crispy cappuccino. WOW! That paired with some beautifully chilled just right Bouvet Rose Excellence ended the meal beautifully. It was one of the most outstanding and well balanced desserts I have enjoyed in a while. The dessert plates were scraped clean!

Hardly any photographs of the food served as the event was formal. We did grab a few between delayed courses though. As we left, we were gifted pretty boxes of French macarons, which I thought tied up the French theme quite well. That the macarons were fresh was debatable though. Most shells were brittle and broken. Not quite sure what the problem was here {…my macaron obsession continues!}

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Filled Pate a Choux Swans – Daring Bakers, Ugly Ducklings and Swans

“I believe that every human has a finite number of heartbeats and I don’t intend to waste any of mine.”
Neil Armstrong

When the pastry turned from ugly ducklings into swans it was definitely an ‘almost missed a heartbeat’ moment!  Ever since I got these gorgeous glasses from Urban Dazzle, I thought coffee filled pate-a-choux drizzled with melted chocolate would look beautiful in them! Fancy getting to the Daring Bakers rather late this month, and finding one of the easiest pastries ever but with a delightful challenge woven in –  Filled Pate a Choux Swans!

Kat of The Bobwhites was our August 2012 Daring Baker hostess who inspired us to have fun in creating pate a choux shapes, filled with crème patisserie or Chantilly cream. We were encouraged to create swans or any shape we wanted and to go crazy with filling flavors allowing our creativity to go wild!

 It was a strange coincidence that I’d been thinking choux pastry the last few weeks and knew I HAD to make the swans even though they did look a little formidable. My only concern was the pastry creme filling, given the hot and humid weather these days. However, the month passed in a heartbeat {what is it with time these days?} and the challenge got left behind!Then 2 days ago at Veda for a Delhi Bloggers Table meet, the very talented and sweet {wickedly so if I may add} food blogger and fellow Daring Baker Ruchira fished out a pastry bag clandestinely and whispered, “Have got these. How much do I snip to get the necks right? Mine are just not piping OK!”You need a trigger sometimes … sometimes stronger than Mr PABs persistent prod when he doesn’t see a show stopper by the 25th of any month. This was it! The next evening it was choux pastry time, done in minutes by the ever efficient Thermomix! The weather has been REALLY drippy and wet the past week, and all of last night too {the pic above is from this morning}. Humidity is HIGH … and crisp pastry proved elusive.The arty daughter decided to pipe a few swan necks too, and got the one that looks the best! See…Made the pastry cream last night {Thermomix again, 7 minutes and done} … and just as my DB alarm rings out loud on my phone, I am hitting the keyboard while the pictures download! Breathless as always, so much to do and so little time … but I got there! Thank you for the inspiration Ruchira @ Cookaroo!I loved the way these came out … whimsical, charming, romantic like a fairytale! Much like the ugly duckling story we read when we were little. I would have liked to whip some home made mascarpone that I had left over into the pastry cream, but there was no time!Pate a choux is one of the simplest and lightest pastries to make – think chooclate eclairs, think Croquembouche, think profiteroles, think cream, puffs or think gougères. One delightful, light as air, crisp golden puff and so much variety. I love that you need very basic ingredients, a strong arm and you are good to go!The Thermomix Cookbook had a choux recipe in there, so my work was easy! The tough part was the waiting to see if the necks came out good, if the piped out ‘poopy‘ shapes made the ugly ducklings into swans, if the crème patisserie  would hold. Worked a charm! The swans remind me of Tchaikovskys Ugly Duckling … a ballet we attached on TV several times as kids; the LP would play forever at home!

Thank you Kat, and thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here and check out some more fabulous swan songs!!!

[print_this]Recipe: Filled Pate a Choux Swans

Summary: Light as air p’pate a choux swans filled with a crème patisserie. Choux recipe source: Good Housekeeping Illustrated Guide to Cooking, 1980 edition. Crème patisserie recipe source adapted from Thermomix Cookbook

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour {plus cooling time}
Ingredients:

  • Pate a choux (cannot be doubled)
  • ½ cup (120 ml) (115 gm) (4 oz) butter
  •  1 cup (240 ml) water
  •  ¼ teaspoon (1½ gm) salt
  •  1 cup (240 ml) (140 gm) (5 oz) all-purpose flour
  •  4 large eggs
  • Crème patisserie
  • 75g raw sugar {or granulated
  • 1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
  • 200ml low fat cream
  • 300ml 2% milk
  • 4 eggs
  • 40g cornflour

Method:

  1. Pate a choux
  2. Line at least two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper, or grease pans well.
  3. Preheat oven to moderately hot 190°C.
  4. In a small saucepan, combine butter, water, and salt. Heat over until butter melts, then remove from stove.
  5. Add flour all at once and beat, beat, beat the mixture until the dough pulls away from the sides of the pot.
  6. Add one egg, and beat until well combined. Add remaining eggs individually, beating vigorously after each addition. Resulting mixture should be somewhat glossy, very smooth, and somewhat thick.
  7. Thermomix Recipe
  8. Place water, salt, sugar and butter in TM bowl and cook at 100C /Speed 2 for 10 minutes.
    Add the flour and mix for 30 seconds on speed 4. Allow to cool for around 10 minutes.
    Once cool, add eggs to the mix by dropping one egg at a time onto rotating blades for 30-40 seconds each on speed 5.
  9. … the choux swans
  10. Using a ¼” (6 mm) tip on a pastry bag, pipe out about 36 swan heads. You’re aiming for something between a numeral 2 and a question mark, with a little beak if you’re skilled and/or lucky.
  11. Remove the tip from the bag and pipe out 36 swan bodies{ I got about 28}. These will be about 1.5” (40 mm) long, and about 1” (25 mm) wide. One end should be a bit narrower than the other.
  12. Bake the heads and bodies until golden and puffy. {I baked the heads and bodies in separate lots}. The heads will be done a few minutes before the bodies, so keep a close eye on the baking process.
  13. Remove the pastries to a cooling rack, and let cool completely before filling
  14. Crème patisserie
  15. In the meantime, whisk the egg yolks and sugar with a wooden spoon in a big bowl until the mixture becomes pale and light. Stir in the flour slowly until it is thoroughly mixed with the egg mixture.
  16. Pour the boiling milk into the mixture a little by little while whisking continuously to avoid curdling. And then stir in the rest of the milk until the mixture is well combined.
  17. Transfer the whole mixture into a pot, with the seeds scraped from the vanilla bean, and heat it under low setting. Stir it constantly with the wooden spoon or spatula scraping the sides and bottom until it has thickened.
  18. Once the custard has thickened, take it off the heat, and strain / pour it into a clean bowl.
  19. Thermomix Recipe
  20. Place sugar and vanilla bean in TM bowl, and process for 30seconds on speed 10.
  21. Add remaining ingrdeints, plus vanilla bean shell and cook on 90C/Speed 4 for 7 minutes {until thick}. Strain into a bowl immediately to cool. I chilled it overnight.
  22. Assembling
  23. Take a swan body and use a very sharp knife to cut off the top 1/3rd to ½. Cut the removed top down the center to make two wings.
  24. Dollop a bit of filling into the body, insert head, and then add wings. {I used some pastry cream to secure the wings too}.
  25. Your first attempt will probably not look like much, but the more you make, the more your bevy of swans will become a beautiful work of swan art.

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Thank you Sparkah for including Passionate About Baking in this list –  Top 100 Food Bloggers You Should Cater To And Treat to Expensive Pu Ehr Tea.

Macaron à la Peaches et Crème … Vacation Macs!

“A vacation is having nothing to do and all day to do it in.”
Robert Orben

It’s been literally a mac-vacation for me, a vacation I dislike as it keeps me away from a challenge I love with a vengeance. I’m back on board to get in with the fun and beautiful Mac Attack Jamie and I host each month. This time our call was for Vacation Macs … and how better could I get there with my mac-a-vacations … Macaron à la Peaches et Crème {pardon my French please}The flavours are reminiscent of one of the best vacations we enjoyed a few years ago in the Himalayas. We’ve had some other fabulous ones include Goa, Sydney, Hong Kong, Gangtok … but the one the ‘now threatening to be quite terrible just turned 13‘ teen remembers every single day is this one at Ramgarh. Nothing like the serenity of the Himalayas to unwind!

That vacation filled in perfectly with our call this month. Our best macarons reminiscent of that ideal vacation or that perfect holiday spot. Mountains, seaside, tiny hamlet lost in the countryside, large, bustling city teeming with restaurants and museums, these are our inspiration. With the best vacation that comes to mind, from that thought, memory or distant dream, create a fabulous Vacation Macaron!

We stayed at a beautiful heritage cottage surrounded by peach trees and since it was peak summer, we walked by peach trees plucking fresh, juicy fruit right off the tree. This is where my lad became a peach monster and developed a deep love for the fruit.Summer is for stone fruit is my chant. I just cannot have enough of these delicious fruit that are reaching us in the foothills of the Himalayas; better quality and quantity every year! This summer I have had a field day with stone fruit…… Apricot Peach Sorbet, Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake, Mini Quark Vanilla Cheesecakes with Balsamic Cherries, Black Forest Cake, Oatmeal Peach Apricot Mango Smoothie {yet to post}, Dark Chocolate Cherry Wholewheat Cakelets {yet to post} … and my fridge is full of cherries, peaches, mangoes and apricots!I have also been developing some food recipes for Del Monte for their website World Foody. The peach ice cream above is one I made last week from their canned peaches, beautiful cling peaches with a fabulous deep flavour. Will let you know when the recipe is up on the website; until then it’s Macaron à la Peaches et Crème!The macaron shells were going to be perfect, something deep within me said to me when I was done folding the macaronage. BUT … in my hurry to beat the power cut, I switched on the upper element instead of the lower one, so my feet popped out with the thermal shock and the skins developed a ‘peach‘ blush. It was too late to salvage the batch, and the little macronage left proved my feeling right! Aaaargh! And did I tell you that at 45C ice-cream melts SO FAST? I was RACING!I used the several times tried and tested David Lebovitz recipe that lives in my head. It never goes wrong if you mix the macronage correctly and let it rest! However, a little more advice follows …

Do you want to join us making MACARONS?

If you do, you are most welcome to join us  for this challenge, or the next. You can find all the information at our dedicated macaron blog MacTweets. We generally post the round-up by the end of every month, following which a new challenge is posted!

… these cookies are fiddly creatures and are dependent on way too many things. egg whites {aged or not}, almond meal,oven temperature, room temperature, humidity levels, the hand that mixes them, the way you pipe them out … and above all, lady luck!

Before I get onto the recipe, I’d like to thank Chillibreeze for interviewing me. You can read it here if you like.I’d also like to thank the Financial Times, Times of India, for including me so generously in their feature ‘Gurgaon is Blogging & How‘ on Business Street, 21st June, 2012. Last but not the least, thank you Javelin Warrior for adding my Dark Chocolate Cherry Mousse Cake in your delicious Friday Food Fetish.

Thank you all! I feel really honoured.

Monthly Mingle is the brainchild of the lovely Meeta @ Whats For Lunch Honey, and this month it celebrates Barbara’s spirit at the wonderful Jeanne @ Cook Sister with a Taste of Yellow. I am sending this to the MM for July 2012.

[print_this]Recipe: Macaron à la Peaches et Crème

Summary: Vanilla macarons sandwiched with a home made low fat peach & cream ice cream. Perfect for those hot summer days!

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes {plus resting time}
Ingredients:

  • Vanilla Macarons
  • {recipe adapted from David Lebovitz}
  • 1 egg white {35gm} {I didn’t age mine}
  • 2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar {I used granulated vanilla sugar}
  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 1/4 cup almond meal
  • 1/4 tsp egg white powder
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla bean powder
  • Peach ice cream for filling

Method:

  1. Run the powdered sugar, almond meal, vanilla bean powder and egg white powder in blender until well blended. Sift into a bowl.
  2. Beat the egg white until foamy, then add the granulated sugar and beat for approximately 2 minutes until stiff peaks form.
  3. Fold in 1/4 of the dry mix until no streaks remain, then add the remainder of the dry mix and gently fold in until you get a lava like batter. {Donot overfold}
  4. Place into a piping bag and pipe circles onto parchment paper.
  5. Tap the trays sharply to get rid of air bubbles and allow to rest for 30-45 minutes.
  6. Bake in double trays at 140C for 12-15 minutes, until the shells are firm and no longer jiggly. {My oven uses just the lower element for baking, so I place the double trays towards the top of the oven}
  7. Cool and sandwich with softened ice cream. Store in freezer and serve directly from there.

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Food Event | Wine Tasting … a wine for every season at Four Seasons!

“If your heart is warm with happiness, you’ll need a glass – if sorrow chills your heart, have two!”
Hannu Lehmusvuori

Put together a bunch of food and lifestyle bloggers {read  eight ladies and a lad} with a few bottles of good wine, a connoisseur who is surprisingly refreshing and great company … and suddenly a searingly HOT afternoon quite unbearable at 45C becomes animated FUN! We were hosted by Four Seasons for a Wine & Food Pairing session at the quaint and charming Fres Co in the heart of New Delhi.

Whether it is the sprightliness of a fresh spring morning, the joyous warmth of a glorious summer afternoon, the tingling nip of a crisp autumn twilight or the biting chill of an icy winter night, to everything there is a season. And to every season, there is an experience. An experience captured by Four Seasons selection of the finest Indian wines.

Photo courtesy Sangeeta

We walked in hot and bothered, complaining about the unbearable Indian summer. Purba, the lady with the funny bone, had us in splits, her one liners completely justifying her humor and satire blog A-musing. With her came the only ‘cat’ among the pigeons, Prateik aka Snow Leopard …  it was the pigeons day out as the sweet fellow lent us his ear and we chattered voraciously!The lovely Shamita Sinha, Miss Earth Universe and a wine connoisseur, a truly passionate wine lover, held our rapt attention for the next two hours. What followed was animated discussions, unraveling the magic of Four Seasons, understanding their philosophy, exploring Baramati virtually where they host their vineyards, and how FS is inspired by French wines  … all this through swirls and sips of different wines from the Four Seasons range paired perfectly with delicious grub.We began with a still Rosé wine, Mr PABs favourite summer wine, Blush as the attractive salmon pink wine is aptly called. It was crisp, light and refreshing, a beautiful accompaniment for light summer fare … perfect! We’ve been looking for a good Rosé after the fabulous one that Mr PAB got back from France. After a couple of really disappointing local ones, Blush really stood out.Next up was a still white wine Chenin Blanc, then a still red wine Merlot. We missed tasting the Barrique Reserve, but that was OK. Forks were beginning to fall every now and then, the happy gathering cheered on! Shamita talked us through the old school of thought, wine at room temperature and how the concept came to be in temperatures of 13-14C Europe of the past … and how that just didn’t work especially here at 40C! Times have changed so the rules have to go, basic guidelines lead the way, fusion cuisine is in … ultimately your palette is your guide and best friend.Dry vs Sweet, Red vs White, food pairings and fusion food pairings, the richness of the cuisine and the intensity of the wine, light summer fare with light summer wine, Indian cuisine and wine pairings, the tanins, the blush, colours from red to straw to white, the health benefits of drinking wine in moderation, antioxidants and also the ‘yeast’ monster at play here too … yes we talked!

Photo courtesy Sangeeta
Photo courtesy Anupama

It was wonderful to meet Sushmita, Sangeeta and Anupama for the first time, bloggers who loved the wine as much as the company. Rekha and Rituparna were there too in fine form, enthusiastic and bubbly as ever. It was a wonderful afternoon get together of high spirited women and a lad; we had a giggly good time. We got a heads up on the nuances of everything wine we could ask for from the very unassuming, down to Earth, warm and affable Shamita.Thank you Four Seasons for having us over, for introducing us that hot afternoon to your beautiful range of wines and the inspired story behind it. Our incessant chatter and involved conversation might have told you that we enjoyed the afternoon immensely, wines and all, right down to the last drop!

Thank you Ashu for organising the meet, and Jyoti for co-ordinating it this end.

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Filipino Sans Rival Cake

“Life is uncertain. Eat cake first.”
Ernestine Ulmer

When they say butter makes things better, I never rival the thought. Even though I try and keep the butter under check most of the time, give me an utterly buttery challenge like this Filipino Sans Rival Cake, and I’m all game. This sort of indulgence can only be good indulgence, and of the unrivaled sorts!I happily got Novembers DB challenge moving pretty soon as it was a cake, and this is my birthday month. Time to lavish myself with love, I would have normally reached for my jar of coffee and immersed myself in a coffee cake. This time though it was reason enough to change my mind as I love the window on other food cultures, and a Filipino dessert was truly something intriguing.

Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for Bibingka which comes from her friend Jun of Jun-blog.“Sans rival” means “without rival” and any Filipino will argue hat this is true. Although it’s one of the most popular desserts in the Philippines, its origins are certainly French. In the 1920’s to 30’s there were many Filipinos who went abroad to study. A good number went to France and learned many French cooking techniques which they then brought home. A Sans Rival is made with layers of dacquoise, typically using crushed cashews, with very rich French buttercream frosting. The dacquoise is allowed to bake and dry to a crispy layer so that there is the crunch of pastry and nuts with the buttery, silky frosting.

I absolutely love the idea of crisp meringue and have baked quite a few before  …  Apple Brown Sugar Meringue Pies, Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake, Chocolate Pavlovas with Chocolate Mascarpone Mousse & Preserved Stone Fruit, Tropical Fruit Pavlova, Chocolate Meringue Strawberry Cream Slice, Chocolate Coffee Almond Meringue Cake … and now this challenge!A Sans Rival is traditionally made with cashews, and though I would have loved to go the cashew way, I had plenty of almonds and pistachios {my favourite nuts} on hand, so decided to use a combination of both. I also chose to stick to a non chocolate version, even though I was VERY tempted to make a chocolate buttercream.The dacquoise took the better part of the morning to make, what with laundry, kids at home and much more distraction than warranted, yet most of the hard work belonged to the oven. Did I tell you that parchment paper must be the best thing invented by man for bakers? I ALWAYS marvel at its properties, and of late, it is usually the only thing on my shopping list for folk visiting from overseas. It isn’t available locally here.This was an indulgent good cake and just seemed to get better with every nibble. The nutty meringue complimented the rich vanilla buttercream ever so beautifully and the meeting of textures was delicious. Once layered and rested overnight, the now slightly chewy meringue and the satiny vanilla buttercream created magic, the specks of vanilla adding to the beauty!

It was worth the effort and a wonderful birthday cake for me! We loved it and it got over pretty soon, despite the fact that it was rich and calorie laden! It was one of those cakes that must be made to experience the variety that the world of pastry and cakes might offer … a beautiful balance of taste and texture. It was a good birthday! The ‘not-so-terrible-anymore’ teen made me this beautiful picture as a gift, black and white in ink. She spent 3 days doing it, while the ‘now-beginning-to-get-terrible’ lad made me a ‘wired up‘ card, complete with a circuit and batteries, where the eyes lit up when you pressed the tongue, and wrote a little verse too! I gave myself a cookbook {read yet another cookbook} … One More Slice! I could do with one more slice of the Sans Rival now though … it was that good!

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Sans Rival Cake

Sans Rival Cake is a traditional Filipino dessert. It has crisp layers of dacquoise {traditionally cashew} sandwiched with French buttercream.
Course Dessert
Cuisine Filipino
Keyword baking, cake
Servings 12 people

Ingredients

Almond Pistachio Dacquoise

  • 10 large egg whites room temp
  • 225 gm white granulated sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cream of tartar
  • 190 gm almonds
  • 50 gm pistachios

French Vanilla Buttercream

  • 5 large egg yolks room temperature
  • 225 gm white granulated sugar
  • 60 ml water
  • 285 gm unsalted butter room temperature
  • 1 vanilla bean scraped

Instructions

Almond Pistachio Dacquoise

  • Preheat oven to moderate 160°C.
  • Draw 9″ circles on parchment paper.
  • In a really large clean, dry glass or metal mixing bowl, beat egg whites on medium until foamy (2 mins.). Sprinkle with cream of tartar. Gradually add sugar, a couple of tablespoons at a time, continuing to beat now at high speed until stiff shiny peaks form. (about 7-10 mins.)
  • Fold in nuts, reserving enough to use for decoration.
  • Divide meringue into four equal parts. Spread over the drawn out circles, evenly to edges. If doing batches, use fresh parchment paper and cooled pans for each batch. {I divided it oven 5 circles}
  • Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown.{Mine took almost 45-50 minutes as I baked 2 at a time} Remove the meringue from the baking pans while still hot; allow to cool slightly. Peel off the parchment paper while it is still warm, it is difficult to remove sometimes when they have completely cooled.

French Vanilla Buttercream

  • Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl. Beat at high speed until the yolks have doubled in volume and are a lemon yellow.
  • Put the sugar and water in a heavy pan and cook over medium heat, stirring the sides down only until all the sugar is dissolved and the syrup reaches 235°F/112°C (or thread stage).
  • With the mixer on high, very slowly pour the syrup down the sides of the bowl, until all has been added. Be careful as the very hot syrup could burn you if it splashes from the beaters. Continue beating on high until the mixture is ROOM TEMPERATURE (about 15 mins). Still on high, beat in the soft, room temperature butter a tablespoon at a time. Add flavoring after you beat in the butter. Refrigerate the buttercream for at least an hour, and whip it smooth just before you use it.

Sans Rival Assembly

  • Set bottom meringue on cake board with a dab of butter cream to hold it in place. Spread a thin layer of buttercream and then place another meringue on top. Repeat with a thin layer of buttercream, meringue, thin layer of buttercream, meringue, and finally buttercream the top and sides. Decorate with reserved nuts.
  • Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. Refrigerate until ready to serve. It is easier to cut cold. {May freeze.}

Thank you Catherine for an outstanding daring challenge; it was a beautiful one, very fulfilling. Thank you as always Lisa of La Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice for hosting this fab kitchen!! Do stop by here to see the gorgeous unrivaled cakes our other daring bakers have created!

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