“Find something you’re passionate about and keep tremendously interested in it.”
Julia Child
Those lines by Julia Child defined my spirit of blogging from day one. To celebrate Julia’s 100th birthday on the 15th of August, 2012, I chose and adapted this beautiful everyday dessert – Oven Roasted Plum & Almond Cakes from Baking With Julia.There was an energy about her, the chef who changed the way America cooked and baked. Food bloggers worldwide woke up to a new identity after Julie & Julia. People looked at us differently, suddenly recognising the band of foodies who passionately belted out deliciousness online day after day.The ever sweet Suma @ Cakes & More sent me Dorie Greenspansamazing book Baking With Julia as a gift. The book is packed with sweet and savoury recipes from the PBS series that Julia hosted, and doubles up as a baking encyclopedia too. The commentary is warm and friendly, puts you at ease instantly as Dorie talks to you through each recipe. Baking With Julia now shares place of honour on my bookshelf with both volumes of Julia Child’sMastering the Art of French Cooking!Bread is what I wanted to bake, a Fougasse, but I didn’t plan well in time as the dough needed to sit for 24 hours to get bubbly and squeaky! I love the way Dorie writes that because even the bread dough has ’emotions’! My next natural choice was a simple everyday dessert. With plums in the fridge, these little Oven Roasted Plum & Almond Cakes were but going to happen!I changed the recipe a little bit, and pretty soon realised that I might have to ‘grin and bear it‘ soon. The batter was runnier than required. Into it went some almond meal, and since the eggs were small I went for 3 knowing pretty well that 2 whole + 1 yolk should do the trick! Should have used ramekins, threw caution to the wind and used dessert rings. I knew I was in trouble when the plums on top sank right in; with them my heart!!I fixed it though, topped the cakelets with more plum halves {and slices} halfway through baking, safe in the knowledge that maybe an invisible Julia peered over my shoulder. This is the untold joy of baking with a good book.It keeps you company, the characters pop up all over the place giving you tips, hints, telling you all is well, yelling at you when not! My time in the kitchen is always virtually in good company!I am fortunate to have some good company in reality too – a little plum thief that I have raised. Coco, our cocker spaniel took a shine to plums when she came to our home in the summer of 2011! Nothing’s changed! She didn’t notice me looking at her, and soon nicked a ‘plum prop’ and made a meal out of it, the little blighter! It was really tart!!She has great taste and will be any Mums delight! Loves her greens {beans, spinach, purslane, peas – raw or cooked}, loves her protein {eggs, cottage cheese, chickpeas} and even loves fruit {banana, mango, kiwi , plums, peaches, cherries, strawberries!}That’s just how well my time in the kitchen is spent! I love it! Creating food is almost an obsession and I love the culinary adventures that great chefs like Julia Child encourage.“This is really good you know!” exclaimed the 16 year old aka the dieting diva. {She couldn’t resist my ‘maybe you’d like to try some’ nonchalant reference to a plum cake in the oven !} “YUM! Can I have another?” was the more excited response from the junior teen who was hoping for a yes but got a NO instead! The little cakes were indeed delicious. Well balanced, beautiful light crumb and just right with the sweetness too. The plums gave up their juices and became delectable part of the cake. Topped with vanilla ice cream or even some low fat unsweetened cream … mmm! Dorie suggests a chocolate sauce … that must taste divine!
Summary: Tiny little delicious dessert cakes that celebrate summer, stone fruit and plums! They are light and delightful, the almond meal adding beautiful texture to the crumb! Recipe adapted minimally from Marsel Desaulniers, Baking With Julia. {Makes 8 3″ cakes}
Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
1/2 cup raw sugar {khand}
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 small eggs
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1 scant cup flour
1/2 cup almond meal
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup buttermilk
4 large ripe plums, halved and pitted
Whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, or dark chocolate sauce if desired
Method:
Preheat oven to 180C.
Grease 8 3″ dessert rings or 12 2″ ramekins with melted butter {I used clarified butter} and place on a foiled lined rimmed baking sheet.
Sift the flour, almond meal and baking soda. Reserve in a bowl.
Combine raw sugar and 2 tbsp of brown sugar in a bowl with butter. Cream for 2-3 minutes on medium high speed.
Add the eggs, vanilla bean and cream on high for another 2-3 minutes.
Add the flour mix and beat in on low speed until just combined, followed with the buttermilk. Mix in on low speed until uniformly mixed, 30 seconds.
Divide batter equally between prepared rings / ramekins, sprinkle over the remaining brown sugar and bake in oven to 15 minutes. Once the top is somewhat set, quickly place half a plum, cut side up into each cup. Continue to bake for another 15-20 minutes until light golden brown and done {toothpick inserted into middle should come out clean.}
Cool the tray on the rack for at least 15-20 minutes, then gently ease out using a blunt bitter knife. Serve warm or at room temperature as is, or with low fat unsweetened cream or vanilla ice cream.
“I think that you’ve got to make something that pleases you and hope that other people feel the same way.”
Thomas Keller
Ah summer! With fruit and colour in equal abundance, what more can one ask for! Yet with the Indian summer comes stuff I don’t need! Power cuts, high temperatures and no time to bake! Then 2 days ago, the monsoons appeared, schools reopened, and I got a tiny breather. The first thing I did was to roll out a Rustic Peach ‘n Plum Summer Galette.Whats not to love about a season that offers crumbles, crisps, sorbets, fro yos, cheesecakes, mousse, ice creams, panna cottas, coolers, sangrias, chutneys, preserves, … and so much more! HAPPINESS! And then there are galettes, moorish in every way, full of rustic appeal! A simple free form pastry filled with fresh seasonal fruit has got to be one of my favourite summer desserts {among a slew of others!} There is SO MUCH you can do with stone fruit, it’s amazing! This year the quality has been exceptionally good. I looked at the peaches and wondered if they were ripe enough to peel; I really wanted to see if I could slip ‘them off‘. The fruit was perfect and for the first time in years I looked at a bowl of perfectly peeled peaches. Plums next and success again! I have a friend, an old lady, who spoils me silly constantly sending me stuff from chocolates to tangerines, and everything in between. Her grandson is quite fond of my baking so I try and bake him a little something when he visits from Moscow where he works. He’s visiting these days and this was for him!Made one for him, and then had some fruit left, so made one for us too! Got me high fives from the family. The peach monster said it was ‘really really nice‘, and so did the dieting diva. “Pie, pie, pie“, she screamed, “I want more!“The pastry was nice and crisp despite all the fresh fruit it held. The cornmeal added a touch of texture and crispness. It’s a good tart to make. Serve it warm if you like, though we loved it cold!
Place the fruit in a bowl, add in the remaining ingredients {except flour} and leave to macerate for about 30 minutes in the fridge.
Drain out the juices and reserve the fruit in a large bowl. Place juice in a non reactive pan over low heat and reduce it till it becomes thick and syrupy. Add back to fruit in bowl with the flour and mix well. Chill until required.
Pastry
Combine flour, cornmeal and sugar in the bowl of your processor and pulse 2-3 times. Add chilled butter and pulse 4-5 times, or until mixture resembles coarse meal. With the processor running, slowing pour the chilled water through the chute, processing until the dough begins to clump up. {It should stay together when pinched with the fingertips}
Turn onto a lightly floured surface, and quickly pull together to form a ball, flatten, wrap in film and chill for about 30 minutes or more if the weather is warm.
Assemble
Place the pastry on a large sheet of parchment paper. Starting at the center of the dough, roll out, forming a 14-15-inch wide circle.
Brush about an 8-9″ circle in the centre with the marmalade .{This will prevent the pastry from going soggy with the fruit juices}
Turn the prepared fruit filling over the marmalade keeping it within the inner circle, leaving a 2-inch border.
Gently fold the border over the filling, overlapping where necessary and pressing gently to adhere the folds, using a touch of water if necessary. Place tray in freezer until the oven preheats.
Preheat the oven to 200C.
Before popping the galette into the oven, brush the overlapping sides of the pastry with cold milk and sprinkle turbinado sugar over it.
Bake for about 30-35 minutes till the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbly. {Tent the top if the pastry browns too fast}
Remove to cooling rack, and brush the visible fruit portion with honey, and top with slivered pistachios, almonds etc.
Cool for at least 30 minutes to allow the pastry to firm up before serving. {Cutting it too quickly will cause the dough to crack}. We had it cold with a drizzle of single cream.
“No self-respecting mother would run out of intimidations on the eve of a major holiday.”
Erma Brombeck
A Stone Fruit Tea Cake must be one of the best ways to use stone fruit in a cake this summer. Light enough to be a snack to satiate that grumbling in the tummy, yet indulgent enough to offer a light summer dessert if served with whipped cream or ice cream! As I write this post, I am desperately trying to get organised as we are due to leave for a vacation to Hong Kong and Sydney tomorrow … and nothing seems to be moving!Ever since summer and stone fruit arrived, I’ve been looking out for options to use them differently. The Google gods are ready to oblige, and enter the magic words and soon I was led to Rima’s beautiful blog. Her Stone Fruit Tea Cakecaught my eye instantly. It was P R E T T Y, and looked like such an elegant tea cake.Back home my stash of stone fruit nudged me to get going. I seriously needed inspiration to begin as the day was dark and dreary, rainy gray, so no fun taking pictures outdoors! I got onto Twitter after absolute ages and boy was I glad to be back! No lack of inspiration there … a great bunch of folk, and a racing time-line sucked me into another world. Then came the nudge to move it …
dazzler2980: @vindee the mood to photograph doesnt always run parallel to the the weather.. SO you should just go for it.
Before I knew it, I was out with the camera and clicking. Thanks for the dazzling nudgeAnita@ dazzler2980… The cake was baked soon after; was an absolute joy to make. The vibrant colours, the expectancy of a new bake, the uneventful release from the pan {very important happiness factor} all made it so worthwhile! I played around with the original recipe a little {which is now more the norm with me} to up the healthy factor some! It was healthy enough with all the fruit in there, but I put in some almond meal as I love the added texture and flavour it lends to bakes. It does make the cake crumb a little heavier as against using only plain flour, yet the end result is certainly delicious; well worth the healthy addition. As was the Gateau Aux Pommes {apple cake} I recently posted, this tea cake is another good example of a snack cake as well as dessert. Fruit bakes pair well with ice cream and low fat cream {my first preference}, and this cake is no exception. Go on, indulge!! We particularly liked the density and body the almond meal gave the cake, and the fruit were wonderful in here!This is a great cake for tea, served warm, but also nice to make ahead and chill. The dieting diva was back from Dubai and literally hacking LARGE slices off, devouring every crumb with pleasure! The cake kept well in the fridge for 3-4 days {covered}. I love this season … and have done a roasted plum and apricot quark panna cotta too, which hopefully will see the light of day {blog-day} sometime!The kids came back refreshed after a good holiday {away from the Mum}, and were spoilt silly by their cousin and her hub in Dubai. They are now back in the clutches of the ‘wicked mother‘ as we embark on phase 2 of the summer vacations headed Down Under {and HKG}. I am already TIRED, and the intimidations on the quote above are running fast & thick!
[print_this]Recipe: NAME
Summary: A Stone Fruit Tea Cake must be one of the best ways to use stone fruit in a cake this summer. Light enough to be a snack to satiate that grumbling in the tummy, yet indulgent enough to offer a light summer dessert if served with whipped cream or ice cream!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
1 tbsp butter (for greasing pan)
1/2 cup almond meal {I ground whole almonds}
1 cup plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
Pinch of salt
110gms unsalted butter, room temperature
125gm sugar powdered with 1/2 vanilla bean, sifted
2 eggs
1 sachet vanilla sugar for sprinkling over
5 apricots, 5 plums, 3 peaches, 1 cup of cherries {or any combination of stone fruit you like}
Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a round 9″ tart tin with the tbsp of butter.
Run the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt briefly in a blender to mix
Cream the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light. Add the eggs and beat again.
On low speed, add the flour mix in 3 goes and blend until just mixed. The dough will be soft. You can divide this into 2 and chill one half. Push the other half to line the base of your tart pan/ baking tin
Pit and chop the stone fruit, and scatter evenly over the base lined with dough. Sprinkle generously with sugar if your fruit are sour.
Dollop and roughly spread the remaining dough over the top, spreading roughly with an offset spatula. The dough will even out while baking, leaving pretty gaps for the fruit to peep out. Sprinkle over with vanilla sugar.
Bake at 170C for about 30 minutes. The top will feel firm and set. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from pan.
