“Chocolate is the only aromatherapy I need.”
Jasmine Heiler
I have a special love for layered cakes, and find them charming and whimsical. Some months go by without an anniversary or birthday and ‘no party cake‘ months makes me sad, as April seemed to be! There was a cake I longed to bake, an old fashioned chocolate cake on Barbara’s beautiful blog. Old fashioned always makes a connect with me, telling tales of days gone by in old stone kitchens and huge ovens where ladies gathered together to bake, sharing recipes and experiences, strengthening friendships that would last a lifetime …Cut to now. Visiting food blogs always leaves me INSPIRED! The quintessential question … What to make and what not to? This one cake was high on my list, and then came along The Secret Recipe Club, the brainchild of the very talented & sweet Amanda of Amanda’s Cookin’. The idea behind the club – Each month you are “assigned” a participating food blogger to make a recipe from. It’s a secret, so don’t tell them you are making something from their blog!The blog assigned to me was one of my favourite food bloggers – sweet, generous, fun girlfriend Barbara @ Barbara Bakes. I was THRILLED, and knew just what to bake – her Old-Fashioned Chocolate Cake with Maraschino Cherry Filling. I had 2 boxes of lush, red strawberries, so I decided to go with a balsamic strawberry filling. I knew they would pair well too!What caught my attention about the cake when I saw it first was that it was EGGLESS, yet so moist and delicious looking. I am often asked by my readers for eggless cake recipes. I’ve posted 2 eggless recipes a while ago, both cakes very nice. Yet this one is special because it is a layered cake, eggless, no butter and chocolaty moist! I filled it with a balsamic strawberry and cream filling, and slathered it with a deep decadent chocolate ganache using a 65% dark chocolate – divine!Eggless cakes always seem challenging to me as I’m impatient to get to the other end. Will they ‘deliver’ the promise of a good moist cake, rich in taste and flavour? Is there something I can offer my readers who often ask for an eggless cake recipe? This cake lived up to the promise and DELIVERED a wonderful cake, good to the last crumb {a cake that didn’t last long!} Strawberries and chocolate are a fantastic pairing and this is a great make ahaed cake as the flavours get mature over a couple of hours. I set the cake out about an hour before it had to be served.Mr PAB has not stopped singing praises of it as yet. This was immensely enjoyed by everyone and is certainly one not to be given a miss! If possible make it in 2 cake tins. I trimmed the cake with an 8″ dessert ring, and trimmed off a sliver thin slice from the top and bottom, and then sliced the cake ito 4 even layers. As the weather has turned very very warm already, I layered the slices with the filling and left it to set in the dessert ring for an hour {while we had lunch}.The rest of course was just a simple ganache to cover the cake, and the quickest way to dress it up that I know of, a web. Thank you GF for blogging this absolute winner, and thank you Amanda for assigning me Barbara’s blog. This is my first ‘secret‘ recipe of The Secret Recipe Club, and it’s been a FUN beginning. Here’s to many more!!
[print_this]
Old Fashioned {Eggless} Layered Chocolate Cake with Balsamic Strawberries & Cream
Summary:This recipe is adapted from Cuisine at Home, taken from Barbara Bakes. This is an old fashioned eggless chocolate cake, which turns out moist and delicious. It’s a great one to make for vegetarians, or people who are allergic to eggs. Use a filling of your choice. I used seasonal strawberries to make mine.
Cake Ingredients
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups hot water
3/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract Preparation
Preheat oven to 180ºC with rack in the center. Line the bottom of 1 9″ spring form tin.{If you can, use two 9×2 inch round cake pans}
Whisk together flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, and salt in a large mixing bowl. {Don’t use a mixer.}
Combine water, oil, vinegar, and vanilla in a large measuring cup. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined, a few lumps are OK. Turn batter into prepared tin {or divide batter between pans if using 2}, then bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes for 1 or 35-40 minutes for 2.
Cool cake on a rack for 15 minutes, then invert them onto the rack.. Leave cake upside down (this flattens domed cakes) to cool completely.
Slice into 4 layers, and sandwich with filling {recipe follows}. Allow to rest in the fridge for about 30 minutes, and then frost with the chocolate ganache {recipe follows} Filling
Ingredients
300ml low fat cream
200gm strawberries, chopped
1/4 cup sugar
1tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1-2 tbsp powdered sugar Preparation First prepare filling: Place strawberries, sugar, scraped vanilla bean and balsamic vinegar in a sauce pan, and simmer till it becomes thick and jam-like. Cool completely.
Beat cream to medium stiff peaks, and gently fold in cooled strawberry mixture, taking care not to release the volume of the cream. Chocolate Ganache
Ingredients
200gms dark chocolate, room temperature
150ml low fat cream, room temperature Preparation
Place the chocolate and 100ml of cream in a heatproof bowl and microwave for 30-40 seconds {if the weather is warm as it is here, else try for minute}. You can also simmer it in pan until the chocolate melts. Stir well to combine both into a smooth ganache.
Give the cake one basic thin coating with this ganache, and reserve some for piping decorations. Add the remaining 50ml cream and mix until smooth.
[/print_this]
Just got a mail from Babble.com – “Congratulations! You are a Readers’ Choice Mom Food Blogger for 2011! Your blog has been nominated by the public as a supplement to our Top 100 Mom Food Blog list. Clearly your blog is a fan favorite when it comes to the best family-friendly recipes on the web, and we are so happy to recognize your achievements!” {Vote here}
“There is so much power in food”
@pennydelosantos on Twitter
Time for our monthly date with the Daring Bakers. March has been a month that has crawled on a sad note with the natural calamity in Japan causing heartbreak. If an earthquake wasn’t bad enough, the tsunami that followed completely shattered the nation, and the world that watched in shock. Japan has withstood this catastrophe bravely and strongly, the Fukushima 50 continuing to risk radiation exposure in an attempt to secure the nuclear plant. The situation in the prefecture continues to pose serious challenges and the world watches in HOPE while the brave ‘Samurai soldiers’ battle on…
The March 2011 Daring Baker’s Challenge was hosted by Ria of Ria’s Collection and Jamie of Life’s a Feast. Ria and Jamie challenged The Daring Bakers to bake a yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake.
I made the yeasted meringue coffee cake 2 days after the natural calamity, and Japan was the only thing on my mind the whole time. The unfairness of the scale, the rush of tsunami waters with natures fury tossing cars, ships, trucks like little toys still does not leave me. Now a radiation spike in sea waters near the tsunami stricken nuclear power station … no answers to why the nation has had to suffer so much. Yet the people manage to stay calm, composed and ever so strong. I admire their resilience and strength!I gratefully thanked the Daring Kitchen that day; doing the challenge offered some amount of therapeutic relief. While waiting for the dough to rise, my mind wandered to troubles in Japan yet again, the news channels rolling and re-rolling videos that were coming in. It’s very frightening and surreal to see a HUGE ship floating into a city and cars trying to escape the horror in their path. What could I do with this challenge to give it a shade of creativity? I remembered a post that Michelle had posted on Big Black Dogs about ‘Painted Bread’. It was a beautiful post taking a trip down memory lane to a bakery she visited as a child in Akron and attempted to recreate her memories in her post. You must check out her post and tutorial to learn how dough can be sculpted into roses.I couldn’t get onto her blog since the internet cables had been severed the previous evening {that’s been the bane of my life the past months though I do manage to get some work done from my Mum’s computer}, so I did what I could from memory. On the sweet yeasted coffee cake rests a single rose, and on the savoury version rests HOPE … both my cakes for Japan. The rose, particularly the leaves, got coloured a golden brown as I used light pastels in the egg wash and the heat of the oven browned the bread more than I would have liked.While the sweet version was baking, I sculpted out ‘HOPE‘ for the savoury version, giving it a postbox red colour-wash in the hope that it would fare better. It did. It was a fun challenge as I knew it would be. The recipe soure carried that promise… Jamie found this recipe on a piece of yellowed paper in her dad’s collection of clipped out and hand-written recipes from the 1970’s, no source, no date, and she tried the recipe and it was brilliant!The sweet version got a huge thumbs up from the teen. It was wonderful warm with loads of flavour and a very light crumb. I think I rolled the dough too thin as I didn’t get the airy texture that Jamie had, but it was delish all the same.The lad preferred the cheesy savoury version, much like a pizza he exclaimed, and asked for seconds and thirds. I preferred the savoury version too as I don’t have a very sweet tooth and the oven roasted tomatoes with garlic and fresh herbs were delicious.The past few weeks have crawled on a low note, on the home front and on the internet front too. I managed to read just a handful of blogs this week and find that a lot of us are caught in the rigmaroles of everyday life, facing daily challenges, ups and downs etc, yet in many ways these pale in comparison to the HUGE challenge that the people of Japan face each passing day. Do join me in extending a special thought for them.
Thank youJamie & Ria for the fun and delicious challenge, 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 how beautifully the other daring bakers have ‘risen’ to the challenge!
Summary: A charming and ‘adaptable to many flavours‘ yeasted coffee cake, from an old undated recipe, source unknown. I make a savoury version as well which was delicious!
Ingredients
For the yeast coffee cake dough:
{I used half this dough for the sweet version, and half for the savoury version}
4 cups {600 g} flour
¼ cup {55 g} vanilla sugar
¾ teaspoon {5 g} salt
2 ¼ teaspoons {7 g} active dried yeast
¾ cup {180ml} milk
¼ cup {60 ml} water
½ cup {100g} unsalted butter, room temperature
2 large eggs at room temperature
For the meringue:
3 large egg whites {I used 1/2 quantity for sweet and 1/2 for savoury} Sweet
¼ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup cup {55 g} sugar Savoury
½ teaspoon salt
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
1 tbsp sugar For the sweet filling:
1/2 cup {55g} chopped pecans or walnuts
1/3 cup homemade bitter orange marmalade
1/2 cup {55g} dark chocolate chips or coarsely chopped chocolate
1/2 cup tart dried cherries For the savoury filling:
50gms ripe, firm tomatoes, halved
6-7 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground pepper
Fresh oregano
Extra virgin olive oil 1/2 cup Gouda {or cheddar}, grated
Sea salt and pepper for topping
Egg wash:
1 beaten egg yolk
Instructions
Prepare the dough:
In a large mixing bowl, combine 1 ½ cups of the flour, the sugar, salt and yeast.
In a saucepan, combine the milk, water and butter and heat over medium heat until warm and the butter is just melted.
With an electric mixer on low speed, gradually add the warm liquid to the flour/yeast mixture, beating until well blended. Increase mixer speed to medium and beat 2 minutes.
Add the eggs and 1 cup (150 g) flour and beat for 2 more minutes. Using a wooden spoon, stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a dough that holds together.
Turn out onto a floured surface (use any of the 1 ½ cups of flour remaining) and knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is soft, smooth, sexy and elastic, keeping the work surface floured and adding extra flour as needed.
Place the dough in a lightly greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel and let rise until double in bulk, 45 – 60 minutes.
The rising time will depend on the type of yeast you use.
Thermomix version
, place all dough ingredients in the bowl of the TM. Process at Speed 6 for 10 seconds to combine. Then put dial to closed position, and knead at interval speed for two minutes. Turn onto a floured surface, form into a ball and place in oiled bowl for first rising
Prepare your filling:
Sweet:
In a small bowl, combine the chocolate chips, walnuts and tart dried cherries.
Savoury:
Place the tomatoes cut side up, sprinkle with chopped garlic, sea salt, freshly ground pepper and fresh oregano.
Roast in a moderate oven / 180C for about 30-45 minutes. Cool, peel if desired and chop.
Once the dough has doubled, make the meringue:
In a clean mixing bowl –
ideally a plastic or metal bowl so the egg whites adhere to the side (they slip on glass) and you don’t end up with liquid remaining in the bottom
– beat the egg whites with the salt, first on low speed for 30 seconds, then increase to high and continue beating until foamy and opaque.
Divide into 2 if making the sweet and savoury version.
Sweet version:
Add the vanilla then start adding the 1/4 cup sugar, a tablespoon at a time as you beat, until very stiff, glossy peaks form.
Savoury version:
Add 1/4 tsp salt, 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp dried herbs and beat until very stiff, glossy peaks form.
Assemble the Coffee Cakes:
Line 2 baking/cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Punch down the dough and divide in half.
On a lightly floured surface, working one piece of the dough at a time (keep the other half of the dough wrapped in plastic), roll out the dough into a 20 x 10-inch (about 51 x 25 ½ cm) rectangle.
Sweet version:
With an offset spatula spread the bitter marmalade to about 1/2 an inch from the edges and top uniformly with the sweet meringue. Sprinkle over the reserved mixed walnuts, chocolate chips and tart dried cherries.
Now, roll up the dough jellyroll style, from the long side. Pinch the seam closed to seal. Very carefully transfer the filled log to one of the lined cookie sheets, seam side down. Bring the ends of the log around and seal the ends together, forming a ring, tucking one end into the other and pinching to seal. Using sharp kitchen scissors {or a sharp knife} make cuts along the outside edge at 1-inch intervals.
Make them as shallow or as deep as desired but don’t be afraid to cut deep into the ring.
Savoury version:
With an offset spatula spread the savoury meringue and sprinkle with the roasted tomatoes, followed by the grated cheese.
Repeat the rest as for the sweet dough.
Cover the 2 coffee cakes with plastic wrap and allow them to rise again for 45 to 60 minutes. Preheat the oven to 180°C. Brush the tops of the coffee cakes with the egg wash. Sprinkle vanilla sugar over the sweet cake, and sea salt and fresh pepper over the savoury one.
Bake in the preheated oven for 25 to 30 minutes until risen and golden brown. The dough should sound hollow when tapped. Remove from the oven and slide the parchment paper off the cookie sheets onto the table. Very gently loosen the coffee cakes from the paper with a large spatula and carefully slide the cakes off onto cooling racks. Allow to cool. These are best eaten fresh, the same day or the next day.
“Women are made to be loved, not understood.”
Oscar Wilde
As usual a fight to the finish! Another month almost gone; one would think the New Year had just begun!MacTweets time again. Over at our mac-obsessed kitchen, it’s time to share some special mac love . Jamieand I called for just that this February to honour St Valentine. Even though I’ve had loads of mac luck the past few months, this time the feet proved elusive.
Mac Attack #16 – MACS ARE IN THE AIR …With Chet Baker crooning My Funny Valentine, take your romantic heart and scurry into your kitchen and bake a batch of French macarons for that special someone, the lover, the spouse, the best friend, the children, the one whom you want to offer up something special, the one whom you want to make smile.
Create something new, something exciting, something wildly romantic! Nothing says I Love You like a sweet little something, the size of a kiss, the flavor of your wildest desire, the macaron.
My black sesame valentine macarons struggled at high sea, after 2 batches of failure, I managed one with a little success. My fault as I tried stupid tricks. Thermomix experiments with 1 egg white=FAIL. Sesame and almond meal with lofty dreams also failed, well almost. Thankfully got a few feet in a tray, the pop macs didn’t work, so I had to be happy with 2 pairs! I think I overworked the sesame seeds while grinding.My mac experiments coincided with another experiment, an attempted fast track dessert. The teens diet has had severe repercussions on our sweet life. Desserts have been reduced to pitiable levels and the lad is whining all the time. Couldn’t take his pressure the other day, and in a hurry whipped up some eggless chocolate mousse of some sort. While Mr PAB enjoyed it oodles, the kids were a little iffy as in some parts the melted chocolate became grainy as I didn’t whisk it in too fast.I had some left and decided to redo it for the starving dwarfs.Mousse-a-cotta or panna-mousse is what eventually found its way back into the goblets, and found its way into the dwarfs tummies at express speed too! They loved the second fast track attempt, one that I added a dash of espresso to as well. I served them with my pair of precious feet, the failed ones vainly trying to fly the flag on sticks! Posting these now, with hope for a brighter mac future!
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!
Black Sesame Macarons with Nutella
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/4 cup powdered almonds
1 tbsp black sesame seeds
1 large egg white, at room temperature
2 1/2 tbsp granulated sugar
1/2 tsp egg white powder Method:
Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Grind together the powdered sugar with the almond powder and sesame seeds so there are no lumps; use a blender or food processor since almond meal that you buy isn’t quite fine enough.
In the bowl of a standing electric mixer, beat the egg whites until they begin to rise and hold their shape. While whipping, beat in the granulated sugar until very stiff and firm, about 2 minutes.
Carefully fold the dry ingredients, in two batches, into the beaten egg whites with a flexible rubber spatula. When the mixture is just smooth and there are no streaks of egg white, stop folding.
Using a teaspoon, or piping bag, drop / pipe the batter on the parchment-lined baking sheets in 1″ circles evenly spaced one-inch apart.
Rap the baking sheet a few times firmly on the counter top to flatten the macarons, then rest for about an hour.
Preheat oven to 140C. Bake them for 15-18 minutes.
Let cool completely then remove from baking sheet. Sandwich with Nutella. Mousse-a-cotta
Serves 4
250ml low-fat cream
100gm dark chocolate
1/2 tsp espresso powder
1 tbsp sugar
1 sheet of gelatin Method:
Soak gelatin sheet in cold water for 5 minutes, until soft.
Put cream, espresso powder, sugar and chocolate in a pan and simmer for 5-7 minutes until the chocolate has melted.
Squeeze out the gelatin sheet and stir into hot cream mixture. Take off heat and stir till the sheet is completely dissolved. {Don’t let the cream come to a boil}
Cool slightly and pour into goblets. Chill for at least 4 hours. Serve chilled.
“Food imaginatively and lovingly prepared, and eaten in good company, warms the being.”
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
As a CSN Preferred Blogger, I was offered the option of another product review or giveaway. I chose the latter which I’d like to pass to my US/Canada readers. The giveaway is valid for US and Canada residents only, as CSN can only ship for free there, though if you have a US/Canada address or would like to gift something to a friend or relative there, do feel free to enter. CSN’s product categories cover everything from cookware, office furniture, bunk bed-office combinations and fitness equipment to gaming chairs, grills, greenhouses and much much more.
To win this ‘One-time-use $75 Gift Certificate’ all you need to do is to visit CSN Stores and tell me which product you would buy if you won this giveaway. Do leave a valid email address in your comment before midnight 01 March 2011. The winner will be chosen via Random.org and announced thereafter. He/she will have 48 hours to respond, else a new one will be drawn.
Now, back to writing about what I like best, BAKING!! Was baking chocolate granola for the nth time the other day, and the teen suggested using blueberries. Something went TING in my head, and I suddenly remembered my stash of dried blueberries that had arrived from the UK not so long ago. It was cake baking day too, so I decided to bake my fave recipe buttermilk pound cake with a twist of lime and blueberries.Blueberries & lime – a combination made in heaven, makes for beautiful pairing.The buttermilk in the pound cake gives it a beautiful, light crumb. The cake tastes very nice warm, and is great the next day as well. The dried blueberries rehydrate with the lime and buttermilk and add glory to the cake. This is one basic cake I make ALL the time, the recipe lives in my head.It’s an amazingly versatile recipe and takes any number of flavour combinations willingly. Versions I’ve tried before include lime buttermilk cake with a lime glazing, orange chocolate-chip, coffee chocolate-chip, plain chocolate, and even a chocolate-vanilla marble cake. See, I told you I make this very often, or at least used to until the teen began dieting…… She now checks the ingredients before taking a bite, and exhales a loud “ewwww!!!” if she as much as hears the word b u t t e r ! Drama in everyday life, so it’s been a while since I made this … 2-3 weeks actually. I did a tangerine yogurt cake yesterday {read low fat, oil not butter}, and will hopefully post that soon.
Blueberries Lime Buttermilk Pound Cake
1 cup plain flour
1/2 cup whole-wheat flour {or 100% plain flour for a lighter crumb}
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup vanilla sugar
2 eggs
100ml buttermilk {or substitute recipe below}
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
Juice of 2 limes {or 1 lemon}
Zest of 2 limes {or 1 lemon}
2/3 cup dried blueberries To make buttermilk substitute at home:
Take 100ml milk at room temperature and add 1 tsp of white vinegar. Let it stand 5-10 minutes. When it curdles, it’s ready to use. Method:
Grease and flour the sides of a 8″ ring tin, or a 6″ round tin. Line the bottom. { I play safe line the sides too}.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
Mix the flour with the baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl with a whisk. Reserve.
Beat the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat in eggs, followed by the vanilla extract, lime juice and zest.
With the beater on low speed, add the flour mix and buttermilk alternately in three lots. Gently fold in the dried blueberries.
Bake for 50-60 minutes till golden brown on top, and the tester comes out clean.
Serve warm or at room temperature.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
~
As I write this post, my heart and thoughts are with the people of New Zealand which has been devastated by the most horrific earthquake. It just seems to unfair, so tragic … the scale of loss unbelievable.
“Gastronomy is and always has been connected with its sister…
…art of love.”
M.F.K. Fisher
14th morning is always an action replay of the days gone by. He will come and announce {without fail} that we first met on the 13th of Feb many years ago. 21 years!! Can’t believe it’s been that long. Mr PAB has a memory that astounds me, and in many ways is my personal journal – birthdays, anniversaries, who died when etc, each day with marked by an event significant to the time elapsed. He offers me time-lines whether I want it or not, often a balm to my cluttered mind. I do the more mundane practical stuff – insurances, bank work, bills, payday for Man Friday, the gardener etc!Red is the colour of passion or so they say. IMHO, V Day is much over-hyped and a commercial oversell for new lovers! Me? Give me the vibrant colours of nature and I’m inspired. Roasted red bell pepper sauce, a fiery yet sweet Sriracha {finally made it and it’s yum!}, strawberries … all colour my world. {Daughters red painting too!}I am far from a mushy V Day person, yet there’s something magnetic about all the red one sees around this time of the year. It tends to get to me, making me obsess about a Valentine Day special, for PAB though. Blogs are resplendent with sweetheart desserts, one more charming than the other, often more amazing than any you’ve ever seen, and they egg me on to post some love on V Day too.I fell for the trap of this love filled or rather love-fueled day. More red & more l♥v after the heart shaped Strawberry Meringue Chocolate Layer Cake. The bazaar is still flooded with the most gorgeous red strawberries, the second annual wave in India every year. The fruit & veggie vendor, or fruitwala, is a persuasive fellow, charming me with the shiny red berry. Knocks off a fraction of the price. ‘Specially for you,‘ he says. In my heart I know he says this to many regulars, but I get talked into it and come back in a gleeful mood.What shall I make is the eternal question? Waffles are really on top of my list since I saw El’s gorgeous Belgian Waffles post, but after a headless chicken dance on soccer Saturday, a Sunday morning waffle exercise falls flat. By the time we get our act together, it’s almost time for lunch. The teen has been up doing art work since 5am and at 8am decides its time for nap number 2.Wild horses can’t drag the dieting diva out of bed … so dessert it has to be!Rough puff pastry in the freezer is a bad thing, possibly worse than I ever thought it would be. Do you think so too? It has hypnotizing powers and is the easiest thing to have in the freezer. Did me in for World Nutella Day when I made Nutella Strawberry Puff Pastry Hearts.It threw me a line of temptation yesterday too.Quick check of the fridge revealed low fat cream, home made easy lemon curd, strawberries and of course rough puff pastry! Time for mille fueille, the classic French dessert which holds endless charm, and one I’ve never baked before. If you have puff pastry on hand, this is an indulgent dessert on fast track. I used whipped lemon curd cream instead of pastry cream, the latter I think is quintessential to the classic version. Also cut out a few hearts on top to go with the ♥VDay♥ theme, gave the tops a brushing of egg yolk, and sprinkled some vanilla sugar on top {which you can see got caramelised}. I suppose regular puff pastry would yield a more layered Napoleon vis-a-vis rough puff pastry, but the later is simpler to make at home and is fine with me.
The Napoleon is a pastry made of many layers of puff pastry with filling alternating the layers. It can be eaten as a dessert, or even as a decadent meal. As a French pastry it is called mille-feuilles, or thousand leaves, and it is usually filled with whipped cream, pastry cream, and fruit preserves – most often raspberry jam. The topping may be simply powdered sugar, or a layer of fondant, often with strings of chocolate drawn into a chevron design. In Italy, where the pastry is thought to have originated in Naples, it is called mille foglie (again, thousand leaves), and contains a similar layering like the mille-feuilles of cream, pastry cream, and fruit preserves. A traditional napoleon is filled with plain pastry cream but if desired you may add a thin layer of fruit preserves such as seedless raspberry or strawberry jam or preserves to the filling.
Roll out the puff pastry to a 1/4″ height, trim the edges, and cut into 9 equal rectangles. Cut out hearts in 3 of them if you like, and place rectangles and cut out hearts on a baking tray.
Place tray in the freezer while you preheat the oven to 225C.
Brush the pastry with the glaze, sprinkle with vanilla sugar if using, and bake for 20-25 minutes till puffy and golden.
Cool on racks, and then carefully split each horizontally into 2 with a sharp knife. or the tines of a fork. {You can get 3 layers if you use regular and not rough puff pastry}
Whip the cream to medium peak, and then gently but thoroughly fold in the lemon curd. The cream should thicken quite well now. {You won’t need to add sugar as the lemon curd is quite sweet on it’s own.}
Reserve the heart cut out layers for the pastry tops. {I used the tops and bottoms to give me ♥ cut out tops}
Spread about 1 1/2 tbsp of the whipped lemon curd cream on the bottom layer, and layer with strawberry slices. Top with a middle layer of pastry. Repeat and finally top with remaining pastry layers. Garnish with sliced strawberries if you like. Chill up to 1 hour.
“Oh good look its coffee o’clock :))…”
Linda@goodshoeday via twitter
How sweet that tweet was, music to my very ears! I saved it the minute I tripped across it ages ago. I’m a 100% coffee person, and it easily wins hands down as my most favourite flavour in sweet stuff; {garlic holds first place for savoury}. The PAB family is a coffee happy one too, and I am glad the kids are big enough to enjoy the odd coffee doused cake. Year after year, when it comes to my birthday, I always have this coffee cake plan in my head, and the day before, I leave a coffee cake sponge to mature beautifully in the fridge. This year was complete madness! My sis is over from the US with her kids, leaving me hair-brained with no time to plan. So I trashed all plans to bake me a cake…
Mr PAB came back from work, asked if I had baked me a cake {I ALWAYS DO … because I like to}, and I shook my head in negative, in despair and tiredness. He said he’d go and get me one first thing in the morning. Just then the lad said he and his sister would bake me one the next morning…”You just sleep late Mama,” he ordered with a twinkle in his eye! {Words like that are enough to give me sleepless nights!}
I shot out of bed very early in the morning in sheer fright. My kitchen in their hands, a mess that would be unbelievable, one that I would not be able to shriek about … party pooper, yes that’s me. I was in the kitchen in a heartbeat, and back to my books. First stop was Ottolenghi: The Cookbook, but that didn’t have a coffee cake recipe. Coffee coffee coffee…that was the only mantra in my mind, with a cuppa coffee in my hand! Then I leafed through Indulge, which I reviewed for Blogger Aid a while ago. The options seemed far too involved given the time frame… I had to get the cake into the oven before the kids woke up!
My next stop was this beautiful cake decoration book by Roland Mesniers – Basic To Beautiful Cakes that I had won at an event hosted by the Daring Kitchen. My Cinnamon Buttercream Autumn Cake cake got me this gorgeous book which landed at my doorstep, with a sweet note from the ‘daring ladies‘, Lisa ofLa Mia Cucina and Ivonne of Cream Puffs in Venice! In January this year, I was inspired to bake this Strawberry Bavarian Cream Cake from the book.
I reached for the index and got to the coffee pages pronto. A Coffee Genoise Sponge – holy yum! This was just the thing.
About the sponge, the author writes, “Mrs Clinton’s Coffee Genoise … Mrs Clinton loved coffee desserts in every form. The Mocha Cake in my book Dessert University was a favourite. Espresso sorbet, served with a cinnamon whipped cream, was another. I turned to this recipe for Coffee Genoise again and again because it is so versatile, and because the genoise, flavoured with instant espresso powder, takes on a strong, pure coffee flavour.”
Just reading the introduction had me walking on clouds, dreaming of coffee nirvana, making me forget everything else but coffee! Pure Coffee Flavour?YES PLEASE! It was even better that my sis had got me a jar on instant espresso powder. I also got a heavy duty angel cake tin {Ahn, I got it, I did!!}, bags of spices from whole foods, chocolate chips, almond meal … never-ending delights, just how I like my goodie bag ! The espresso gave me pure delight, and I had the bowl of water on simmer in no time.
It’s a simple and versatile sponge to make, largely fuss free. It rises thanks to air beaten into it over simmering hot water. Be careful not to release the beaten air as you fold the flour in. The melted butter adds just the right luxury to the crumb… not heavy at all, but moist. It’s a cake we went FAST! Mr PAB didn’t look particularly pleased with the smallish size.
The cake was inspired by a series of bakes I did for a project a short while ago; {will write more about that when and IF it sees light of day}. For the project I made a Kiwi-Strawberry Cream Cake, a Espresso Coffee Cream Cake and a Deep Chocolate with Burgundy Cherries Cake. For two of the cakes I used my trademark scrolls, this time in the lace border again, as it seems to have caught on as my signature style, and I love doing it!
I have to shout out a big thank you to this crazy girl Nachiketa from Crazy Over Desserts, who drove miles down to visit me late at night on my birthday with a cake baked especially for me. A coffee-cinnamon cake, with a chocolate ganache, rum soaked raisins within. A gorgeous cake, with a beautiful card made by her little niece just for me.
SIMPLE COFFEE GENOISE
Adapted minimally from Roland Meisner’s Basic to Beautiful Cakes, pg 190
4 large eggs {I added and extra yolk because the eggs were a medium size}
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp instant espresso powder
1 cup flour
Pinch of salt
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Method:
Preheat the oven to 190C. Line the bottom and sides of a 8″ spring form round tin. Grease and dust with flour.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar over a bowl of simmering hot water for about 5 minutes till thick and mousse like.
Take off water and continue to beat till the mixture cools down, about 5-7 minutes. Add the espresso and beat in again for a minute.
Fold the flour through gently, in 3 goes, lightly till it’s mixed through well. Be careful not to release the beaten in air.
Take a cup of this batter in another bowl, and mix the melted cooled butter through it. Now gently fold this back into the rest of the batter.
Turn the batter into the prepared baking tin, and bake for 30-35 minutes, till a tester comes out clean.
Filling:
1 tbsp coffee dissolved in 3 tbsp water with 1 tbsp sugar
400ml low fat cream
2 tbsp powdered vanilla sugar
1 tsp coffee essence {or 1 tsp instant coffee}
Method:
Whip together till medium peaks form.
Brush each side of the cake with the coffee syrup, and sandwich with the filling. Resrve any remaining cream for garnishing the top.
Topping:
300ml low fat cream
2-3 tbsp vanilla powdered sugar
1 scant tbsp instant espresso powder
Dark chocolate for garnishing
Method:
Whip together until stiff peaks form. Frost the sides of the cake first, and then the top. Garnish as desired.
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥
~
A reminder for this months MONTHLY MINGLE. If you are BAKING WITH FRUIT this month, do send it in to Monthly Mingle posted HERE. You have until November 23rd, 2010.
