“Almost all words do have color and nothing is more pleasant than to utter a pink word and see someone’s eyes light up and know it is a pink word for him or her too”
Gladys Taber
This ones going to be a short post. Its the PINK time of the year and even if I wanted to, I couldn’t shrug Mr PABs pink birthday cake off my shoulders. The dieting diva with all her charm, asked sweetly, ” Is ‘it‘ going to be PINK again!”. I love how well the kids grasp things that are important, so we had a fast track Chocolate & Strawberry Cream Cake this year!
The pink ribbon is an internationally recognized symbol of hope and awareness in the fight against breast cancer
Life has been a race against time and I had thoughts of barely throwing together a cake for Mr Man, PINK beginning to look pretty elusive. But the PINKPlum Fro Yo post had a couple of readers connect with me over the past few years, and I was pleasantly surprised to hear them ask about a PINK cake for Mr PAB… guess the pressure was on! Dive into the freezer and it was back to simmering strawberries and balsamic vinegar in brown sugar like Speedy Gonsalez. Gosh! Why did October get here so fast, and why did his birthday have to be at the very beginning? Sigh….In the midst of this, Jamie and I discussed Octobers theme for MacTweets and we both voted for PINK there too. I was really ambitious…really! No aged whites, a new recipe and lack of time is obviously a recipe for disaster. Ambitious me also piped pink mac ribbons! Needless to say the feet speedily failed me. I used a meringue/macaron ribbon to top my cake. A dusting of sugar hid its failings, yet added to the PINK!
Do you want to join us making MACARONS?
If you do, you are most welcome to join us. 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!
Here we go … my strawberry and chocolate cake for Pinktober since the teen insisted on chocolate. Before I get to the recipe I have to tell you that she decided to bake some cupcakes for her Dad all by herself {that DOES NOT include kitchen clearing and cleaning services}, and she set to work at the same time I was trying to layer the cake. I could have wept, but was VERY brave and soldiered on!The teen made pretty cupcakes {from my blog here} and declared they were better looking and tasting than any I had ever made! Of course they were… and then she went on to dress them up with butter-cream, sprinkles, oreos … ! She really did well on her first independent bake and frosting!
“Looks like you could use an extra hand.”
American Pie
We’re already trotting through the second week of September, the days are whizzing by! Just when I thought I’d done the SRC for the month, a Plum Almond Ginger Summer Fruit, I found a reminder in my inbox. Whoa we’re into the next month, a race against time as always, yet this club is fun! I made delicious Apple Strawberry Basil Hand Pies that I picked & adapted from Beantown Baker, my secret blog for September.
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! Click on the link if you want to join the fun!!
Jen @ Beantown Baker lives in Boston with her hubby and two cats. She works as an engineer by day, and is baker by night when she gets home and enjoys spending her free time in the kitchen. She loves all desserts and has a huge to-bake list. Her hubby serves as her number one taste tester and her lucky coworkers and friends get to enjoy baked goods on a regular basis. It was wonderful to explore her blog as we seem to have so much in common, beginning with a ‘love for baking’! It was like a treasure chest, I flitted from one post to another, so much to do and so little time! I thought I’d bake these utterly delicious looking Strawberry Peach Basil Bars but sadly the stone fruit season has drawn to an end. Then I chanced upon these Strawberry Hand Pies …YES!! I’ve been charmed by hand pies forever but have never got down to making these sweetly delicious sorts! They reminded me of pop tarts! I went with whatever fruit I had on hand… apples and frozen strawberries. In a last minute moment of inspiration, I threw in some fresh basil! YUM! I also tried a few different shapes, including a roll up and a lattice!They turned out to be delicious, though I think I rolled the dough a tad too thin. As Jen says, “The pastry dough is VERY easy to work with. And quite tasty.” I kept my pies vegetarian and gave the pastry a low fat cream wash, followed with a sprinkling of vanilla sugar. Hand pies are convenient food, great grub on the go and and can be sweet or savoury. Almost every culture has a version of their own, mostly baked.
Hand pies are semilunar-shaped pastries with either a sweet or savory filling, formed by placing a dollop of filling onto a circular piece of biscuit-style dough and then folding it over and crimping it shut. They may be baked, fried or deep-fried.
English Cornish pasties are said the most famous in this category, and go back to the 1800’s when miners wives would freshly bake shortcrust pastry with a beef filling, and pop the pies wrapped in a towel or newspaper into the miners pockets. Miners would hold the pies with the crimped edges, their hands dirty with arsenic and coal etc, eat the pie and throw away the crimped edge. Many countries have popular versions of hand pies. India has the addictive samosa, a savoury patty, deep fried and absolutely delicious. Traditionally with a stuffing of potatoes, peas {and sometimes cottage cheese and raisins}, the filling is wrapped in a triangle of pastry and deep fried. We munched through cartloads of these in school, college and while I was working. I have a Chicken Mince Cocktail Samosa posted here which makes for great cocktail / party snacks. Other versions include the Spanish empanada, the Italian calzone & Jamaican patties. Have you heard of any others? OK we have more … Malaysian curry puffs {thank you Jehanne@ The Cooking Doctor}, Indian gujiya {thank you Fahad @ Simply Fahad-istic}.
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Recipe: Apple Strawberry Basil Hand Pies
Summary: Delicious and comforting hand pies, charming bites somewhat like pop tarts. Dough from Alton Brown, filling from Dinner and Dessert, originally from Smitten Kitchen – makes about 15. Adapted from Beantown Baker
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients:
Pastry Dough
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
75gm unsalted butter, chilled
3/4 cup milk
Juice of 1/2 lime
Filling
3-4 apples, peeled, cored, diced small
1 cup frozen strawberries, chopped fine in processor
Juice of 1/2 lime
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
Handful of fresh basil, chiffonaded
Glaze
2 tbsp low fat cream { or an egg wash of 1 egg mixed with 1 to 2 teaspoons water}
1 sachet vanilla sugar
Method:
Make the Filling
Toss all ingredients well in a big bowl, and keep aside.
Make the Pastry Dough
In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Pulse for a few seconds and then pour into a large mixing bowl.
Add the shortening and knead it into the flour with your hands until it is crumbly.
Add the milk all at once and mix in with a spatula until it begins to come together.
Lightly flour your hands and the countertop and turn the dough out onto the countertop. Knead the dough ball, folding over 10 to 20 times. {Thermomix: Add flour, baking powder and salt to TM bowl. Run on Speed 6/5 seconds. Add remaining ingredients and run on Speed 6/ 7 seconds. Turn to knead and run for 1 minute.}
Using a rolling pin roll the dough to 1/3 to 1/2-inch thickness, then cut into rounds using a 2 1/4-inch ring. Roll each round as thinly as possible or to 5 to 6 inches in diameter.
Spoon 1 to 2 tablespoons of filling onto the dough, brush the edges of half of the dough lightly with the cream / egg wash, fold over and seal the edges together with the tines of a fork, dipping it into flour as needed. Gently press down to flatten and evenly distribute the filling and snip or cut 3 slits in the top of the pie.
Brush a little bit of cream / egg wash on the outside of the pie and sprinkle with vanilla sugar.
To bake pies, preheat the oven to 180C. Place finished pies onto a lined cookie sheet and bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.
Serve warm {after about 20 minutes as the filling can be very hot} or at room temperature. We liked them chilled too with a drizzle of unsweetened low fat cream as dessert!
“…stop pacing the aisles and counting the miles. Instead, climb more mountains, eat more ice cream, go barefoot oftener, swim more rivers, watch more sunsets, laugh more and cry less. Life must be lived as we go along.”
Robert J. Hastings {Tinyburg Tales}
This is one of those recipes lurking in my folder, adapted from a breathtakingly delicious looking post on Sips and Spoonfuls, devoured, yet for some reason it went ‘unblogged’! This eggless Roasted Peach & Plum Ice Cream made with condensed milk hit a nice chord after the Mango Fro Yo we got addicted to!
As we’ve bid adieu to stone fruit in our neck of the woods, I need to get this out for the lucky folk who are enjoying late summer stone fruit. I also enviously dream of the folk in the Southern Hemisphere who are now welcoming Spring and all the joys of berries & stone fruit! Condensed milk in ice cream is something very new for me, and had me pretty much intrigued as I read Sukaina’s post, devouring all her beautiful pictures. It was a post that sent me scurrying into the kitchen that same morningIn next to no time I had delicious aromas of stone fruit baking with vanilla wafting through the kitchen. It’s a heady way to begin a morning … for stone fruit lovers like me!It gets even more interesting if you are trying to take photographs and run helter skelter from a very inquisitive pooch, one who seems to enjoy every opportunity to ‘check out’ what’s on the menu! My days of ‘relaxed’ & ‘carefree’ photography are history, ones that I never cherished! Cut to now … I’m often glad to click a single frame without having to shoo Coco away! The hapless cocker gets nothing, not a crumb … and eventually snoozes! She is C.U.T.E. though, and even naughtier than before!!I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit gets. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. I had a bit of a struggle keeping the tiresome teen away from my beloved roasted fruit puree as she was looking at having a go at the bowl! Two spoonfuls and I literally shoved her out of my kitchen! Turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream. What’s not to love about the colours and glory of stone fruit!
Summary:I absolutely love the depth of flavour that roasting fruit get. Add a vanilla bean and it gets addictive. This turned out to be quite a delicious, low cal ice cream.
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 40 minutes Ingredients:
6 peaches- halved, pitted
8 plums, halved pitted
1 vanilla pod, scraped
3 tbs brown sugar
200ml low fat cream
200gm hung yogurt, well drained
400 ml condensed milk
Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Combine sugar and vanilla. Arrange the peaches & plums skin side down on a baking tray and sprinkle with the vanilla/ sugar mixture. Grill in the oven for 20 minutes or until the top of the peaches appear caramelized.
Remove the skin from the peaches as soon as it is cool enough to do so. Puree the peaches and any juices in the baking tray in a blender. {I left the skin on}
{Thermomix: Puree at Speed 10 for 1 minute. Freeze the puree in ice trays or silicon trays}
In a separate bowl combine, the cream, milk, condensed milk and peach/plum puree. Adjust sugar if required. Adding peach extract, peach liqueur or a teeny bit of kirsch will enhance the flavours. Churn in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer’s directions.
{Thermomix: Place frozen puree cubes and cream and condensed milk in TM bowl and process on Speed 10, 1 minute at a time, scraping as required, until smooth. Place in freezer safe bowl and freeze until ready to serve.}
“The secret lies in the love and the effort the maker puts into the creation. It really is a simple dessert to make. There’s nothing to it.”
Maria Olivas
It was one of those obsessive days, a ‘have to bake with plums’ sort of a day! Had a nice bag of pretty plums in the fridge, the last of the stone fruit season here in North India, and I was desperate to bake them into a ‘tart’ of some sort! The plums eventually found a happily ever after ending in this pretty and pretty delicious fruit bake – a Vanilla Almond Frangipane Plum Tart.The lad has been whining forever …. no dessert for SO many days Mama! I’ve been busy with life which is racing away. We had guests at home and the Mango Frozen Yogurt was turning out to be a GREAT hit, so I made it for dessert every other day. It’s a winner but the lad couldn’t have some as he had the viral fever, his throat very scratchy and flu like symptoms persisting!I was inspired by the lovelyMeeta’s recent post Apricot & Pistachio Frangipane Tart which led to an illogical urgency to make it right away. Ah, the power of food blogs! I had galette or crostata thoughts initially, but my newly acquired square tart pan from Victoria’s Basement in Sydney was begging to be used! I adapted the filling from Making Life Delicious.
Frangipane is a filling made from or flavored like almonds. This filling can be used in a variety of ways including cakes, tarts and other assorted pastries. An alternative French spelling from a 1674 cookbook is franchipane with the earliest modern spelling coming from a 1732 confectioners’ dictionary. Originally designated as a custard tart flavored by almonds or pistachios it came later to designate a filling that could be used in a variety of confections and baked goods.
The tart was wonderful in every way. An easy and deliciously crisp base, the pastry and frangipane that got made in a heartbeat in the Thermomix, paired with fruit that were singing the stone fruit anthem! I attempted to add some ground oats in the pastry … goodness me, that worked really well! These are the last few days of stone fruit here and sadly I watch the availability dwindling. Desperately try to hang on to a season that ends with heart break for me … a long wait to next year! The colour play of plums, peaches, cherries, mangoes etc is pure inspiration for me!The muscovado sugar I used in the frangipane was part of a foodie gift parcel I received a few days ago from a sweet reader of my blog, Sheetal. I used that in place of brown sugar and have to say it added great depth to the flavours. The raw sugar lent colour and rustic sweetness to the custard, enhancing the flavour of the vanilla bean. NICE! Thanks a million Sheetal.Sheetal was curious as to how to use raw sugar or muscovado. So was I! A first time ingredient experience is exciting stuff for the baker in me. {Her package included a tin of good quality cocoa and a new variety of locally available baking chocolate}. She wrote, “Deeba, everytime you post a recipe, I so want to have a bite of it :). I really hope you bake something with the stuff I send you. I know I still will not be able to taste but promise I will make the same at home and get a taste of you :)”Hope you’ll be able to make this delicious tart Sheetal. You can pair the frangipane with apples or pears in case you can’t find plums. Figs would work well here too. If you plan on using berries, demerera or vanilla sugar might work better …Do you like the colours? I loved the deep reds of the plums, and sealed with the apricot glaze made it even prettier. The pâte sucrée with oats was a successful experiment as I wanted to add some healthy grains to the pastry; turned out crisp and delicious. It tasted great on the day I baked the tart, and surprisingly tasted very good chilled out of the fridge the next day too!
[print_this] Recipe: Vanilla Almond Frangipane Plum Tart
Summary: An easy and delicious tart – a crisp base paired with a vanilla almond frangipane and sweetly tart plums! Ground oats in the pastry worked really well!
Prep Time: 15 minutes Total Time: 60 minutes Ingredients:
8-10 small ripe plums, each sliced into 6 sections
1/4 cup slivered almonds
2 tbsp apricot jam, melted
Pâte Sucrée
150gms plain flour
50gms oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tbsp vanilla sugar
1/8 tsp salt
100gm unsalted butter, chilled, diced
1/2 vanilla bean scraped
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
Vanilla Almond Frangipane
1 cup whole almonds
1/3 cup muscavado sugar
70gms unsalted butter, room temperature
1 egg
1/2 vanilla bean, scraped
1 tbsp flour
1 tsp almond extract
Pinch of salt
Method:
Pâte Sucrée
Whiz the plain flour, oats, sugar, salt, baking powder and scraped vanilla bean in the processor. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}
Add the chilled butter and whiz briefly until you get a crumb like mix. {Thermomix: Speed 10, 15 seconds}
Add the vanilla extract and egg and briefly pulse till it begins to come together {Thermomix: Speed 6 / 10 seconds}
Turn onto work surface and pat together into a ball, handling the dough as little as possible. Wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes to help the dough relax.
Preheat the oven to 190C.
Roll out the dough and lne the tart pan. Patch any broken bits with leftover dough.
Bake blind {line the unbaked shell with aluminum foil and place bean/pie weights on top} for 8 minutes. Remove weights and foil and continue to bake for a further 5 minutes. Make sure it doesn’t over brown.
In the meantime, make the vanilla almond frangipane
Whiz the whole almonds, muscavado sugar, flour and salt in the processor until the almonds are pulverised. {Thermomix: Speed 10/ 20 seconds}.
Add the butter,egg, vanilla bean and almond extract and blen until smooth. {Thermomix: Speed 6/ 20 seconds}. The frangipane is ready, and can be stored in a zipbag overnight in the refrigerator if desired.
Lower the oven temperature to 180C.
Assemble the tart
Turn the frangipane into the baked crust {I turned it into the hot shell and it turned out fine}, spread uniformly with an offset spatula.
Arrange plum slices over the top, sprinkle with slivered almonds and bake for 30 minutes, until the frangipane is fluffy looking and firm to touch.
Remove from oven and immediately brush the top with the the melted apricot jam {this seals the moisture in and keeps the fruit looking good}.
Serve warm or at room temperature … or even chilled!
“Doing what you love is the cornerstone of having abundance in your life.”
Wayne Dyer
July has been a LONG tiring month, with most of the family getting hit by viral fever. Our little new pooch added to the general madness & mayhem, yet the Daring Baker in me stood up and did a happy jig when I saw this months challenge – Fresh Frasiers.
Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.
For the uninitiated {that includes me when I first read about the challenge}, it certainly wasn’t Frasier, the American sitcom, which was my first thought. A traditional Frasier is crème mousseline (pastry cream with extra butter) and strawberries sandwiched between two sheets of heavily imbibed sponge (genoise) cake, and it is topped with either a sheet of red or green almond paste or Italian meringue. I googled for some background and found a little information …
During the springtime, french pastry chefs make this cake to take advantage of the fresh strawberries (“fraises”) that are abundant during this season.
Charming indeed, like everything French! Mr PAB is in France {Toulouse} at the moment for an aircraft delivery and has me simmering with envy. He is absolutely enjoying the beautiful country, the food & wine, the culture etc, and mails me a few pictures everyday …. I couldn’t accompany him because of my little new pup!! She’s as cute as a button, full of beans and more naughtier than I could ever imagine. For the record, my herbs and other plants are history! She loves greens & looks at me with the whites of her eyes showing while chomping them, especially my oregano!!Back to business... Frisiers are said to be traditional French strawberry & cream dessert. In my case, I had to wander far from traditional as we are long past strawberry season here in India. Stone fruit are in season, and … … my best bet was mango since they have flooded the market unbelievably. As far as the eye can see, you find baskets and handcarts piled HIGH with this luscious fruit. I paired my frasier with a pistachio marzipan as almond paste isn’t available in India. Besides, pistachio pairs beautifully with mango. It is my favourite nut & offers great play of colour! {Not here eventually as humidity played spoilsport}July is my Dad’s birthday month, so the cake challenge was greeted with open arms. Maybe I got too enthusiastic because I was left doing it all from scratch. My trusted Thermomix {I love this kitchen machine} is my BFF! It blitzed the pistachios into marzipan without a whimper, and then faithfully plodded on to make the crème patisserie. Where can I have home made pastry creme turned out in 7 minutes without as much as a stir? I love it!!Also, I was extra ambitious and thought of doing a mango mirror. To cut a long story short, the weather was so hot and humid that the mirror eventually slid right off, melting bit by bit. Much to my horror, it took a chunk of the marzipan with it too. The cake was later covered with vanilla cream.I made a somewhat similar Mango Bavarian Cream Cake in July last year {pictured above}, and it held up beautifully. So much for my adventurous spirit this time. I salvaged whatever I could of the cake, stuck it right back into the fridge and cooled my heels. It was cut later that night and though it was delicious and light, I think it’ll give you less heartache if the weather is cooler. I intend to have another go at this beautiful cake {and technique once the weather cools down}.Thank you Jana for a refreshing summer challenge. 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 refreshing & pretty frasiers the other daring bakers have risen to this July!
[print_this]Recipe: NAME
Summary: These recipes have been adapted from the cook book Tartine by Elisabeth M Prueitt and Chad Robertson, the chefs and owners of Tartine, a beloved San Francisco bakery.
Prep Time: 4 hours Total Time: 4 hours
Preparation time: The traditional recipe can be made in stages. As a whole the recipe requires at least 4 hours of time, and 4 hours of refrigeration, BUT the cake, pastry cream and syrup can be made days ahead of assembly to help ease the time burden. Once these three are made, the cake will take about half an hour to assemble followed by 4 hours of refrigeration.
Line the bottom of an 8-inch (20 cm) spring form pan with parchment paper. Do not grease the sides of the pan.
In a large mixing bowl, stir together the flour and baking powder. Add in all but 3 tablespoons (45 ml.) of sugar, and all of the salt. Stir to combine.
In a small bowl combine the oil, egg yolks, water, vanilla and lemon zest. Whisk thoroughly.
Combine with the dry ingredients and mix thoroughly for about one minute, or until very smooth.
Put the egg whites into a stand mixer, and beat on medium speed using a whisk attachment on a medium speed, until frothy. Add cream of tartar and beat on a medium speed until the whites hold soft peaks. Slowly add the remaining sugar and beat on a medium-high speed until the whites hold firm and form shiny peaks.
Using a grease free rubber spatula, scoop about ⅓ of the whites into the yolk mixture and fold in gently. Gently fold in the remaining whites just until combined.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 45 to 55 minutes or until toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
Removed the cake from the oven and allow to cool in the pan on a wire rack.
To unmold, run a knife around the sides to loosen the cake from the pan and remove the spring form sides. Invert the cake and peel off the parchment paper. Refrigerate for up to four days.
Crème patisserie / Pastry Cream – Ingredients:
1 cup milk
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp gelatin
1/2 tablespoon water
1 cup low fat cream
Method:
Pour the milk, vanilla, and salt into a heavy sauce pan. Place over medium-high heat and scald, bringing it to a near boiling point. Stir occasionally.
Meanwhile, in a stand mixer add the cornstarch and sugar. Whisk to combine. Add the eggs to the sugar and cornstarch and whisk until smooth.
When the milk is ready, gently and slowly while the stand mixer is whisking, pour the heated milk down the side of the bowl into the egg mixture.
Pour the mixture back into the warm pot and continue to cook over a medium heat until the custard is thick, just about to boil and coats the back of a spoon.
Remove from heat and pass through a fine mesh sieve into a large mixing bowl. Allow to cool for ten minutes stirring occasionally.
Thermomix:Place all ingredients in TM bowl. Cook at 100C/ Speed 5 / 7-8 minutes}. Transfer to a heat proof bowl, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Proceed.
Cut the butter into four pieces and whisk into the pastry cream a piece at a time until smooth. Cover the cream with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic wrap onto the top of the cream to prevent a skin from forming. Chill in the refrigerator for up to five days.
In a small dish, sprinkle the gelatin over the water and let stand for a few minutes to soften.
Put two inches (55 mm) of water into a small sauce pan and bring to a simmer over a medium heat.
Measure 1/4 cup of the chilled pastry cream into a small stainless steel bowl that will sit across the sauce pan with the simmering water, without touching the water.
Heat the cream until it is 120 F (48.8 C). Add the gelatin and whisk until smooth. Remove from the water bath, and whisk the remaining cold pastry cream in to incorporate in two batches.
In a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream until it holds medium-stiff peaks. Immediately fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream with a rubber spatula.
Simple Syrup – Ingredients:
1/3 cup vanilla sugar
1/3 cup water
Method:
Combine the water and sugar in a medium saucepan.
Bring the mixture to a boil and let the sugar dissolve. Stirring is not necessary, but will not harm the syrup.
Remove the syrup from the heat and cool slightly. Transfer to a lidded container or jar that can be stored in the refrigerator. Simple syrup can be stored for up to one month.
Pistachio Marzipan – Ingredients:
Makes 142gms, enough for a 9″ disk
From Cake Bible by Rose Berenbaum
1/4 cup pistachios, roasted at 180C for 5-7 minutes
Scrape as much skin off the pistachios as possible. Process them in a food processor until a smooth paste is obtained. {Thermomix: Speed 10 /5-7 seconds. Repeat 2-3 times}.
Add sugar and process until well blended. {Thermomix: Speed 10 / 10 seconds. scrape the sides}
Add the corn syrup and glucerine and process for another 20 seconds, until well blended.{Thermomix: Speed 10 / 10 seconds. scrape the sides} The mixture will appear dry, but a small amount pressed between your fingers should hold together. If it seems too dry, add more corn syrup, 1/4 tsp at a time.
If you wish a deeper green, add a drop or 2 of green food colouring. Process until the marzipan has a smooth dough like consistency. Knead briefly until uniform in colour. You can use the marzipan at once, but its easier to work with if you rest it for an hour.
Mango Mirror – Ingredients:
2 medium ripe mango, coarsely chopped
70g sugar 100 ml water
2 Tbsp lime juice {you can use lemon juice}
2 Tbsp water, extra
1 1/4 tsp unflavored gelatin several drops of yellow food coloring
Method:
Place mango flesh, sugar, and 50 ml water in saucepan. Cook over low heat, crushing the flesh with back of a spoon to start juices flowing.
Simmer for 10 minutes. Pour through a colander and drain into a bowl. Do not press down the pulp too much or your mango mirror won’t be shiny because of the pulp.
Place lime juice and extra water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy.
Put the mango juice into a pan and bring to a simmer. Pour over the gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve. Tint to desired color with yellow food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell).
Fraisier Assembly:
Components:
1 baked 8 inch (20 cm) chiffon cake
1 recipe pastry cream filling
⅓ cup simple syrup or flavored
1kg mangoes, peeled, diced into 1/2″ pieces
1 recipe pistachio marzipan
Method:
Line the sides of a 10-inch (25 cm) spring form pan with plastic wrap. Do not line the bottom of the pan.
Cut the cake in half horizontally to form two layers.
Fit the bottom layer into the prepared spring form pan. Moisten the layer evenly with the simple syrup. When the cake has absorbed enough syrup to resemble a squishy sponge, you have enough.
Hull and slice in half enough strawberries to arrange around the sides of the cake pan. Place the cut side of the strawberry against the sides of the pan, point side up forming a ring.
Pipe cream in-between strawberries and a thin layer across the top of the cake.
Hull and quarter your remaining strawberries and place them in the middle of the cake. Cover the strawberries and entirely with the all but 1 tbsp. (15 ml) of the pastry cream.
Place the second cake layer on top and moisten with the simple syrup.
Lightly dust a work surface with confectioners’ sugar and roll out the almond paste to a 10-inch (25 cm) round 1/16 inch (1.5 mm) thick. Spread the remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of pastry cream on the top of the cake and cover with the round of almond paste.
Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
To serve release the sides of the spring form pan and peel away the plastic wrap.
Serve immediately or store in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.
Notes: The gelatin will continue to stiffen day by day. The longer you let your finished cake sit, the more firm it will become. Also, it’s worthwhile assembling the cake on the platter it will be displayed on. Plcae the bottom layer on the platter, then affix the dessert ring / cling wrap lined spring form pan around the bottom layer. It saves the hassle of trying to move the cake after assembly.
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“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.
