Chocolate Jam Cake

With Polka Dot Collar

<Note: Once again Livewriter and Blogger are not working with each other so if this post looks a little off, my apologies>
 
The day has come to post my final blog. I get emotional leaving the blogging world and don’t know how to go about it…not quite ready to say goodbye so I will just say that I’m taking a long vacation…in that way, I can come back if I miss sharing the wonderfully, spectacular, amazing recipe I find on my vacation, right?

This has been a pretty busy year. The family room remodeling we started back in June finally finished last week, yay!  Four trips to see our grandchildren plus the contractor took a three week over-sea trip as well (we didn't see him for 5 weeks and I was a little worried) delayed the finish. During the extra hectic six months, I was just so ready to quit, however, I wanted to see the 5 year blog anniversary which came on December 4th. Now it’s time to do something new. 
I have made some great dishes, many were good, a few were so-so and the rest were nasty. I posted them all because I didn’t have a back-up. My readers are so kind leaving very nice comments each week. I’m truly grateful for that.
This recipe I chose for my last entry is Italian cake from my old cook book, somewhat dense though, the polka dots resemble falling snow…great fit for Christmas scene (don’t you think?) and has nostalgic mayonnaise cake like flavor.

Ingredients and Instruction for 1 nine inch cake pan (Print Recipe Here)

Necessary equipment – food scale, stand or hand held electric mixer, sifter, 9 inch round with at least 2-1/2 inch depth cake pan, parchment paper
For cake -

• 125g butter (1 stick and 1 Tablespoon), room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup strawberry jam
• 1/3 cup self rising flour*
• 1 cup all-purpose flour*
• 1 teaspoon baking soda*
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder*  Note: Combine all asterisk marked ingredients and sift 3 times, do not skip this process
  .
• 3/4 cup buttermilk

1. Grease inside of the pan with butter or oil. Cut parchment paper to fit bottom and side inside (1/2 taller than the pan) of the pan. Heat oven to 350F.
2. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar with mixer until light and creamy, about 3 minutes. Add eggs one at a time, beat well after each addition. Then add strawberry jam, mix very well.
3. Fold in pre-sifted flour mixture alternately with buttermilk with large spatula. Stir until smooth but avoid over mixing.
   
4. Pour batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 45 minutes until wooden skewer comes out clean. Leave in the pan for 5 minutes before turning onto wire rack to cool. Peel off the paper.
     

For White Chocolate Icing -

• 150g (4-3/4 oz) white chocolate, cut in small pieces though, not necessary if using round melts.
• 125g (4oz) butter, cubed
• 1/3 cup cream 

1. Combine chocolate, butter and cream in a small pan. Stir oven low heat until melted. Transfer into small bowl to cool, stirring occasionally. It will be semi-solid in about 30 minutes to 1 hour.
   
2. Transfer cake to serving plate. Spread sides and top of cake evenly.
   

For Chocolate Collar – measure the height , circumference of cake with ruler. Cut parchment paper accordingly.

• 40g (1-1/3oz) white chocolate, shaved
• 80g (2-2/3oz) dark chocolate, shaved
  

1. Melt white chocolate in double-boiler on low heat until creamy. Drop melted chocolate randomly on prepared paper strip and smooth  to flatten a little bit. Allow to set, about 40 minutes to 1 hour. Note: over-heating chocolate make the chocolate grainy so do not go beyond 120F. 96F is ideal temperature. I recommend to use instant read food thermometer.
   
2. Melt dark chocolate the same way as above. Working quickly, spread the chocolate evenly over the entire strip.
   
3. Immediately  wrap the chocolate side of paper around cake. Wait for the chocolate to set. Carefully peel the paper off. Refrigerate cake until ready to serve. Dust top with cocoa powder.
      

I put strawberry Santas on for seasonal effect – I loved that each Santa has his own character…’みんな違って、みんないい' We are all different and all wonderful!…famous quote of Misuzu Kaneko the Japanese poet.

Like I said, every blogger is different and all are wonderful! I come to enjoy each one of you and your gifts. I was inspired, got misty eyes and laughed out loud.
Thank you, thank you very much! I’m thankful for my husband also for huge part of creating, without him and his support this would have never happened. I will continue to follow you as much as I can. I am wishing you the very best…you all are awesome!
First time in three years, I put up a Christmas tree…the vaulted ceiling makes the tree look so small…but cute…

 I sincerely hope the season will bring you peace and love.

Almond Fruit Tart

Almond Cream and Poached Pear Tart

I have several tart recipe up my sleeve, maybe it is silly to tackle one more? Definitely, I don’t need to acquire extra pounds though, the toasty almond aroma sounds mighty tempting…and I really have weakness for biscuity crust.

The appearance of the tart is so-so, not glamorous! However, the poached pear and almond cream are a dynamite pear…I mean, pair.

 

Ingredients and Instruction for 12 x 8 tart (Print Recipe Here)

For poached pears -

• 3 cups red wine Note: I don’t know anything about wine so I bought cheap(est) wine at the supermarket.
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 star anise
• 5–6  pears, slice lengthwise in half then core with melon baller, peel and slice again (so that the pear is now quartered).

Mix red wine, sugar and star anise in a large pan, boil for 5 minutes at medium heat. Lower the heat, put prepared pears in the pan, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Cool in the pan. Set aside  Note: only part of the pears are showing.
.

For the crust – (do this while pears are cooking/cooling) mixer, parchment paper, pie weight (or beans) are required for this task.

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), cubed, room temperature
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 cup low-viscosity flour or cake flour, sift with baking powder below
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup sliced almonds, finely chopped
• 1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt

1. Put butter in a stand mixer bowl with whisk. Cream the butter at medium speed then add sugar, beat until light and fluffy about 2 minutes.
2. Add egg and beat well, next add the flour mixture, almonds and lastly the salt, beat well at each addition…now you have a very wet dough.
3. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on a flat surface. Put dough in the middle of paper, top with a second sheet of paper. Roll dough out to large enough to fit the pan you’re using. Put in the freezer to firm up, about 20 minutes.
4. Heat oven to 350F. Take dough out of the freezer, peel the top parchment paper off and lay the dough-side down into the pan and carefully peel off the remaining paper. Note: you may need to do some patchwork on the dough as you handle the dough may crack.
5. Place a clean sheet of parchment paper on top of the tart shell, letting ends extend over the edge. Fill with pie weights (or beans). Bake for 15 –17 minutes until the edges are slightly brown. Cool on the wire rack. Set aside.
   

For Almond cream –  or use my past tart recipes here, or here

• 1 and 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1 and 1/2 cup almond flour
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 1 Tablespoon lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

Do this step while the crust is baking/cooling. Place butter in a stand mixer with paddle attachment (oops, I used whisk). Beat butter at medium speed until creamy, add sugar and continue to beat, add egg yolks,flour, lemon zest, salt and extract. Mix until fluffy. Chill in the refrigerator until ready.

Assembly and bake – Heat oven to 325F. Spread almond cream evenly on the top of cooled crust. Pat the pears dry with a paper towel and arrange on top of the almond cream. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. Sprinkle toasted sliced almond on top and powder sugar (optional).

Why not use left over egg whites to make ‘Tuiles’ ? (#todayssweets). I draw chocolate swirls first…if you’re good at drawing (with melted chocolate), try to draw a face or an animal character like Hello Kitty?

My husband made the kefir biscuit last Saturday for breakfast. I think this is a winner! Light and moist and fantastic with yuzu marmalade!

Shio koji (塩麹)  is mellow and has sweet nuance. I brined cucumber and white radishes in it but there are a variety of vegetables you can use to make nice pickle. Here I made pickle sushi rolls for nice bites between meals. (#todaystapas)

Really? My husband checked the vegetable garden and surprise to find the cherry tomatoes still hanging in weathered vines. Sweet!

The cooler weather forced me to wear a jacket. Thankful that hot and sticky summer is gone…sad that pleasant and gentle October is leaving us.
The photo was taken at Costco parking lot.

Have a Happy Halloween!

Fig Framboise Tarte

いちじくのタルト

All of sudden, ‘POW’! The figs (desert king variety) from the tree in our back yard are ripe and ready, thanks to very warm weather…with the weight of loaded figs, some branches are bowing… Long live the King!
Oh yai yai! Why couldn’t they be ready a few at a time?  Given away to friends and neighbors but we still have plenty left…and some of them past prime and getting way too mushy.

I have copies of fig tart/cake recipes from fellow food bloggers and all are fabulous though, I decided to challenge the recipe from an old Today’s Cooking Magazine, just because of the raspberry sauce. Although it’s not difficult, this requires patience…it needs a lot of nap, I mean rest time. .

Ingredients and Instruction for one 9 inch tart pan (Print Recipe Here)

For crust – Or use your favorite recipe for biscuit base. My past recipe is here

• 35g Viscosity flour (薄力粉)
• 140g Bread flour (強力粉)
• 125g unsalted butter, cubed
• 1 egg yolk, mix with salt and milk from below in a small bowl
• 3/4 teaspoon of salt
• 40g milk

1. Put flours and cubed butter in a large bowl and keep in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
2. Put #1 mixture in a food processor and run until it looks like cornmeal. Add egg mixture and quickly combine until it just comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate to rest for 2-3 hours.

For Almond Cream

• 90g unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 70g granulated sugar
• A pinch of salt
• 1 egg beaten
• 90g almond flour

1. Put butter and sugar in large bowl and whisk well until color gets light and fluffy.
   
2. Add beaten egg at little at a time, whisk until smooth.
3. Add almond flour and combine well. Chill for about 1 hour in refrigerator.

Set biscuit batter in a tart pan – dust with flour on a clean flat surface. roll out the batter to one size larger than pan and fit in the pan (1/4 inch thick?). If the batter gets too soft, put back in the refrigerator for a few minutes. Roll the rolling pin on top of the pan to cut off the excess dough. Prick bottom with fork. Keep in the refrigerator until ready.

Assemble and Bake – Heat oven to 356 F. Slice figs, skin on (you need about 6-8 figs) in wedges. Put almond cream in a piping bag with 1/2 inch round tip (if the cream is too cold, whisk to make smooth first). Pipe out from center of tart (it is not necessary but I smoothed out with a rubber spatula). Arrange fig wedges on top of almond cream, place it on a large cooking sheet to prevent spillage. Put in the oven and bake for about 1 hour. When it’s done, place on cooling rack.

Raspberry sauce – 200g  of frozen raspberries or fresh raspberries and 100g granulated sugar in a food processer, run until pureed. Strain through mesh to remove seeds. Add 1 drop of food coloring to enhance color (optional).  Note: for short cut, I used seedless raspberry jam, thinned with little bit of warm water. Spread the raspberry sauce on top of cooled tart. decorate with skinned, wedged cut figs and mint leaves. Voila!Okey-dokey…What do I do with rest of figs?

From Today’s TAPAS Instgram posts (#todaystapas) – lemon cheese cakes for a friend who is not feeling well…

Stuffed Goya (the recipe featured in Orange Page magazine)….ground chicken, ginger and other seasoning… Uniquely bitter aftertaste I enjoyed.

It’s true! Delicious food makes you happy even for the time being!
Clap along if you feel like happiness is the truth!