Archive for January 9th, 2009

I do not know how I manage, but after making a bigger cake, I always have plenty of leftovers to play around with afterward.
After making the New Year’s Eve cake, I had some extra sponge that I have frozen for later use.

For the sponge
The recipe yields two 24 cm cakes (*)
53 g almonds
52 g raw pistachios
75 g powdered sugar
25 g flour
125 g eggs
93 g egg whites
38 g sugar
18 g butter, melted and cooled

Chop the almonds and pistachios. Add the powdered sugar and mix until you obtain a very fine meal. In another bowl, mix the above processed meal, the flour and the eggs for 5-8 minutes until a thick, ribbony mixture forms.
Whip the egg whites to soft peaks and slowly add the granulated sugar and whip to get a glossy meringue.
Add a part of the egg whites to the first batter and slowly incorporate the 2. Add the rest of the whites and then the melted butter.
Divide the batter between the 2 pans, lined with parchment paper on the bottom and bake at 180 degrees for about 12 minutes (when lightly pressed the cake should spring back).
* I have baked two 24cm cakes (2-3 cm high) and a half sheet pan (that I used for this cake)

For the cherry sauce

160 ml Port wine
100 g sugar
400 g cherries
20g cornstarch
cold water to soften the starch
Boil the first 3 ingredients. When sugar is melted, add the starch mixed with cold water. Turn the heat to low and simmer until the sauce becomes thick and shiny.
Let cool to room temperature before using.

For the syrup

Before adding the cornstarch to the sauce, I took about 100 ml of cherry syrup, to which I added 1 tbsp of cherry liqueur.

For the mousse

230 grams mascarpone
70 grams powdered sugar
vanilla extract
240 ml heavy cream
cinnamon
50-100 g chopped bittersweet chocolate

Beat the mascarpone, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon until very smooth. Separately whip the cream and then add it to the mascarpone mixture. Add the chopped chocolate.

To assemble

Cut out circles from the sponge to fit your molds.
Place a circle of sponge on the bottom of the mold (I used a 7.5 cm mold), brush lightly with syrup, top with as much cherry sauce as you like and then pipe mousse over. Place in the fridge to set (a few hours).
Decorate the cakes as you wish (I have sprinkled some cocoa on top or drizzled some sauce over).

As you all might already know, I like breads or bread like food. Tortillas are no exception. These are always my “to go” food for quick lunches or even breakfasts.
They are so unsophisticated and can be filled with anything (haven’t yet tried sweet fillings, but I am sure I could find some good match).

I haven’t wrote about them until now, because I always wanted to blog about more “exotic stuff” and these looked too ordinary for me. But they are not, trust me. I learned this myself and now I am sorry I did not post them earlier.

These are perfect for kids, at least my little one loves them stuffed with spicy grilled meat (either chicken, pork or veal), grated mozarella, sweet corn, red bell peppers and tomato sauce.
Hubby likes them with lots of guacamole, shredded pork, grated emmentaler, red onion rings, red bell pepper and salsa. And that’s what he has in his lunchbox for today.

For the tortillas
390 g flour (i have made them with a mix of all purpose-140g and whole wheat – 250g, but they are great with only one of them)
10 ml olive oil
6-7 g salt
265 ml warm milk
13g baking powder
Mix all the above ingridients and then kned for a couple of minutes until you get a smooth, elastc, firm dough.
Place the ball of dough on a cutting board and cover it with a dump towel and let it rest for about 20 minutes.
Make balls out of the dough (50g are mine), place them on the board, cover with the same towel and let them rest for 10 minutes, so the gluten relaxes and makes them easier to roll.
Heat a pan (do not oil/ butter it) on medium. Lightly flour the work surface and roll you balls into thin circles. Place them in the pan for 30-40 s per side – you will know they are ready when bubbles form on the surface and they start to get slightly brownish.
Tortillas can be kept in the fridge well wrapped and reheated when needed but have their best taste when eaten right after being made.

As I made more of them yesterday evening, I am having them as breakfast and as lunch.
For breakfast they are filled with: shredded carrots, shredded cabbage, a few shrimps, strips of red bell peppers all mixed with creme fraiche and topped with a bit of salsa.
For lunch: grilled pork tenderloin, sauteed mushrooms, green salad leaves, cucumber sticks and salsa of course.