Mrs Lee's Walnut Cake Attempt #1

Growing up, we occasionally were treated to Mrs Lee's walnut cake. This walnut cake is like no other. The sponge was moist and soft almost like a very airy and fluffy marshmallow with a light buttery taste and delicately speckled with dark chocolate. In between the sponge lies a good dollop of apricot jam and it is topped with walnuts and egg washed for shine. It is truly sublime.

Till today, it remains one of my favourite cakes and my holy grail of cakes.

I constantly try to replicate this cake but to no avail. Although, I am getting closer and closer.

Here are a few issues that still baffle me.....
What chocolate does she use?
Her chocolate has a very aromatic and only very slightly bitter flavour. It is rich in chocolate goodness and yet not overpowering. Not added in chunks nor a powder. Perfectly integrated with the sponge.

What is her sponge recipe?
Her proportions of eggs, flour, fat and liquid are to me what the golden ratio is to a mathematician.

When does she throw her walnuts on?
Her walnuts are sunken approximately 1cm into the sponge. Opening the oven too early runs the risk of your sponge sinking, opening too late and the walnuts just sit on top and are not in the clasp of the perfect sponge.

Attempt #1 had these problems:
- Dry Crumb
- Wrong chocolate flavour (I used grated Valrhona Grand Couva 73%, it truly amuses me what she could use that actually tastes better!)
- The walnuts sat on top they were not enclosed

At least, I've finally found out what's in the middle. I used to think she added some sort of concoction made with strawberry jam, marmalade and honey but it is actually just plain and simple apricot jam. I've never actually had apricot jam until a few weeks ago at LCB. When I tasted it, it Clicked! This is Mrs Lee's secret jam...... it's only apricot jam.



and I will keep trying.

Autumn Japonaise Cake

This week, Desserts By Pierre Hermé I ordered from amazon arrived... Hooray!

I flipped through it like a little girl who just received her most precious and much anticipated christmas present.

Immediately, the autumn meringue cake caught my attention.
Maybe because I have almost all the ingredients needed, it is relatively simple and since it is now autumn in Sydney, no other sweet treat can be more befitting.



The resulting cake was delightful. With the rather gargantuan amount of chocolate in it, what could go wrong?

In Pierré's book, he uses a plain meringue for layers in between the chocolate mousse but I decided to make a hazelnut japonaise instead. Purely for its chewy and nutty characteristics.

In between these layers of hazelnut japonaise is rich chocolate mousse.

For someone who is not particularly fond of mousses in general, the cake was a delightful surprise. I normally do not like mousse because of its likeness to the product you would usually use to make your hair stand.

But this cakes' mousse had a masculinity to it. It was not soft. Instead, it was like biting into a perfectly baked cheesecake. In addition, the mousse required two chocolates, Valrhona's guanaja and noir gastronomie which added complexity and depth.

The cake is finally dressed in a dark decalicious chocolate glaze... perfect!

A Beautiful World

Sometimes, we need to stop and appreciate beauty that is all around us.

King Prawns with Ink Squid Pasta

I inherited a packet of ink squid pasta a few weeks back and have been deciding what I should do.
Buy squid+ink and go the traditional ?
Then I remembered a recipe I once saw on Kuidadore. A King Prawn with Ink Squid Pasta. Although, she made her own pasta.

At the end of the day though, J said the pasta wasn't good, it felt like we were eating rubber bands. Hah. Maybe next time I will make my own pasta.

If you are keen to try this recipe, I suggest using linguine or spaghetti.

King Prawns with Ink Squid Pasta [Serves 2]

Ingredients:
10 King Prawns
pasta
white wine
stock (made from shell of prawns)
parsley
garlic
chilli
grana padano or parmigiano reggiano

Method:
1. Cook pasta till almost al dente.
2. Heat the pan with little olive oil and smoke it. Add prawns and fry briefly with garlic and chilli.
3. Add white wine.
4. Add hot pasta and either some of the water from which you cooked the pasta or some stock ( preferably shellfish)
5. Toss everything, season and serve with freshly chopped pasley and cheese.

PotTart

Sometimes when you have a craving, some psychologists suggest occupying yourself with something else and it will most probably be gone.

Well, I had an intense craving for chocolate the whole of this week and when the craving lasts that long you know it is not a craving. It is a need.

I drove down to Simon Johnson's providore and got myself some real chocolate. A 1kg pack of Valrhona Gran Couva and 200g bar of Manjari. After spending a hefty sum on the goods, a good recipe was in order.

I spent the afternoon wondering through all the dessert sections of my cookbooks and stumbled upon the perfect one.



The chocolate tart from a Ménage A Trois Des Chocolate (Trio of Chocolate) recipe in Serge Dansereau's (of Bather's Pavillion at Balmoral Beach) "The Bather's Pavillion, Menus and Recipes". An excellent book that never fails to enchant me with his ability to marry creativity and simplicity.

The story doesn't end here.

I very excitedly made the chocolate tart base, let it rest in the fridge, rolled it out, lined the tin, baked it and took it out of its tin too fast, it CRUMBLED to pieces. You see, baking requires patience and when you are excited, patience disappears.

I looked around.......
then decided to fill the base of my ramekins with the crumbled pieces and top it off with the ganache.

Thats what I did. I made a PotTart and it was heavenly.



The Recipe

Chocolate Tart Base
120g butter
115g sugar
pinch of salt
dash of vanilla extract
50g cocoa powder
120g plain flour

Ganache Filling
400ml cream
525g chocolate