My Dream Kitchen......

You know those girls who always dreamt of their wedding day, yeah, you know the ones, the ones that have those scrapbooks under their bed; full of dresses, hairstyles old chapels, garden marque's and floral arrangements.

Well, I had a kitchen scrapbook.....uh, 'have'.

I found it the other day tucked safely behind a wardrobe in the spare bedroom. Flicking through it brought home all my 'childhood' dreams of a one day getting the 'rustic-french-modern-American-chic-country-industrial-bohemian-medieval-style' kitchen that I had always dreamed of.....(lets hope I can have a few different shots at this or that is going to be one confusing cooking space)

Inspired, I thought whilst I can't put my crummy old scrapbook onto the blog, (yet) I could go hunting for some new picture's and start the 'on-line leg' of my scrapbook dreams.....

Enjoy!

Communal Baking #1

Last week a friend and I were casually talking about macaroons, the difficulty in finding good ones and the even greater difficulty in making them. I suggested Alexander’s macaroons to her noting that ever since I introduced these macaroons to my mum, she has been madly baking the tiny goodies in an attempt to find the secret to the perfect macaroon.  Really, they have taken over her life, when you think about it, they are actually quite dangerous! We also decided it might be fun to attempt to make some of our own and see how we would go with them.

A few days later I was flicking through a recipe magazine and, there before was a shiny new recipe for…yep, you guessed it! I forwarded the recipe to said friend (aka Lena) who happened, at that very moment, to be standing in front of a three tear masterpiece of a cake covered in non other but macaroons! 

At this stage I need to point out there is something very odd about my life style that, while most of the time brings me great joy, it also on occasion, makes me kick myself in utter frustration.

I don’t have a TV.

I haven’t had one for over four years.

It’s a story i'll save for another time, but what I will say is this; I don’t watch master chef so I can say this with a completely clean conscience, I came upon a fascination of macaroons entirely of my own accord. I can also say, because I don’t have a TV that I had no idea there was a food festival in town and therefore completely missed, not only the entire festival, (Kick!)  but the enormous macaroon cake tower!

(KICK…..KICK…..KICK!)

However my heart was soothed when dear Lena suggested we come together to try and attempt such a cake.

A date was set and ..."oh Bev is coming too”, great! I love communal baking! Ingredients were divvied up, I was to bring the macaroon requirements, Lena the cake and Bev, lunch. Then Kate caught wind and well, what is cake baking without Kate? She brought her much needed cake icing tool belt. Then Stef came with Bev and there we were, five of us, all crammed into my little apartment sized kitchen. Communal baking indeed!

It wasn’t like there wasn’t enough to do. I had brought some macaroon pre-mix packets that I was assured by my mother would be a great back up if the recipe I found did not pan out. So that was two batches of macaroons on the 'to-bake' list.  Then Lena (as only Lena would) decided, 'what’s one cake without having another cake to eat whilst we were making the main cake?' So there was another ‘side cake’ to bake as well. So while we settled at a two tear cake we had the equivalent of three cakes (two butter, one citrus) and two large batches of macaroons (almond chocolate and lavender).  Thankfully I also have a decent sized dinning room table which served us very well.

You know it’s times like these success doesn’t really matter. I myself, am never one to shy away from kitchen failure. The macaroons, (both batches) turned out more like chewy biscotti and the two-tear cake was unfortunately more like a two-tear pancake stack (someone, I sharn’t blame anyone by name, forgot that doubling the recipe might be a better option than splitting the one quantity between two cake tins. Although in the midst of the pandemonium that was my kitchen, I’m not surprised such a mistake was made). However the citrus cake was quite the success and was muchly enjoyed at lunch with ‘Rose and vanilla tea’ (thank you Lena for getting us all hooked)

The macaroons could be mastered another time….(and will be) and cakes can be re-baked with quantities doubled. But somewhere in the chaos, there was a pleasant satisfaction. May be it’s just me and my love of homes that a bustle with noise and colour and laughter and for a moment that’s what my quiet little nook had been transformed into. A little more than perhaps my fellow house mates were up for though, my husband and the couple currently residing with us started out in downstairs community, but one by one retreated to the safety of the bedrooms upstairs. Sorry guys.

There is one more thing. Apparently communal baking is an exciting thing to people. I couldn’t believe how quickly what I thought was two of us, turned into five of us, on top of which I was making a very direct effort not to mention to anyone else because the idea of it lit up people eyes and I didn’t want to feel obliged to invite more. I felt it could have easily turned into eight or nine the way we were picking up people.

Hmmmm.

Gives one ideas doesn’t it.

Till next time..

The day of the cake monster and the monster cake!

So, because I don’t have a job I can make these wonderful plans with my time, like take an entire day out to build an amazing cake! But because I’m still human, sometimes these great plans don’t work out so well……

Allow me to explain.

Once upon a time there was a girl, (that’s me) who was watching a DVD, (food safari) and she was witness to the most beautiful cake in all the land! This cake, it turned out was a German Prince and all the other cakes admired him greatly, for he was both rich and handsome. That night this girl, lay her head upon her pillow and believe it or not, she dreamed all night long about the German cake Prince.

(Really and truly, I did go to bed and dream about this cake…..It actually permeated my dreams!)

His name was the ‘Black Forrest cake’.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am no stranger to the black forest cake, or at least the version of it sold in our cheap bakeries around town. What I have not met is the R E A L black forest cake. I’ve heard the talk around town, I’ve heard rumors that black forest cakes were something much greater and that they were even something to be revered! But when my eyes finally fell upon such greatness, I confess, I quivered.

Therefore, with now enough time on my jobless hands, two flat whites, a boxful of ingredients and the dedication of my dear friend Kate for the entire ordeal……we began….

It started off a pretty easy day, make butter cake, bake, cool, make chocolate cake, bake, cool. There was a lot of standing around, DVD watching, pots of tea, amazing girly chats and cider guzzling. Things were looking up.

But then the conversation turned slightly.

 There was talk about how the recipe I had acquired off the Internet, perhaps lacked a few minor details (like whether the flour was of the raising sort or the non raising sort). There was also the fact that I had left my electric beater at the church kitchen and then lent out my car for the day leaving us with no way to go retrieve it! There were eggs to beat stiff, whipping cream to whip, butter to cream with sugar and the two of us staring dismally at a whisk. There was the fact that the recipe asked us to make a syrup but then forgot to tell us what to do with it once completed.  A lot of confusion about being asked to beat ‘egg yolks till stiff’ lead to a complete slandering session of ‘food safari’ and it’s clearly incompetent host. Then to top it off, I missed the small note at the bottom of the recipe requiring me to buy more whipped cream and some kirsch! A black forest cake with no alcohol?! Why that isn’t a black forest cake at all!

I am a 'Pollyanna'. I will soldier on despite almost anything that is thrown at me during the journey.  I will soldier on despite the fact that I don't have half the information needed and despite the missing ingredients. I will soldier on despite the fact this cake is going to insult every German baker and black forest cake lover that has ever, and ever will live on this earth.

However……

There is a point when one must admit they have been defeated.

I failed. There is no point dancing around the fact that the cake was a complete disaster.

We began to realize this halfway through the ‘construction’. Things started well, as indeed they had at the dawn of the day, but soon we realized that the mousse perhaps was a little runny. The ganache was far too firm and the layering? Well, how can I say this? It just looked…..’off’.

As the construction went on we tried desperately to rescue the poor cakes physical appearance, but with each new attempt we somehow made it worse, till finally we fell on the floor in tears of hysterical laughter at the monstrosity that we had created.

I, the cake monster, had in return created a monster cake.

“Oh c’mon”, you might say, “how could it be that bad?”

Well, I will let the cake speak for itself:....

Perhaps this would have been a better picture huh?

Okay, okay, let me make this worse by putting it in comparison. Here’s what should of happened:

Point made? I think so.

You know what was really disappointing? The saddest truth of all was that it didn’t even taste that good. We shared a slice between us and it was completely forgettable.

Boring! Dead boring monster cake!

The only good thing that came of this whole adventure was that for all our slandering, it was the mousse recipe, the one that asked us to 'beat the egg yolks till stiff', actually turned out to be the best mousse recipe I have ever come across. We even relented all our slander it was so good. Therefore this part of the recipe I will pass on to you. Enjoy.

Better luck next time cake monster.

Monster Cake Mousse:

• 4 egg yolks
• 200g caster sugar
• 100ml whole milk
• 150g top quality dark chocolate
• generous pinch of salt
• 200ml whipping cream

Beat egg yolks with sugar till stiff (ish).
Meanwhile, gently warm milk in a saucepan. Remove it from heat and stir in beaten egg yolks, then return to a medium heat and cook for a further 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. (Do not let it boil!)

Finely chop the chocolate and place in a mixing bowl. Pour over warm milk and stir till all the chocolate melts. Add salt then leave to cool.

Whip cream till soft peaks form, then fold the cream into cooled chocolate mixture.

Refrigerate till needed.

I haven't forgotten

Things have changed dearest readers.

Too many times I have embarked on ideas that go no where, that get forgotten or pushed to the end of my endless 'to-do' list. This, is not one of those things, at least not yet ;)
I know it's been awhile, but I have forgotten. In fact tomorrow I will enlist the help of my fellow cake-loving friend Kate to make a little something that I hope will make up for my absence.
And, whilst I can't go into to many details as to 'why' my absence, I can say this......

I quit my job!

I loved being a painter, truly I did, but it's time to move on. I think I need to do something a little more......creative.

What? well, I don't know that just yet. It's not like I'm without options, (or ideas...no, never out of those! Heck, every morning I wake up I have a new one of those little suckers) it's just figuring out the next move.

So, raise your glasses ladies and gentlemen, "Here's to the future!".

(See you in the next couple of days with a full run down of tomorrows little experiement too!)

Cheers!