Je Mange la Ville » Dessert

FFwD: Quartre-Quarts

mlb — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 05:29:34 +0000

Oh, hello French Fridays with Dorie! Nice to see you again. This week: it’s a cake. Yay! I Like Cake! Anyway, this is sort of like a French Poundcake, called quartre-quarts. Sounds good to me. Let’s go have some cake.

Notes:

1. My springform pan was a little smaller in diameter (but deeper) than what was suggested in the recipe. Because of this, mine took longer to bake — about 45 minutes. And I got that split open top that sometimes happens on cakes. That’s okay. Did not bother me at all!
2. I kind of mixed it up and used 2 tsp dark rum and 1 tsp vanilla. Maybe it was the rum, but it kind of reminded me of those alcohol-soaked cakes you can find around the holidays.
3. I loved the crackled brown sugar on top.
4. The cake is all gone now (it didn’t take long). Very dense, pretty moist and delicious!
5. Pictures of egg yolks, egg whites and flour is not too exciting so there aren’t as many pictures this week.
6. I will definitely be making this one again.

A link to all the lovely quartre-quarts this week.

Okay, this one is kind of exciting. Whipped egg whites.

Egg whites folded into the cake base.

About to go into the oven.

Finally! Done! When can we eat it? How about now? Now?

Lime Glazed Angel Food Cake with Pistachios

mlb — Sun, 09 Oct 2011 22:34:56 +0000

I recently purchased an angel food cake pan and had to decide on its maiden voyage. This was it and hey, I think it was a huge success. The lime and pistachios were a great combination and the cake was nice and spongy and not at all too sweet. I’m kind of embarrassed to admit there’s only about half of it left. After one day. Hmm, well, it is very good, and also very photogenic so there’s a number of photos!

I think I’ve been kind of tentative to make an angel food cake due to all the atrocities that you-know-who has committed against the store bought variety. Well, I say LET’S TAKE BACK THE ANGEL FOOD CAKE!!

Lime Glazed Angel Food Cake with Pistachios
Adapted from a recipe in Bon Appetit Magazine. 10 to 12 servings.
Cake
1 cup cake flour
1 1/2 cups superfine sugar, divided
1/4 tsp salt
10 large egg whites, room temperature
2 tsp finely grated lime zest (2 limes will probably give you 3 tsp lime zest)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cream of tartar
Lime Syrup & Lime Glaze
1/2 cup sugar
4 tbsp fresh lime juice, divided
1 tsp lime zest
1/2 cup unsalted raw pistachios
1/2 cup powdered sugar
Special Equipment
10-inch-diameter angel food cake pan with 4-inch-high sides and removable bottom

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 350°F and finely chop your pistachios in a food processor.

Sift flour, 1/2 cup superfine sugar, and salt into medium bowl; repeat sifting 3 times. Using electric mixer, beat egg whites, lime peel, and vanilla on medium speed in large bowl until frothy (mixture may turn neon green but color will change when remaining ingredients are added).

Add cream of tartar; increase speed to high and beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add remaining 1 cup sugar, 2 tablespoons at a time, beating until stiff peaks form.

Sprinkle 1/3 of flour mixture over whites and gently fold in until incorporated. Fold in remaining flour mixture in 2 more additions just until incorporated. Transfer to ungreased 10-inch angel food cake pan with 4-inch-high sides and removable bottom (do not use nonstick pan); smooth top.

Bake cake until pale golden and tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 38 minutes.

Immediately invert cake onto work surface if pan has feet, or invert center tube of pan onto neck of bottle or over a raised cake rack and cool cake completely.

Using long thin knife, cut around cake sides and center tube to loosen. Lift out center tube with cake still attached; run knife between cake and bottom of pan to loosen. Invert cake onto rack, then turn cake over, rounded side up. Set rack with cake atop rimmed baking sheet.

Combine sugar and 3 tablespoons lime juice in small saucepan; stir over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Brush syrup all over top and sides of cake. Immediately press pistachios onto top and sides of cake, pressing to adhere.

Stir powdered sugar with remaining 1 tablespoon lime juice and 1 teaspoon lime zest in small bowl until smooth. Drizzle glaze over top of cake. Let stand until glaze sets, about 10 minutes.

Transfer cake to platter; cut into wedges and serve.

Cherry Amaretto Popsicles

mlb — Mon, 18 Jul 2011 04:29:59 +0000

The other week I picked up some sweet cherries from the Montavilla Farmers Market and I wasn’t quite sure what to do with them. Then, as luck would have it, I remembered I had just re-found my popsicle molds (they were in a cabinet, way in back, up-up-way-up above the refrigerator). Seeing that it is Summer, I put the two together and wound up with this delicious treat.

A mountain of cherries at Montavilla Market.

You could also probably use honey instead of the granulated sugar here. I would have tried that but I really didn’t want the flavor to compete with the amaretto and the cherries.

Cherry Amaretto Yogurt Popsicles
2 cups low fat yogurt
1/3 cup granulated sugar (or to taste)
2 1/2 tbsp amaretto liqueur
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
pinch of salt
about 12 -15 sweet cherries, pitted and quartered (or to taste, you could certainly use a few more)

Whisk the sugar, amaretto and vanilla into the yogurt. Add the pitted, quartered cherries and pinch of salt. Stir to combine. You could also puree the cherries into the yogurt mixture, but I liked the way the chunks of cherries looked in the popsicles.

Fill six popsicle molds. Tap each on the counter top, after it’s filled to get rid of any little air bubbles. Put the lids/sticks/whatever in the molds. You may have a little of the yogurt mixture leftover. Just get a spoon…it’s delicious.

Freeze the popsicles overnight. Run popsicles under hot water (or dip into a bowl of hot water) to loosen the mold enough to pull them out. Enjoy!

FFwD: Roasted Rhubarb

mlb — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 10:26:29 +0000

Oh, hello Friday! It’s time for another French Fridays with Dorie. This week it’s Roasted Rhubarb. Super simple, but very delicious. We had ours on the side of a lemon curd tart (previous blog post).

Notes:

1. I used a California lemon for my lemon zest!
2. I added some thyme leaves to the rhubarb because…um, why not!?
3. It was very good. Maybe next time we’ll have it warm from the oven over ice cream.
4. I am really enjoying The Book of Mormon cast recording.

See everyone’s posts here. And okay, picture time!

Chopped rhubarb and lemon zest.

Tossed with sugar and thyme leaves.

After initial baking, foiled removed.

On the side of lemon curd tart. Wonderful!

French Lemon Curd and Olive Oil Tart

mlb — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 00:56:06 +0000

We recently ventured down to California for a birthday celebration and ended up coming home with a bag of lemons from jwa’s aunt (from a tree in her yard, not just from a grocery store or anything!) These are really beautiful, bright yellow lemons that I couldn’t wait to use.

So, here’s something that I did with three of them this past weekend. I have about five left that I am contemplating just using for lemon drops, but I should probably try to find more non-drink recipes to try. Expect at least another lemon recipe here soon.

This one incorporates olive oil into the lemon curd and almonds in the crust. If you make your own crust (which I normally do, but didn’t here), add ground almonds into the dough. The original recipe for the tart shell is at epicurious.com. Or you can just use your favorite tart/pie dough recipe. If you want to use a store bought crust, press slivered almonds into the crust before you bake it. I also incorporated thyme sprigs and flowers into a decoration here, mainly because we have a big pot of thyme growing on the front porch.

Oh and here’s a non-lemon related thing. I recently changed jobs and now instead of driving down Powell and across the Ross Island Bridge (and hitting Little T’s along the way), I head east on Division. I know there’s a Stumptown right there but I’ve been stopping at Le Petite Provence on some mornings for a coffee fix. Today, there were French people behind me in line discussing what they were going to get. It was a flurry of “caffes” and “du …somethings” and lots of spoken French that I couldn’t quite make out. Anyway, it was nice. It had that certain…je ne sais quois.

French Lemon Curd and Olive Oil Tart
Recipe adapted from Les Petits Farcis, in Nice, France.
Pre made tart dough
2 tbsp slivered almonds
3-4 large lemons
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp cornstarch
2 whole large eggs plus 2 large yolks
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
2 tbsp fruity olive oil
pinch of kosher salt
4 sprigs thyme (Optional)

Preheat oven to 425°F with rack in middle. Press tart dough evenly over bottom and up the side of a 9-inch tart pan. Press almonds into the tart dough. Chill until firm, about 30 minutes.

Line tart shell with foil or parchment paper and add pie beads or dried beans to keep the crust down. Bake about 10 minutes, then remove beads and lining. Prick a few holes in the crust to keep it from poofing without the beads. Continue to bake 3-5 more minutes until shell and almonds are golden brown all over.

Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 30 minutes.

Make curd:
After the shell has cooled, grate enough zest from lemons to measure 1 tablespoon, then squeeze 3/4 cup juice from lemons.

Whisk together lemon zest and juice, sugar, cornstarch, whole eggs, and yolks in a medium saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly. Lightly boil, whisking, 2 more minutes.

Remove from heat and whisk in a tiny pinch of salt, butter and olive oil until smooth.

Assemble tart:
Pour lemon curd into cooled shell and add thyme sprigs to the top in an aesthetically pleasing design. Chill until set, at least 2 hours.

Divide into pieces and serve. You should get 6-8 slices. Or two big pieces…whatever works best for you.