Luumua ja mantelia - Plum and almond

 Eilen töiden jälkeen nappasin pussillisen luumuja kaupasta sen kummemmin miettimättä mitä niillä tekisin, mutta tänään tuli himo tehdä luumu-mantelipiirakkaa johon Englannissa asuessani rakastuin. Yleensä kun yhdistää kaksi rakastamaansa ruoka-ainesta on lopputuloskin tuplasti rakastettava, tässä tapauksessa ehkä vielä enemmän.Tätä tulen ihan varmasti tekemään uudelleen ja uudelleen ja uudelleen...  Ohjetta jouduin hetken etsiskelemään ja lopulta päädyin helpoimpaan ja kauneimpaan reseptiin joka löytyi blogista jota voin muutoinkin suuresti suositella, ihana Cannelle et Vanille. Noin hienoihin ruokakuviin haluan minäkin pyrkiä!

After work yesterday I grabbed a bag of plums from the shop without thinking, but today I had a epiphany - I needed to make a plum and almond tart! I fell in love with this dessert in England. This recipe combines two ingredients that I love so I double-love the recipe, if not a little more even. I'm sure I will make this again and again and again... After some searching I ended up with the easiest and prettiest recipe that I could find, at the wonderful blog Cannelle et Vanille. I recommend this blog to anyone, the photography is something to aspire to!

 Luumu-mantelipiirakka
 Ohjeesta saa yhden suuren piirakan tai kaksi pienempää, kuten minä tein. (Luumut ei siis ole jättiläislajiketta!)

150 gr kananmunan valkuaista
155 gr sokeria
70 gr vehnäjauhoja
65 gr mantelijauhoja
190 gr suolaamatonta voita, sulatettuna ja viilennettynä
Pussillinen luumuja

1. Vatkaa valkuaiset ja sokeri kevyeksi vaahdoksi.
2. Lisää vehnäjauho ja mantelijauho, sekoita.
3. Lisää sulatettu voi varovasti kunnes taikina on tasaista.
(4. Alkuperäisessä ohjeessa kehoitettiin pitämään taikina yön yli jääkaapissa, minä kärsimättömänä laitoin piirakan uuniin noin tunnin jäähdyttelyn jälkeen ja hyvää tuli!)
5. Levitä taikina voideltuun piirakkavuokaan, täytä noin puoliväliin. Asettele puolikkaat luumut taikinan pinnalle leikkauspinta ylöspäin, upota
6. Paista 175 asteessa noin puoli tuntia kunnes taikinan pinta on kullanruskea ja reunat mukavan rapeat. Tarjoile vaniljajäätelön tai -kastikkeen kanssa

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Plum and Almond Tart
This recipe will make one large or two small tarts (I made small ones, those are not giant plums!)

150 gr egg whites
155 gr sugar
70 gr flour
65 gr almond flour
190 gr unsalted butter, melted and cooled

1. Whisk together the egg whites and the sugar into a light foam. 
2. Add the flour and almond flour, mix. 
3. Slowly add the melted and cooled butter until the batter is smooth. 
(4. According to the original recipe you should leave the batter in the fridge overnight. I'm a rebel (And impatient) so I didn't and think my tart was still fantastic. Up to you what you decide to do!)
5. Spread the batter onto a buttered tart pan. Fill the pan about half way up. Top with the halved plums.
6. Bake in 175 degrees celsius in the oven  for about 30 minutes until the pastry is golden brown and nice and crisp on the sides. Serve with vanilla ice cream or custard.

Death by chocolate cake

Ehem,here is where I say how busy it's been and blah blah blah, except I'm not gonna. Let's just accept that this blog is not updated daily, not weekly, sometimes not even monthly. Such is life.

Anyhows, here finally comes the recipe for the amazingly rich dark chocolate cake, originally found at Suolaa & hunajaa . I have made it twice, for my other half's birthday (/our engagement party) and for my sister-in-law's birthday. Same cake, different fillings. Many of the pics on this post were taken by Kate, thank you!!

Chocolateeee...

 Death by chocolate cake

Sponge

200g good quality dark chocolate

6 eggs (separate whites and yolks)

2 dl caster sugar

120g almond flour

50g butter

0,5 dl flour

1. Melt the chocolate and butter over boiling water.

2. Whip egg yolks and sugar until fluffy. Whip the egg whites separately into a firm foam.

3. Add the melted chocolate-butter into the egg yolks.

4. Add flour and almond flour.

5. Gently mix in the egg whites.

6. Bake for about 30 minutes in 180 degrees celsius. The time depends on the oven, just be careful not to overcook to avoid the cake from being too dry. 

7. Allow to cool before filling.

Filling

The original recipe had a chocolate mousse filling but I thought that would have been a bit too much, because the cake is also iced with chocolate. I made a fresh lemony filling instead.

1/2 jar of Lemon curd

1 tub of mascarpone

1. Mix the lemon curd with the mascarpone until smooth. Taste and and add lemon curd to desired amount. I prefer plenty of lemon! Next time I would like to make my own lemon curd so I could make it more sour.

2. Cut the sponge and fill. Moistening the sponge first with juice or booze optional. I think I splashed some Coientreau on it...

Chocolate icing

180g dark chocolate

1,5 dl cream

1. Melt the chocolate over boiling water.

2. Bring the cream to boil.

3. Mix the cream to the chocolate until smooth.

4. Spread on the cake and allow to set. Decorate to taste. I had candied violet petals that we found in a little epicerie in Paris, as well as chocolates.

The other version had lemon quark as the filling and groundcherries on top.

Lemon....

Idiotic "I made a cake" grin!

Can I have some cake please? with puppy eyes

May you bake this cake and eat it too! I know I will make this one many more times...

Pomegranate & Blood Orange

Cut segments out of a couple of blood oranges, add a little grenadine for colour, place at the bottom of a bowl.
Mix some rich Turkish yoghurt with crushed macadamia nuts and grated white chocolate, season with cinnamon and a little brown sugar. Place on top of the oranges.
Chop a pomegranate in half and remove the seeds. Spoon a generous amount on top of the yoghurt and finish with a little more white chocolate. Voilà!

Banoffeeeeeeee!

It was 2004, London, I fell in love.
With Banoffee pie. It was a revelation. From then on, I'd order it almost whenever it was on the menu. Crispy pastry, sweet bananas, gooey toffee and cream, mmmmmmm.

It was about time now I learned to make it! It's pretty easy, only boiling the condensed milk for three hours is a bit boring, so it's good to plan ahead when making this. I don't probably have to mention that this is not for the calorie-consious of us. I like to believe Nigella when she says that it's all about moderation, also when it comes to moderation, so you have to be immoderate sometimes. There is some wisdom in her sayings every now and then.

Banoffee pie (from Food for thought cookbook)

 Pastry:
50g caster sugar
100g butter
150g white flour

Toppings:
400ml tin of sweet condensed milk, boiled in the tin for 2-2,5 hours
4 bananas, sliced and mixed with lemon juice to avoid browning
285ml cream

piece of dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180c.

2. Cream the sugar and butter together in a bowl until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour until the mixture forms a ball. Press the mix into a greased 20 cm spring-form tin or something similar.
I cheated with shop bought oat pastry. Nigella would approve.

3. Prick allover witha fork to prevent the pastry from rising. Bake for 25 mins until golden. Cool down. Remove sides if you used a spring form tin.

4. Open the tin of condenced milk and spread on the pastry.

 5. Place the bananas on top of the toffee.

6. Whisk the cream and spread over the bananas. Grate dark chocolate on top.

Enjoy without guilt. You deserve it.