Dessert Last Night, originally uploaded by Lameen.
Wow ! it's been a while since I blogged and my excuse is that I'm so worn out from running and baking at the cafe, looking at computers other than to pay bills, makes me exhausted. So, here's my comeback, a really simple recipe.
4 holes in a giant muffin tray (I'm really into using what is at hand and I must confess this is a Jamie Oliver inspiration) BUT, if you must, you can use 4 mini baking tins or in England, we call them pudding moulds.
It should look watery and not like cake dough - if it does, add some more egg, why ? Frangipani needs to be light and almost melt in your mouth - it shouldn't be like cake dough.
OK ! to the filo - the really tricky part, but prep yourself first by melting the 20g unsalted butter and using a little to grease the moulds or muffin tray.
Take out the filo pastry and cut into four equal parts. Using a pastry brush, brush each sheet - you should have about four sheets for each four squares - hope that makes sense ? Basically, because filo is so delicate and light, it will burn very quickly and you need butter to stop that quick burning process in the oven.
Line your moulds or muffin holes with the filo pastry like its a linen cloth, but leave a gap in the middle. Once this is done, place equal portions of the frangipani mixture inside and top with the plum halves, cut side down - see pic for what I mean.
Bake in the oven for about 8-10 minutes on 170C, by which time the filo sheets should be golden brown and flaky. Take out and leave in the moulds for about another 5 minutes, so that the frangipani mixture inside continues to cook a little.
Et Voila, don't they look nice and definitely an "impress your friends" recipe. Serve with ice cream and if possible each them with your hands, because the filo will be extremely flaky.
What is Normal Cake ?
What is Normal Cake ?, originally uploaded by Lameen.
What is normal may not be normal, what is normal is normal.... not sure if the cold is playing with my mind, but one reason for missing my self-imposed deadline of blogging on a weekly basis is that everytime I sit down in my cold dining room to blog, I run away because of the cold. So, now I've got woolie hat and scarf to sit down and write this. So, what is normal cake ? It's probably the type of cake they get you to bake when you start baking school after getting familiar with eggs, flour and sugar. It's probably the type of cake you first tasted. It's probably the cake they use to teach you icing skills. The list can go on, but it's just normal and by that I mean it's just eggs, sugar, flour and butter - no fancy smancy stuff. For me, it reminds me off my childhood - the unused sugary batter always brought delight to me and my siblings. It also falls into my concept of "maximum taste", where every bite should resemble the next bite, yum.
Then add the egg yolks and mix well until meshed in with the butter-sugar combination.
A note before we proceed - I separate the eggs and sift the flour to give the cake a lighter texture, if not the cake would be similar to a pound cake and more dense in texture.
Okay, let's carry on. If you do have a lemon, you can squeeze some into the cake mixture.
Pour the cake mixture into a well greased 20cm spring form baking tin and bake for about 30 minutes on 170C. Check the centre of the cake with a cake tester and if it coms out dryish, then it's ready. Let cool in the tin and then unmould and delight your taste buds.
Once completely cool, sprinkle with icing sugar as in the pic above.