This cake, whose name is Dotted Swiss Dream and upon which you must imagine some lit candles fetchingly deployed among the marzipan roses, is for ThirdCat -- who has given me an excuse to write about the book from which it's taken, which is one of my all-time favourite books on the entire planet.
The recipe for Dotted Swiss Dream takes up three pages and involves some really majer esoterica, like wooden supports, framboise, non-bendable plastic drinking straws and something called Lemon Curd Mousseline, which is, says Ms Beranbaum, 'a thrilling buttercream to prepare because it starts off looking thin and lumpy and, about three-quarters of the way through, starts to emulsify into a luxurious cream.'
You can tell this woman is a professional cook from the way she is able to use the words 'thrilling' and 'emulsify' in the same sentence.
Copyright laws forbid me to give the recipe here for her Gingerbread cake, but let me just say that it contains golden syrup, dark brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger and marmalade, and that the method by which it is rendered sticky, moist and immortal is that you bake it first and then brush or baste it while it's still hot with a syrup made out of sugar, unsalted butter and lemon juice and then wrap it in Glad-Wrap till it's cool.
My personal variation, ginger and lime being so elegant a couple, is to use lime juice in the syrup instead of lemon. It tastes even better if you grew the limes yourself.
14 comments:
Oh my goodness, I have just drooled all over the in-laws keyboard. Can you e-mail the recipe?
Oh, wow. Thank you, PC. Really. And I must say, the glow from the fetchingly deployed candles does reflect off my skin in a most flattering way.
And what a book. Even her name is sumptuous.
See you tomorrow at the cars?
Oh, absolutely. Rev-head is my middle name.
What a coincidence! It's my middle name too, only mine is spelt Rev-Head.
Third Rev-Head Cat? First Person Rev-Head Third Cat?
Glad you got that lovely necklace back. I once left the little gold St Christopher that my folks gave me in 1987 on the cheap plywood bedside table when checking out of my room in London House, Mecklenburgh Square, and was halfway down the escalator at the tube station on my way to Heathrow before I remembered it.
Any recipe that has luxurious cream in the description has got to be placed on top of Mt. Everest to be out of my reach. Looking is good, eating it would be better.
I've never understood all the fuss about cakes. I'd much rather an onion, or pickle or salami or lemon or garlic or capers or ....
Onsecond thoughts I just leeerve lemon lime tarts.
In this case, FXH, it was more about the symbolism, as you'll see if you follow the link back to ThirdCat's place.
Besides, it's not so much about eating them, it's more about making them.
On the other hand again, one of my favourite jokes goes like this:
FIRST GIRL: Which would you rather have, sex or cake?
SECOND GIRL [THINKS ABOUT IT FOR A LONG TIME]: Ummm .... what kind of cake?
the 'other' cake recipe might be a bit like this one.
http://www.luzianne.com/recipe_details.cfm?RecipeID=93&
I'm with FXH - give me a green marinated olive or a bowl of kim chee over a piece of cake any day. However, I agree, that is a fantastic book. We also have her Bread Bible, which has made us very happy over the years.
Anon, I had a look at that link (thanks v much on behalf of all who would like to know more about the gingerbread cake) and, without actually checking up (too lazy to go and get the book again), I'm fairly sure it's the same. Very close, anyway.
I feel the same way about sweet and savoury as I do about cats and dogs -- it's all good.
I can't eat carrot cake, I don't have a license, it takes six months study in Brunswick Street, and I haven't the time.
Oh, RH, you and your licences.
Nice cropping of the sumptuous photo of said volume, PC. Also what they all said about the wunnerful cakes.
I have reached a point in life where I will become a very big loser very quickly if I stray past tiny pieces of cake. However I have enjoyed many large slices in my time.
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