Category Archives: Cakes

Raspberry Financiers

raspberry financiersMOIST, GOLDEN FRENCH ALMOND CAKES WITH RASPBERRY COULIS AND POWDERED SUGAR.

These little guys are like cupcakes, but even better! They are traditionally made as rectangular bars to resemble bars of gold, hence the name financier. And although Boo and I have managed to collect molds of all sorts of shapes, we don’t expect everyone else to have a rectangular 6 x 3 cm mold at arm’s reach, so we decided to use a regular cupcake tin. Plus, I think they’re cuter round. Geometric differences aside, these moist, spongy almond cakes are absolutely satisfying, incredibly easy to make, and great with a cup of tea or coffee.

When you’re making these, you may want to mix gently to keep from incorporating too much air into the batter, otherwise they will deflate as they cool after baking. After breaking up the egg whites with a fork, I used a rubber spatula to mix the batter together, which worked out just fine. But other than for aesthetic reasons, this step can be optional.

For our financiers, we used raspberry, but almost any fruit with a hint of tartness – like blueberries, peach, or even passionfruit – would pair beautifully with the richness of the cake. Be warned: they’re addictive. Thank goodness this recipe only makes 10! – Pea

raspberry financiers 2

Yield: 10 financiers
Difficulty: 1 star

Oven: 400 F, 6 minutes; 350 F, 14 minutes

Preparation:

  • Grease 10 small cupcake molds, or line with cupcake wrappers.

Almond cake:

  • 1 stick butter
  • 4 egg whites
  • Dry ingredients
    0.5 c sugar
    1 c almond meal
    0.33 c flour
  • 2 tb honey
  • 10 raspberries
  1. In a small saucepan, heat and stir butter over medium heat until browned. Pour into a bowl, and set aside to cool slightly.
  2. In a mixing bowl, lightly stir together dry ingredients, egg whites, and honey until homogenized.
  3. Gently stir butter into egg mixture.
  4. Divide batter into prepared molds or cupcake wrappers. Place a raspberry in the center of each with the cavity facing up.
  5. Bake at 400 F, 6 minutes. Lower to 350 F, and bake ~14 minutes until cooked through. Meanwhile, make raspberry coulis.

Raspberry coulis:

  • 3 oz raspberries
  • 1.5 tb sugar
  • 2 tb water
  1. In a small saucepan, stir and mash ingredients over medium heat until thickened, 10-12 minutes.
  2. Press through a strainer, and discard seeds.
  3. Using a small round tip, pipe coulis into the centers of financiers.
  4. Serve warm.

*recipe inspired by Bruno Albouze

Black Forest Cake

black forest cakeRICH COCOA ESPRESSO SPONGE CAKE BRUSHED WITH CHERRY SYRUP. KIRSCHWASSER WHIPPED CREAM FROSTING AND SWEET DARK CHERRIES. GARNISHED WITH DARK CHOCOLATE SHAVINGS AND MARASCHINO CHERRIES.

When Pea and Boo first moved in together, Pea not-so-subtly hinted at making a Black Forest Cake. As cherry season came that year, Pea and Boo found piles upon piles of fresh, dark red cherries on display at the local farmer’s market, and they decided the time had come. It was one of the first cake projects they took on together, and it was time to revisit the old recipe to give it a few delectable tweaks in time for our friends’ birthday surprises!

One of the greatest things about sponge cakes is their ability to soak up delicious syrups and juices, intensifying the flavor of the cake. The Black Forest Cake, layered with a rich cocoa sponge soaked in cherry and liqueur syrup, is a brilliant example. Kirschwasser (cherry liqueur) is signature, and (fun fact) required by law in Germany, but you can put as much or as little as you want. This recipe uses about one shot for the entire cake, but no one’s stopping you! – Boo

Servings: 8-12 (dessert portions)

Difficulty: 3 star

Oven: 350 F, 25-35 minutes

NOTES:

  • May use fresh and/or canned cherries. If using canned cherries, reserve syrup as a soak for the sponge cake.

Preparation:

  • Line a 8.5-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter the interior.

Cocoa genoise:

  • 4 eggs, separated
  • 0.66 c sugar
  • 1 ts vanilla
  • Dry ingredients, sifted
    0.5 c flour
    0.33 c cocoa powder
    2 tb instant espresso powder
    0.5 ts salt
  • 3 tb butter, melted
  1. Over a bain-marie, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to a firm, glossy meringue, ~4-6 minutes.
  2. Beat egg yolks and vanilla into meringue until just combined.
  3. Fold dry ingredients into egg mixture by thirds.
  4. Stir a large spoonful of batter into melted butter to lighten. Fold butter gently into remaining batter.
  5. Bake in prepared springform pan until cooked through, 25-35 minutes.
  6. Remove from oven, and invert springform pan over a cooling rack until cooled to room temperature.
  7. Remove cake from pan. Set aside until assembly.

Macerated cherries:

  • 1.5 lb cherries, pitted (including 1 can of cherries with syrup)
  • 2 tb kirschwasser
  1. In a bowl, toss cherries with kirschwasser. Cover and refrigerate until assembly.
  2. Stir remaining ingredients together until sugar dissolves. Refrigerate to cool.

Whipped cream frosting:

  • 3 c heavy cream
  • 1.5 ts vanilla
  • 1.5 ts kirschwasser
  • 0.25 c sugar
  1. Beat cream to soft peaks. Add remaining ingredients, and beat to stiff peaks.

Assembly:

  • Garnish
    dark chocolate curls, shavings, or bark
    cherries
    whipped cream
  1. Reserve several cherries for garnish.
  2. Divide the cake into three disks.
    Small pea tip: Use the disk with the flattest surface as the top layer.
  3. Place the bottom cake layer on assembly surface. Soak with one-third of the cherry syrup, and top with one-quarter of the whipped cream and half of the cherries.
  4. Place the middle cake layer on the cherries, and repeat with cherry syrup soak, whipped cream frosting, and cherries.
  5. Place the top cake layer. Spread frosting evenly over entire cake, and reserve ~0.5 c frosting for garnish.
  6. Decorate cake with chocolate, whipped cream, and cherries.
  7. Refrigerate until chilled, and serve.

black forest cake 2

 

Berries Mousseline Cake

berries mousseline cake 2FOUR-BERRY MIXTURE TOSSED WITH FLUFFED VANILLA BEAN PASTRY CREAM. LAYERED WITH A RICH, SWEET BUTTER CAKE BRUSHED WITH RASPBERRY COULIS. DECORATED WITH SUGAR-COATED BERRIES.

And now, BooPeaKitchen will launch its newest guide on how not to organize surprise parties. Last year, when Boo tried to organize a surprise birthday party for me it wasn’t very successful — let’s just say that repeatedly and unpromptedly asking birthday-girl-to-be to not make plans on the weekend of her birthday is not the best approach. I have to admit though, I didn’t fare much better either. Leading up to Boo’s birthday, I arranged for him to go on a mid-summer hiking trip, giving myself the perfect excuse to stay home with the kitchen to myself and ample time to work on his cake. In my mind, my plans ended with storing the cake at a friend’s place and having her bring it the next day to Boo’s astonishment, but they were foiled by an unexpected afternoon nap. I woke up to Boo’s return, and realizing the finished cake was still in the fridge, I immediately fessed up to the whole plan…

Resting on this boast-worthy surprise party streak of zero, Boo and I decided to recruit our friends to set up a double surprise which upped our success rate to 1/4! Well, at least we have two cakes to show for it: this Berries Mousseline Cake and a Black Forest Cake coming up soon! – Pea

Servings: 8-12 (dessert portions)
Difficulty: 3 star

Oven: 350 F, 40-50 minutes

Preparation:

  • Line an 8.5-inch springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the interior.

Butter cake:

  • 1 stick butter
  • 0.5 c sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 ts vanilla extract
  • Dry ingredients
    1.66 c flour
    2 ts baking powder
    0.5 ts salt
  • 0.5 c milk
  • Meringue
    2 egg whites
    0.5 c sugar
  1. Cream butter with sugar. Beat in yolks and vanilla.
  2. Alternately beat dry ingredients and milk into butter mixture in 5 additions.
  3. In a separate bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar while beating to a firm, glossy meringue.
  4. Fold meringue into batter by thirds.
  5. Bake in prepared springform pan until cooked through, ~40-50 minutes.
  6. Cool to room temperature. Cover in plastic wrap, and refrigerate until chilled, ~2 hours.

Vanilla mousseline:

  • Cream mixture
    1.25 c heavy cream
    1.25 c milk
    0.25 ts salt
  • Yolk mixture
    6 egg yolks
    0.75 sugar
    0.25 c flour
    0.25 c corn starch
    1 vanilla bean, split and scraped
  • 1.5 sticks butter, room temperature
  1. In a large saucepan, bring cream mixture to a simmer over medium-low heat.
  2. Whisk yolk mixture ingredients together. Whisk hot cream mixture into yolk mixture.
  3. Return mixture to saucepan over medium heat, and whisk constantly until thickened and gently boiled for 1 minute. Remove from heat, and whisk in 4 tb butter until incorporated.
  4. Transfer to a mixing bowl. Refrigerate, plastic wrap pressed to the surface, until cooled to room temperature, ~1.5 hours.
  5. Beat cooled cream, 2 minutes. Add remaining butter, and beat until light and fluffy, 5-6 minutes.

Raspberry coulis:

  • 3 oz raspberries
  • 1.5 tb sugar
  • 1 tb water
  1. In a small saucepan, stir and mash ingredients over medium-high heat until thickened. Strain, and set aside until use.

Assembly:

  • (optional) acetate cake bands, cake ring, or springform form
  • Berries
    1 lb strawberries, halved or quartered
    6 oz blackberries
    6 oz blueberries
    6 oz raspberries
  1. If using acetate, assemble a ring (height 4 inches) around circumference of the cake, and place on serving surface.
  2. Slice cake into two disks. Trim one disk by 1 cm around the circumference.
    Small pea tip: Trim the disk with the flattest surface, since this will be used for the top layer.
  3. Place the larger disk in acetate ring, springform pan, or cake ring. Brush cake with raspberry coulis.
  4. Set aside one-third of the mousseline and choice berries for garnish. Mix remaining berries with remaining two-thirds of the mousseline.
  5. Assemble some fruit around the bottom border. Optionally, use mousseline to help keep berries in place. Spread mousseline-fruit mixture evenly into cake.
  6. Place the trimmed cake layer on top. Spread remaining mousseline smoothly over and around the cake.
  7. Cover and refrigerate until set, 3-4 hours.
  8. Garnish as desired with remaining fruit and raspberry coulis, and serve.

berries mousseline cake 1

Triple Chocolate Mousse Cake

DARK CHOCOLATE MERINGUE MOUSSE ACCENTED WITH ESPRESSO AND SALT. MILK CHOCOLATE CREME ANGLAISE MOUSSE. WHITE CHOCOLATE CREAM MOUSSE. COCOA POWDER. SERVED OVER CHOCOLATE GENOISE SPONGE.

Chocolate is the key to the heart and soul, and mousse is one of the all-time great ways to deliver it. There are basically two kinds of mousse – egg white mousse and cream mousse, sometimes with gelatin to help keep structure. Each of these types of mousse can borrow a little from the other, but egg white mousse generally has more body to it, while cream mousse is… well, creamy. So we made mousse out of three chocolates – dark, milk, and white – which would all be great on their own, but were even better layered on top of each other in showstopping fashion! And who doesn’t like a coffee-enhanced chocolate sponge cake surprise at the bottom?

Each mousse layer is a little different, giving a little contrast as you nom your way through the layers. The dark chocolate mousse is a classic meringue mousse, with egg whites and cream folded into a melted chocolate. The milk chocolate mousse started with a custard that enriches the milk chocolate before being lightened with whipped cream. The white chocolate mousse is a a classic cream mousse that gets topped off with a healthy dusting of cocoa powder.

While the recipe itself isn’t too hard, it does test your patience since you have to let the layers set completely before pouring on the next one! Hope you give this one a try soon! – Boo

Servings: 12-16 slices
Difficulty: 

Oven: 350 F, 25 minutes

Preparation:

  • Line an 8-inch cake or springform pan with parchment paper. Butter and flour the interior.
  • Line a 9.5-inch cake ring or springform pan with parchment paper. Optionally, line interior with acetate paper.

Chocolate genoise:

  • 2 eggs, room temperature
  • 0.33 c sugar
  • 0.5 ts vanilla
  • Dry ingredients
    0.25 c flour
    2.5 tb cocoa powder
    0.25 ts salt
  • 0.25 c coffee liqueur
  1. Over a bain-marie, beat eggs with sugar until warm, but not hot. Remove from heat, and beat until eggs fall in ribbons. Beat vanilla into eggs.
  2. Sift and fold dry ingredients into egg mixture.
  3. Bake batter in a buttered and floured 8-inch cake or springform pan, 25 minutes.
  4. Remove from oven, and cool to room temperature.
  5. Transfer cake to the center of lined 9.5-inch springform pan, and brush with coffee liqueur.
  6. Refrigerate while preparing the dark chocolate mousse.

Dark chocolate mousse:

  • Chocolate mixture
    6 oz dark chocolate, recommended 70-78%
    2 tb cocoa powder
    1 tb instant espresso powder
    0.33 ts salt
  • Meringue
    3 egg whites
    4 tb sugar
    1 ts vanilla extract
  • 0.75 c heavy cream
  1. Over a bain-marie, melt dark chocolate. Stir cocoa powder, espresso powder, and salt into melted chocolate.
  2. Beat egg whites with sugar and vanilla to stiff peaks. Fold meringue into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  3. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into meringue mixture by thirds.
  4. Pour mousse over the chocolate genoise, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  5. Refrigerate to set, 1-1.5 hours, then prepare milk chocolate mousse.

Milk chocolate mousse:

  • 1.5 ts gelatin powder
  • Custard
    2 egg yolks
    3 tb sugar
    0.33 c milk
    0.25 c heavy cream
  • 6 oz milk chocolate, chopped
  • 1 ts vanilla extract
  • 1.25 c heavy cream
  1. In a small bowl, stir gelatin into 1 tb water. Set aside.
  2. In a saucepan, heat milk and cream on medium heat to a bare simmer.
  3. In a mixing bowl, whisk yolks with sugar. Whisk hot milk mixture into yolks.
  4. Return yolk mixture to the saucepan over medium heat, and whisk constantly until slightly thickened.
    Small pea tip: the custard should coat the back of a rubber spatula.
  5. In a mixing bowl, stir custard and vanilla into chocolate until homogenized.
  6. Microwave gelatin until melted, 6-8 seconds. Whisk gelatin into chocolate mixture.
  7. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  8. Pour mousse over the set dark chocolate layer, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  9. Refrigerate to set, 1-1.5 hours, then prepare white chocolate mousse.

White chocolate mousse:

  • 1 ts gelatin
  • White chocolate cream
    8 oz white chocolate
    0.5 c heavy cream
    0.5 ts vanilla extract
  • 1.5 c heavy cream
  1. In a small bowl, stir gelatin into 1 tb water. Set aside.
  2. Microwave and stir white chocolate in 30-second intervals until melted. Whisk cream and vanilla into white chocolate.
  3. Microwave gelatin until melted, 6-8 seconds. Whisk gelatin into chocolate mixture.
  4. Beat cream to stiff peaks. Fold whipped cream into chocolate mixture by thirds.
  5. Pour mousse over the set milk chocolate layer, starting from the center. Tap down gently several times, and smooth the top.
  6. Refrigerate to set, 1.5-2 hours.

Finish:

  • Garnish
    chocolate espresso beans
    chocolate shavings
    cocoa powder
  1. Optionally garnish, and serve.