The Taste Of Autumn - Pear Upside-Down Cake

Pears, often considered the humble cousins of apples, are one of the most versatile fruits and have a delicate aroma and natural sweetness, talents that makes them one of the shining stars of atumn.

They belong, curiosly enough, to the rose family, that gives them a quite aristocratic family background.

There is an enourmous verity of pears grown around the world, an estimated over 3000.!

Apart from sweets they make a wonderful match with cheese, specially blue cheese.

Pears contain antioxidants and anti- inflamatory flavonoids and are rich in diaetary fiber.

So enjoy this wonderful fruit not only for its lovely taste but also for its health benefits.

Here is another elegant way to prepare them, poached and served with orange butter and lemon zest.

Pears go glamour: poached with spices and served with orange butter

Or, as a sophisticated appetizer,combined with blue cheese and crunchy Prosciutto.
 Roquefort Mousse With Poached Pears 

For the Pear Upside Down Cake 
You Need:
For the topping
4 Pears, cut in medium slices
1 spoonful butter
2 spoonful brown sugar ( I prefere to use little sugar, so the natural aroma of the pears is not overwhelmed.)   

For the cake:
1 pear, peeled and diced

250g  (8.8 oz.) of flour

½ teaspoonful of baking powder

125g  (4.4 oz.) of unsalted butter

120g  (4.2 oz.)of sugar

1/8l of milk

Preparation:

In a large skillet, heat butter at low heat until butter has melted.

Add sugar, stir gently until sugar has melted than add sliced pears and continue cooking until pears are slightly caramelized.
Set aside.

Arrange the pear slices in a greased baking pan.

-In a large bowl, combine  the flour, butter, sugar, eggs and milk.

-Mix with a hand mixer until  smooth and fluffy.




Cover pears with cake batter, smooth with a spatula.

Preheat oven to 220CBake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the top of the cake is golden brown and a thin knife or toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Remove cake from the oven and place it on a cooling track.

Let the cake cool down for some minutes (not longer, otherwise the pears will stick to the backing pan), then run a knife around the edges of the cake.
Place a cake plate over the cake and, using hot pads, flip the cake carefully over.
Gently remove thecake pan.
Et voila!

Couldn't resist :)

Serve with a small portion of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Enjoy!
Serves 8-10P

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Molten Chocolate Cake (Fondant Au Chocolat) for Mother's Day

Remember Juliette Binoche in "Chocolat" preparing all these sinfully delicious chocolates that put a whole village upside down?

I suppose you suspected it already from previous posts but I'm a confessed and convicted chocoholic.

Maybe it's a legacy from the time we lived in Switzerland, the world's top chocolate consumer.

There I learned that there are worlds within the world of chocolate.

The most common types of chocolate are dark, milk and white chocolate, depending on the proportion of coca used in the fabrication.

The quality of the cocoa beans, the way they are roasted and the quality and proportion of fat and other ingredients used in the process are crucial for flavor, aroma and price.

Of course, chocolate is rich in calories, but oh boy it's worth a try once in a while.

The good news is that chocolate, (especially dark chocolate) if consumed moderately, can be beneficially for your health, stimulates the brain, is considered an aphrodisiac and, most important of all, makes people happy.

Have you ever seen somebody eating a delicious piece of chocolate and looking depressed?

A praise to the Mayas for leaving us this fantastic legacy.

So if you are still looking  for the perfect sweet treat for Mother's Day celebration, look no further.

These mini cakes are so good; they will melt your heart.

Please don't let yourself impress by their sophisticated looks, they are actually quite easy to prepare, the whole trick lies in not overbaking them.

A crunchy rind and a delicious liquid chocolate filling at the center are heaven for chocolate lovers and they are addictive too, no rehab needed.

For the molten chocolate cakes you need:

  

100g of butter

60g of (powdered)  sugar

150g excellent quality semisweet chocolate, chopped

2 medium size eggs

2 yolks

2 spoonful of all-purpose flour

A pinch of salt

1\2 cup of whipped cream

Method:   

With a brush,grease bottom and sides of six (  FOUR 6 oz.)  standard muffin molds evenly with liquid butter and dust them with cocoa. 

Remove excess cocoa by turning them upside down. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 175 C  (400 F).

In a double boiler, melt the butter and chocolate over simmering water (water should not boil!)

the color of rich, dark choclate and melted butter

Set aside.

In a large bowl, add the eggs and the egg yolks one at a time

and beat well with an electric mixer together with the sugar

 until the mixtures is pale in color and fluffy.

Then beat in the melted chocolate and flour

  Mix well until the batter is smooth.

 Spoon into prepared cups.

Let me share a little baking secret with you: Place one small piece of choclate in the center of the muffin moldit will help to obtain the chocolate filling liquid in the center of the cakes.

 Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until edges of dessert are firm but centers are still soft. 

(Tops will be puffed.)

Let stand 2-3 minutes.

Run small knife along sides of cakes to loosen.

Invert into heat proofed dessert plates.

Dust with powdered sugar.

 and serve warm with a bit of whipped cream  (optional)   

Serves 6 p.

Enjoy!

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Sweet Vienna

Sweet Vienna

We just arrived in Vienna after a nearly 18 hour trip from Lima.
Now I'm still a bit Jetlaged but happy to be in my home town again and with lots of plans to see family and friends and to visit concerts, operas, museums... there is such a huge variety of cultural events going on that it's not hard to find something you are interested in but it's hard to choose which one to take.


A baroque fountain at the town center

One of the most characteristic culinary highlights of Vienna is the sweet side of the city.

And the star among the countless fancy cakes,tarts,cookies and Palatschinken (a kind of crepe filled with a series of jams,sweet fresh cheese or creamy chocolate) is without any doubt the Apfelstrudel.
It's baked in nearly every Pastry shop of the city with passion and dedication and every place has its own secret recipe.

In Vienna they say that the dough of the Apple Strudel should be stretched so finely that a love letter may be read through it.
The oldest hand written Strudel recipe dates from 1696 and can be seen at the Viennese City Library.
The dough is not so difficult to prepare but takes a lot of patience and most people nowadays  buy it at the Supermarket and only prepare the filling and bake the Strudel at home.
The best is to use Strudel sheets but Filo sheets will do as well.
This traditional recipe is an adaption from a recipe published by the Austrian Tourist Office.

In case you want to prepare the Strudel and dough yourself, here is what you need:

For the Strudel:
1/4kg (2 cups) very fine flour
1  tablespoon salt
1-2 tabelspoon oil
about 1/8 (1/2 cup) luke-. warm water
Some melted butter to brush the dough
For the filling:
3/4 cups of bread crumbs
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2-2kg (31/2 -4 1/2 lbs.) chopped baking apples (Granny Smith or Gala)
4 teaspoons freshly pressed lemon juice
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
1/4 cup yellow raisins (optional)
1/4 cup coarsely chopped walnuts (optional)
 melted butter for brushing the dough
 powdered sugar for decoration

Method:
For the dough:
Mix together flour,salt,oil and enough luke-warm water to make a soft dough.
Knead very well until it becomes silky and smooth but not sticky.
In case you need to add flour, only add a little bit at a time.
Form the dough into a loaf, cover and let rest at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
For the filling:
Brown the bread crumbs in butter until golden brown, stirring constantly.Let cool.
Peel ,core and finely slice the apples. sprinkle with lemon juice and season with sugar, cinnamon an cloves.
Roll out the dough to about 9 inches to 13 inches on a table covered with a floured cloth.
Place out your hands under the dough and , using your thumbs and the back of your hands gently begin pulling and stretching the dough until wafer-thin (remember the love letter !!)
Trim away thick edges.
Brush the dough with melted butter and spread the bread crumbs over it.
Spread the apple mixture evenly over the dough, eventually adding the raisins and walnuts.
Using the cloth to help lift the dough,rool up the strudel as you would roll up a jelly roll.
Place seam side down on a buttered baking tray, brush generously  with melted butter and bake at 180C (350F) until golden brown.
Let cool down, cut into 1 1/2 inch wide slices with a bread knife  and sprinkle with powdered sugar.
According to our choice the strudel may be served with whipped cream, vanilla cream or vanilla ice cream ( the last option tastes best when served when the strudel is still warm)

Enjoy!
See you by the beginning of October, when back from my vacation :)
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