Well, obviously it's for a reason, I mean nourishment, right? But, sometimes I find myself cooking on inspiration, or maybe because today is when the first of the new crop is in, or the last day the crop will be harvested. Well, today I cooked something for a few of those reasons, but mostly, because I just love all of the ingredients.
I once heard someone say, "cooking with a recipe is like dancing with an instruction manual, but baking is different". Baking requires a manual, a recipe, some science. Which might be why some people just won't bake. I am a savory cook at heart, give me eggs and potatoes over waffles any day. Though, I like to bake too, and I bake like a dancing fool, holding an instruction manual.
This is what happened today when I found a few special ingredients that inspired me, got me dancing, baking and rewriting the instruction manual.
Almond Cake with Fresh Currants and Caramelized Kumquat-Ginger Glaze
Currants look so fantastic, though flavor-wise, they are a bit like cranberries in their raw form, the almond cake is very mellow, and the glaze is sweet - all together they are spectacular.
1 cup Confectioner’s sugar
2 1/2 cups Almond flour (I make my own by a sprinkle of flour over raw sliced almonds, pulverized in a food processor)
1 1/4 cup King Arthur a.p. flour
16 Egg whites
1 1/4 tsp Baking powder
10 oz Butter
Zest of 2 oranges
Red currants, washed, no stem
for the glaze:
18 (or so) Kumquats, cut in half, pick out visible seeds
2/3 cup Crystallized ginger cut into short julienne
1 Cinnamon stick
1/2 Vanilla bean cut in 1/2 lengthwise
3 cups Orange juice
3/4 cup Sugar
1/2 cup Vermont Maple syrup
1/2 cup Red currants, washed, no stem
Preheat your oven at 350 F.
Melt the butter in a pot.
Sift the flour and sugar separately.
Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl: flour, almond flour,orange zest, sugar and baking powder
Whisk and add the white eggs mix into dry ingredients
Add the melted butter, mix
Butter cake pans sprinkle a few currants on the bottom of pan
Fill pan with batter
Place more currants on top
Bake for about 30+ minutes or until the cake has set
Remove from the oven and let cool down before unmolding on a cooling rack
For the glaze:
Place all ingredients except currants in sauce pan over medium heat
Simmer and reduce
Once the liquid becomes thick allow to cook further until you get very small rapid bubbles and the sugars begin to caramelize
Immediately, but slowly add about 1 cup of water (you might not need it all) to the sauce mixing in the sauce will be loose, until it cools, and then should be glaze consistency, mix in the currants while the glaze is still hot, once cool, remove vanilla and cinnamon stick.
I had to have some whipped cream with it, I mean how could I not? Lightly sweetened and lightly whipped, perfect. Before I end this, just a note about kumquats, many people don't seem to love them like I do, or actually, I guess they don't really even know how tasty they actually are. Just remember, unlike an orange, it's the skin that is sweet and the inside is not (and the seeds are just not good at all).Thanks for reading, and whether you cook from inspiration or necessity, if you dance or if you read a manual, just remember to Cook from your heart!
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