A SNOW WHITE FAIRY CAKE ~ FOOD FOR THOUGHT

This is my long delayed fifth contribution to Food For Thought, the brain child of the lovely and brilliant Jain of Once in a Blue Moon.  All I can say Is I've been meaning to. This is a fortnightly meme of food and books. The perfect combination.  Thank you Jain for hosting this meme. It's a brilliant idea and one of the most exciting I've come across.

THE FAIRY FOLK AND SHE by Mary-Anne Grosse Ivie.
***** 
WARNING ~ FAIRY OVERLOAD

I have to tell you that when this book arrived in the mail I said to myself that it had better be good because I had  no wish to write a bad review or to feel obliged into writing a good one in spite of. I needn't have feared.

It was an enchanting fairy tale ~ with a twist. In the World Within a World of fairies, gnomes, elves, brownies, warlocks, witches, sorcerers and sorceresses lay the enthralling towns of Tranquility, Serendipity  and Ever After and a little further away, Darkland, a place where evil triumphs. 

Lisa, the daughter of the Old woman in a Shoe sacrifices a good part of her life to Razzlewitch who, in return, saves her family from poverty and hunger. While there Lisa discovers that she has powers she never knew she had. It is a story where love, trust and kindness conquers all  A tale told by Mary-Anne, I believe, from her heart.

Like all fairy tales the line between good and evil was distinct. Their names say it all ~ Verity, Melody, Kindred, Willoway and Zyneth the evil one. 

Although it was an intriguing fairy tale of good fighting off evil in which the child in me could sit back and enjoy I couldn't help but notice through my adult eyes, how, as the story went along, its characters raised, in their quest, the deeper and more soul searching questions of free will versus destiny, of the need to believe in the power of love and trust, and at one point, there even rose the question of the existence versus the non-existence of a supreme being. I found that as refreshing as the characters are innocently charming.

I was especially surprised too at the way the story  came to a close. I had expected the story to end with a scene in Tranquility. It didn't. Secretly, I wished it did. It would have been the most bewitching place to bring the gentle end of the story to. But then again it made complete sense that it didn't because Lisa was after all a human living a real existence in a real world. Life, as we know it, is not a fairy tale.

I give this book 5 stars. If I hadn't had errands to run because I was an adult I would have sunk myself into an overstuffed pillow, sucked on some lollipops and stayed there until I was being called for dinner as opposed to cooking it. This is a book for both children and adults because it made me  wish that I lived in Tranquility amoung fairies, elves, goblins, warlocks and brownies....minus Zyneth of course.

Although there were ample mentions of food in the book especially the mention of pink fairy cakes first introduced when Seraphina the sweet fairy brought some to Lisa for tea I just couldn't bring myself to make them for this review. I should have because it became Lisa's favourite cake in the story.  

But I didn't. Fairies do something to me. They make me silly happy. I had such a blast making sugar paste fairies and I knew instinctively that she had to be sitting on a dreamy white cake (inside and out) deep in the woods, surrounded by shrubs, flowers and birds with lots of shade and bands of streaming sunlight. There! I said it.

Please don't mind her eyes. She looks a little squint but I dared not rectify it further for fear of making her look even more startled. H says she looks like the blue female in Avatar. No dear..this is Seraphina..let me spell it out to you.... S-E-R-A-P-H-I-N-A ......The Fairy.

I had searched the interenet on some instructions on how to make the fairy and this is the best video that I came up with. It was very helpful but unfortunately it stopped short of showing how to form the body and her dress. So the rest they say is trial and error....and lots of patience. But most of all have fun! 




Since I do not own a mould for a fairy face I had to be happy just rolling out a ball of sugar paste, moulding out the socket for the eyes with the end of a rounded stick and the rest they say is shaky hands and squint eyes. The video advised that the eyes be painted to look sideways rather than straight at you otherwise it would make her look very startled

I had also made the limbs by eyeballing the amount of sugar paste since I did not have those fancy thingys. Then I had a problem making the blouse and skirt. It made me almost cry (in fun) (I think) but finally I did it. The most enjoyable part was deciding the colour of her clothes. So fun fun fun. I was silly happy. The flower 'hat' was another thing that made me silly happy making and putting it on her little head. And of course the hair made me feel like a fairy hair stylist. Now that I've bared my soul please don't judge me.

Ah...And the WINGS! Oh that was so fun too. However they are only partly edible because I had used a gauzy paper print to stick onto the sugar paste wings for a more colourful and sweetly pretty pair of fairy wings. They were perfectly pretty. The rest they say is edible. Except for a toothpick in her little head and body.

Finally I glued all the parts together with royal icing and how I love her long and slender limbs and little Cinderella feet.  


And the cake was a white cake from Collette Peter's, my favourite cake decorating book. It was soft, white and delicious.

I had taken the idea for its decoration from her lovely lovely book too. All was of white cut out vine leaves, rose leaves and some flowers carefully arranged and glued on with egg white onto a domed shaped fondant covered cake while Seraphina the fairy watched me, quiet and still. And sweet ~

Here's the recipe for the Snow White Cake ~ by Colette Peters

3/4 cup vegetable shortening
1 1/2 cups castor sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 3/4 cups cake flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tsp baking powder
1 cup milk, room temperature
4 egg  whites, room temperature


Preheat oven to 350 F.

Grease and flour 2 9 inch baking tins. In a large bowl of an electris mixer, cream shortening until light and fluffy.Slowly add 1 cup of the sugar, continuously beating until fluffy. Add vanilla. 


In a small bowl, sift dry ingredients together. Ad 1 T of the dry ingredients to the shortening mixture and mix well. Then add 1 tablespoon of the milk. Alternate in this manner until the flour and milk is finished blending well after each addition. Do not overmix.


In another bowl beat agg white until fluffy and then add the 1/2 cup of sugar and beat until stiff and shiny. Gently fold in teh egg whites into the flour mixture until blended.


Pour into prepared pans and bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.


Decorate with fondant and sugar paste decorations.


The recipe for the fondant and the sugar paste are here and here.

STRAWBERRY MANGO SNOW CONE ~ TYLER FLORENCE'S

Did you know that you could shave ice in a blender? You did? In an ice kacang, snow ball kind of way I mean. You did? Well I didn't. I never thought of shaving just plain ice cubes in a blender and making a snow cone. Nope. Never. But Tyler Florence did and I  am so pleased.

But I have to tell you that I was nervous making these. Not because they were difficult to do. They were the easiest things to make imaginable. No cooking was involved. Just some blitzing in the blender and the whole process was over.

But what was nerve wrecking was the thought of photographing food that has the potential to melt right before your very eyes. So I was working against time or rather against thawing and these were what I took. Melting snow cones.

But they are pretty and Tyler Florencehas such pretty ideas. And not an ounce of fat in it. Don't you just love him? Although I would have added a little honey in it because the strawberries and the mango were not quite sweet enough.  But it makes a great tropical and summery treat. Cool and so refreshing. And so easy. Guiltless indulgence these snow cones are. Oh yes. On a hot tropical day this is your answer to thirst.

The recipe ~ Adapted wholly from Tyler Florence


2 mangoes, peeled and chopped
1 pint strawberries, hulled and sliced
1 lime juice
8 cups ice cubes
mint leaves for garnish
lime slices or wedges for garnish


Puree mangoes and strawberries with the lime juice in a blender until fine and pureed. Pour int  a jug and keep in the refrigerator.


Crush ice cubes in a blender until very fine like snow. Put  a pile of snow into bowls or cups and pour the fruit puree on top until no more white ice can be seen. Serve immediately. :)

CHERRY CUPCAKE FINANCIERS

Awww....these little Cherry Financiers made the Top 9  on Foodbuzz ~ 11th July ~ Happy Buzzday! Thank you to the Foodbuzz community :)

I would never have attempted these cakes because I never did like the flavour of almonds. I also imagined that for a cake to be called financier it couldn't be a good thing and because I believed madeleine-like cakes to be simply dry sponge cakes. 

So I was glad when Sarah-Jane of siliconeMoulds.com had posted some financiers on her lovely blog and made them look anything but dry, financial or mercenary. Now I know how delicious these little cakes are.

They were literally bursting over the top, each with a big, juicy, red cherry that looked like it was trying to burrow its way in but failing quite miserably because it was simply too fat. And too cute.

And true to what Sarah-Jane had said....these were simply, simply delicious. Very moist because of the double proportion of ground almonds to flour, the browned butter gave it a beautiful nutty flavour, it also had not the almondy flavour that was not to my liking and of course, for me, the big fat adorable juicy cherry just topped it all. 


And a little history before the recipe : According to Wikipedia they are believed to be called financiers because they became popular in the financial district of Paris around the Paris stock exchange. They were originally believed to be baked in small rectangular moulds thus resembling gold ingots which could be another reason they were called financiers.

The Recipe ~ adapted wholly from Sarah-Jane of SiliconeMoulds.com

I had doubled the recipe below because I baked them in normal  sized cupcake cases. I got 6 lovely bursting with cherry financiers. 

70 gm ground almonds

105 gm icing sugar

35 gm plain flour

92 gm butter ( I used salted)

92 gm egg whites ( I used 3 eggs)

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp vanilla extract

6 fresh whole cherries with stems attached

Preheat the oven to 200 C

Brown the butter to a nut brown.

Sift all dry ingredients into a medium bowl and mix well. (I used an electric mixer). Add in the egg whites and mix until evenly blended. Add the hot browned butter and mix it in quickly until the mixture is well mixed.

Pour into prepared cupcake cases almost right to the top. ( I had a space of about 1/8 of an inch between the edge of the rim and the top of the batter). Then top with a whole cherry on each with its stem attached.

Put in the oven and bake at 200 C for 10 minutes after which I reduced the temperature to 180 C and baked for about another 15-20 minutes until the cakes were risen, golden brown and cooked firmly in the centre. Test with a toothpick. If it comes out clean without anything gooey attached its done. 

(You may tent the cakes with a piece of foil if it gets brown too quickly while the centre is not cooked yet).

A PESTO PIZZA WITH JAMIE OLIVER'S PIZZA DOUGH

I don't quite like red pizza sauce on pizzas. Just like the guy who does not like green eggs and ham. But, Sam-I-am, I do like green pesto sauce on pizzas. I like it so much that I'll....

.... have it on a boat, 

I'll have it in a coat, 

I'll have it day and night 

'specially if I'm a goat. 

I'll have it while I think

Or even while I blink

I'll have a thousand times a day

Especially when I'm Queen

I'll have it on my blog

I'll have it while I slog

I'll have it all the time

Especially when I'm bored

So that is what I've made today

A crispy crusty pizza dough

With green sauce of pumpkin seeds

and some happy C-lantro

Green sauce on pizza dough.

A disc that fell from heaven's place

And landed, thankfully, in my face.

  

Jamie's pizza crust is seriously good. Crispy and crusty and easy.

Jamie Oliver's pizza dough recipe ~ I made half and I got 8 pieces of 7 inch pizza bases (I freeze the extras).

7 cups bread flour or

5 cups + 2 cups semolina

1 level T sea salt
2 (11 gm) packet instant yeast

2 T raw sugar ( I used white)

4 T extra virgin olive oil

2 1/2 cups lukewarm water

Mix flour and salt in a bowl. Push aside. Put in the yeast, sugar and olive oil into the lukewarm water and mix well. Let stand a few minutes. (I left it for five because I couldn't wait any longer than that).

Pour the flour/salt mix onto a board or table and make a well in the centre. Pour in the liquid ingredients and slowly using a fork, let the flour at the sides of the well fall into the liquid until all the flour have been incorporated. 

Use your hands now and bring the dough together and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic. I kneaded for about 10 minutes by hand. Add flour a little at a time if the dough is too sticky but be wary. Do not add too much. Just flouring the board occasionally and flouring your hands well and kneading lightly should be sufficient. Once done let sit in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with a damp tea towel (clean) and let rise for an hour.

Once doubled in bulk and it does not spring back when you make a belly button, take it out from the bowl onto a table top and punch it down to rid of air. Divide the dough into portions depending on how large or small you want your pizza to be. Roll each piece into a smooth ball and then flatten with your hand into a thick disc. Then roll it out on a floured board until you get a thin circle of dough as thin or thick as you like. I like thin.

Build the pizza ~

Pumpkin seed and cilantro pesto (adapted from Pam's of Sidewalk Shoes) 
Halved cherry tomatoes
Crisp fried local anchovies
Basil leaves
Mozarella cheese

Preheat the oven to the highest setting. Slip in a baking tray (upside down preferably) if I you don't have a pizza stone. Let it get really hot, maybe 10 - 15 minutes while you prepare the topping.


I lay the pizza dough disc on a piece of parchment paper a little larger than the pizza dough itself so that I could easily lift the topped pizza onto the baking tray by lifting the sides of the parchment. Spread the pesto over the dough. I topped the pizza with halved cherry tomatoes, crispy fried local anchovies, basil leaves, and then mozarella cheese. SERIOUS YUM.

Lift the pizza by holding on the sides or corners of the parchment paper and slip it on to the baking tray. Bake for about 10-15 minutes or until the edges of the pizza crust are golden brown and crunchy. YUM YUM. 

I am submitting this to Yeast Spotting !