A Word on Flourless Cake
Hey Ya’ll.
I hope everyone is staying warm! I had the air conditioning on during the drive home and the door to the porch is open so yes, J and I are having different experiences right now. Sorry boo.
So, tonight’s menu is Koshi—-kosher sushi (ya’ll can borrow that word but know its a Jewhungry word, nkay?). That’s right, Jews can eat sushi thanks be to tuna, salmon and fake crab meat. Now, there’s lots to talk about when we’re talking about Koshi. First, because I spent the first 28 years of my life NOT eating kosher, I actually know what real crab meat tastes like. Therefore, I can whole-heartedly say that fake crab meat is delicious and taste reasonably like the real thing. One of the best meals we’ve had since moving to Miami was a dinner of pasta and fake crab cakes at a little kosher joint in Boca (where we were joined by J and his sweet in-laws). I’m telling you, it was DELICIOUS! I still dream of that meal. The hubby and I still get bugged out from time to time when we’re sitting in a kosher dairy restaurant and they have traditionally non-kosher items like shrimp, crab cakes and chorizo on the menu (which, I should say, are all fake and kosher). We still double check with the waiter that the items are indeed fake and kosher, which they always are. But still, we’re suspicious Jews so we gotta ask.
More Koshi to come but first, the flourless cake.
As my closest friends and family know, shabbat* is my favorite holiday, which is pretty great because I get to celebrate it every week. With the stress of a new job and constantly being in the car battling Miami drivers, shabbat is the day that I have to spend quality time with my husband. In the morning, I drink my coffee on the porch while reading a delightful book with no intellectual value whatsoever and for 25 hours, I’m in a little bubble. There’s no computer or cell phone or TV or radio or Facebook, which means there’s no one trying to sell me anything or force me to think about how messed out the world is. It’s just peaceful. But of course, the best part is the eating and the sleeping (I’m just keeping it real ya’ll). So this shabbat I started a new book by Jane Green called “Promises to Keep”. Now, this book is never gonna win a Pulitzer however, its perfect for woman with several hours to kill and a cup of coffee on a porch in Florida. I didn’t actually open to book when I picked it up at the library so you can imagine my amazement when I discovered it contained recipes! Yes! Recipes! One of the main characters is a vegan chef so there is a recipe at the end of each chapter. Very cute. I decided to make the first recipe from the book on Sunday night as I was inspired by J’s PTA Mom post. The recipe was for an orange and almond crunch flourless cake.
Ingredients:
1 orange
3 eggs
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup plain flour, sifted
1 tsp baking powder
1 cup ground almonds
1/2 cup orange marmalade
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
Method:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch springform cake tin and line with wax paper.
Put the orange in a pan, cover with water and simmer for 1 hour (or nuke in a microwave for around 25 minutes) until soft. Cut the orange in half, remove the seeds and puree in a food processor.
Beat the eggs and sugar until pale and thick. Fold in the flour, baking powder, almonds and orange puree. Pour into the tin and bake for 1 hour.
Melt the marmalade in a small pan, then pour through a fine sieve, pressing to get all the juice out. Spread the rind-free juice over the cake.
When cool, sift the confectioners’ sugar over the cake.
Now, this cake was alright. I mean, it was good but I don’t know. I had to hand-grind the almonds and I think that’s what kinda put this one on the “nice, but no need to repeat” category. You must, MUST grind those puppies good. They’re their for texture, but the orange should be the star. If anything, we got some pretty pictures outta it and isn’t that what really counts 🙂
*Shabbat is the Hebrew word for ‘sabbath’. The Torah tells us that when Gd was creating the world, Gd worked for 6 days and on the seventh day, Gd rested. This is where we get shabbat from–this day of rest. The laws of shabbat are very complex so the very very very abridged version lies in the idea of abstaining from creation on shabbat. Thus, we do not turn on lights, create flames or do anything that remotely resembles work (i.e. put oil-based make up on our faces. That one is a piece of work, no pun intended). What falls into the realm of “work” when we’re talking about shabbat is even more complex and this post is already a bit of a novel so I’ll just leave things as they are.