He left for the Philippines on Sunday morning. The apartment got so quiet, except for Glen Hansard whispering about The Cost. I had pastries and tea for breakfast, and then spent the rest of the day with feet tucked under a woollen blanket. By sun down, I had to send a message to J telling her I couldn’t make it to DeVine; that I was suffering from Sundayitis and couldn’t get out of my pj’s. “You bitch!” she replied, before confessing that she secretly wanted to be doing the same.

Dinner tonight was a compilation of leftovers. Rice, the odd end of broccoli, tuna and some lethal pea eggplant pickle I got for cheap at an asian grocery store in Burwood. It’s actually sickeningly garlickly, and everytime I unscrew the lid and that pungent scent explodes into the air, I forget why I still own the bottle. But then you mix the crunchy little eggplants into the rice and suddenly it tastes so good! When he is away, I rarely never cook. Once when he was in Singapore for a week, I had tuna salad for dinner every evening. To alleviate the boredom (which has actually never happened because I love tuna, but just in case..) I alternated with salmon.

While he’s gone, he has unintentionally taken our TV reception away with him. You might recall my mentioning that he bought a large TV recently. Not too long after it’s delivery, I came home to a living room strewn with the guts of an equally new computer. Turns out, the old computer (our MythTV box) couldn’t handle the new TV, so now we have a new computer to accompany it. Unfortunately, it still needs tweaking. So yesterday evening, I was getting no signal on this big ass TV, and only had videos to watch. What I ended up watching was a pretty funny episode of the Simpsons (which I haven’t seen in ages). Homer tries and fails to build Bart a robot so he pretends to be a robot instead, and ends up having to battle real robots equipped with chainsaws and guns.

I’ve decided I can do without TV for the time being. M and I both agree that TV rules too much of our respective evenings, even though it’s a great way to relax. Instead, I might start making inroads into Susanna Clarke’s book. Meanwhile, I also need to return to Adriano Zumbo to do more ‘research’ and during a bout of baking, I discovered my ultimate chocolate cookie. It’s moist, chewy and oh-so chocolatey. The next step is to increase the percentage cocoa in the chocolate from 64% to 99% and test if it produces bliss or bleurgh.

Tartine’s Deluxe Double Chocolate Cookie :

225g bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Valrhona Manjari 64%, and will next try it with Kennedy & Wilson 99%)
155g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
115g unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used Girgar)
225g sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
75ml (1/3 cup) whole milk

Preheat the oven to 175’C.

Melt chocolate in a bowl over a bain-marie, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Stir together the flour, cocoa powder and baking powder in a bowl. Set aside. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium-high speed until creamy. Slowly add the sugar and mix until the mixture is completely smooth and soft. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition until incorporated before adding the next egg. Beat in the salt and vanilla, and then add the melted chocolate and beat until incorporated. Add the milk and beat until combined. Finally, add the flour mixture and beat on low speed until incorporated.

Drop the dough by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 1 inch apart. Bake the cookies until they are just barely firm on top when lightly touched but are still very soft underneath, about 7 minutes (I was greedy, so mine took a couple of minutes longer to cook as they were extra large). They will get firmer as they cool. Transfer the cookies to a wire rack and let cool. They will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.

(Cookie snapshots to come. In the meantime, I took a papparazzi-loadful of photos of my breakfast….)

My contribution for this week’s round of WHB, hosted by Anna of Anna’s Cool Finds isn’t a herb, but a rather unexpected type of dried flower.

Surprised? Well, the picture above wouldn’t remind me of any sort of flower, and it is in actual fact, two dried white figs. Figs, often thought of as fruit, are botanically speaking, the fig tree’s flowers and seeds; something along the lines of an inverted flower, growing as a single mass. These false fruits are high in fibre and antioxidants, and also high in sugar. Fresh or dried, the figs I’m used to buying, are the darker coloured varieties, such as the Black Mission fig, so I was quite surprised to come across a packet of large dried white figs. The dried Iranian baby figs are the only other white fig I’ve tasted, and even then, those were very small (and cute!) and mild in flavour. I used the white figs in a dense crumbed, fruit and nut studded bread I made last week. The original recipe by Rose Levy Berenbaum is provided below. I’ve now made this several times, substituting the almonds with pecans, and using walnut oil instead of plain oil, the last time round. The pecans, which are darker in colour than the almonds, leave a lovely visible swirly pattern inside the bread. Thin slices of this bread are excellent with cheese. Rose recommends blue cheese, but I also like it with a crumbly cheddar.

New Zealand Almond and Fig Bread :

Dough Starter (Sponge)
117g bread flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 teaspoon sugar
177g water at room temperature

1. In a mixer bowl, place the flour, yeast, sugar and water. Whisk until very smooth, to incorporate air, about 2 minutes. The sponge will be the consistency of a thick batter. Scrape down the sides of the bowl. Set it aside, covered with plastic wrap, while you make the flour mixture.

Flour Mixture
117g bread flour
72g whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons oil
1 1/4 teaspoon salt
75g unblanched slivered almonds
75g dried Mission figs, stems removed, cut into 1/4- to 1/2- inch pieces.
(plus 1 whole fig for decor – I didn’t use this as fresh figs aren’t in season at the moment)

2. Whisk together the bread flour, whole wheat flour, and yeast. Sprinkle this on top of the sponge and cover it tightly with plastic wrap. Allow it to ferment for 1 to 4 hours at room temperature. (During this time the sponge will bubble through the flour mixture in places; this is fine)

3. Add the oil to the dough and mix with the dough hook on low speed until the flour is moistened enough to form a rough dough. Scrape down any bits of dough. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rest for 20 minutes.

Sprinkle on the salt and knead the dough on medium speed for 7 minutes. It will be smooth and shiny and cling slightly to your fingers. If it is not at all sticky, spray it with a little water and knead it in. (It will weigh about 490g). Allow the dough to rest for 10 minutes.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and roll it into a rectangle about 9×14 inches. Sprinkle with the almonds and cut-up figs. Roll up the dough and knead it for a few minutes to incorporate the almonds and figs evenly. Shape it into a ball.

4. Set the dough into a bowl, lightly greased with cooking spray or oil. Press down the dough and lightly spray or oil the top. Cover the container with a lid or plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.

Scrape the dough out onto a floured counter, and press down on it gently to form a rectangle. Fold the dough into a tight package or give it 2 business letter turns, and set it back in the container. Oil the surface again, cover. Allow the dough to rise until doubled, about 1 hour.

Almonds and Apricot Glaze
75g sliced almonds
50g apricot jelly
30g water

5. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter and press down on it gently to flatten it slight. Round the dough into a 4 1/2 inch ball and lightly spray the surface with water. Scatter the almonds on a counter. Roll the ball of dough in the almonds to cover it completely, pressing the nuts into the dough. Firmly push the whole fig (if using), pointed end down, into the center so that it is submerged as deeply as possible into the dough. The loaf will measure 5 inches by 2 1/2 inches high.

Place it on a baking sheet. Cover with a large container. Let the dough rise until doubled, about 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. It will be about 5 1/2 inches by 3 inches high, and when it is pressed gently with a fingertip, the depression will very slowly fill in.

6. Preheat the oven to 215’C 1 hour before baking. Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place an oven stone or baking sheet on before preheating.

7. Gently set the baking sheet on the hot stone or baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Lower the temperature to 185’C and continue baking for 35 to 40 minutes or until the bread is golden brown and a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

8. Meanwhile in a small saucepan, mix the apricot jelly and water together. Bring to a boil and simmer for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly. When the bread is done, remove it from the oven and brush it with the hot apricot glaze. Return it to the oven for 1 minute to set the glaze. Remove the bread from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.

Would it be fair to say, there aren’t too many things worth getting early out of bed for, on a cold Saturday morning? Well, I can name one now, and it’s currently sitting on my kitchen counter and I still feel the need to sneak a peek at it every so often, disbelieving that I managed to create it. People’s heads were turning when I walked down the street with it. Someone even stopped dead in her tracks and swivelled her head around like Linda Blair did in The Exorcist. I kid you not.

No, I haven’t suddenly acquired plastic surgery and now bear an uncanny resemblance to Giselle Bundchen. The extra plump smile on my lips isn’t even collagen, but chocolate ganache. I’ve just spent the most wonderful Saturday in Planet Cake’s workshop, learning how to make an ‘Exploding Star’ cake as part of their Basics 101 course.

Under the careful guidance of Handi Mulyana, the twelve of us managed to replicate what had been demonstrated to us in stages, whilst learning a few extra things in the process. For starters, mistakes can often be creatively hidden with the careful placing of an extra sugar star or positioning the cake in the right way. Also, these kinds of cakes are very hands-on. By the time the cake comes to the table as a slice on a platter, it has been handled (or groped) for at least a couple of hours (six, in our case), from the trimming and icing of the cake to the kneading, applying and smoothing of the fondant. Kind of off-putting, when you think about it. That’s not to say, you can’t now look at a cake and appreciate how much effort has gone into it’s creation.

If you have the time and an interest in crafts, I would definitely recommend you try one of Planet Cake’s classes. They are a little pricey, but worth every cent, in my opinion. Paris Cutler was on hand at all times, chatting to everyone present. She regaled us with stories about her cake experiences during our lunch break (they served a wonderful lunch of pasta and salads, and later in the afternoon, tea and a selection of friands) and her enthusiasm for all things cake related was like a bug that the rest of us at the table caught.

While I was in Balmain, where Planet Cake is located, I took the opportunity to visit the legendary bread and pastry store, Victoire and also popped into a patisserie that was new to me, Adriano Zumbo. The latter is a slender shop with displays of mouth-watering pastries and elaborate slices of cake behind glass. Locals queue politely upon entering the shop and most seem to already know what they want without having to peruse the selection. I leave with a long brioche and custard number, but a small part of me also wanted that equally long finger of a chocolate eclair and a handful of those sugar encrusted pastry snails. Maybe I’ll leave those for next time.

Meanwhile, I also have a loaf and tart from Victoire to contend with, and of course, that deeply chocolate Expoding Star cake that’s in the kitchen. Once the novelty wears off (hopefully in less than a week, which is how long the cake will last), I might finally be able to convince myself to cross that pristine fondant barrier and sink a knife into it.

Planet Cake
106 Beattie Street
Balmain 2041

Adriano Zumbo Patissier
296 Darling St
Balmain 2041

Victoire
285 Darling Street
Balmain 2041