This boy, he is the cake of my life. He’s sweet, makes day-to-day life interesting and gives me lots of cause to smile. On the way home yesterday he got bored and sent me a stream of Pidgin messages. Unfortunately I was in the kitchen at the time, so didn’t read them until he had already gotten home. They made me laugh so hard I had to record them for posterity. Other people reading this, especially those not in Sydney, might not get it (sorry!) so I should probably explain a couple of things : Wynyard, St. Leonards, Rosefield and Lindfield are train stations. MX is a free trashy publication, seen most frequently at train stations and on trains. Lindfield is home to our favourite nearby pizzeria which does a great Bastourma-topped pizza. And no, there was no pie for dinner!

B: Isn’t technology great? I’m standing on the platform at Wynyard. 🙂
B: Booooo no reply.
B: Booo I say boo.
B: And pfft.
B: Boo and pfft.
B: Pfft and booo.
B: Oh and the train has come already. I’m at North Sydney now.
B: Why don’t I give you a running commentary of the train journey.
B: Semi-full train, most seats taken.
B: One woman with a backpack standing up.
B: MX count in this carriage; 10 that I can see.
B: But I haven’t looked behind myself because that would be rude.
B: Imagine how much trashy news is being sucked up daily!
B: Someone’s reading an article on “TV’s biggest bad losers”
B: Or was that “TV’s baddest big losers”?
B: Or “Biggy’s baddest TV losers”?
B: “Loser’s baddest TV biggies”?
B: A picture of weightlifting chimps.
B: Quality.
B: Just left St. Leonards.
B: Someone’s got a big leopard skin print furry coat.
B: Coldest day yet today I think.
B: Brrr, schoolboy wearing shorts!
B: What’s for dinner? Is it pie? I like pie!
B: Pie is good.
B: There’s a guy sleeping in the corner that looks a bit like Napoleon Dynamite.
B: Roseville.
B: It’s a cosy-looking station.
B: Surrounded by greenery.
B: Napoleon has woken up and is trying to gauge exactly where he is.
B: Lindfieldium :
B: A new element discovered by Prof. B.
B: Consistency of spiced meaty bastourma.
B: Getting off now.
B: Brrrrrr.
B: Hope you enjoyed my stream of consciousness!

(Or maybe it’s just me who finds him funny. That could be why we get along so well!)

Another interesting thing to cross my path recently : Raspberry and white chocolate sauce with thyme! It sounds like it would be a sickly sweet sauce, but in fact, as Michael Recchiuti points out, the sweet white chocolate is balanced by the acidity of the raspberries. The hint of thyme adds a little interest. I picked some sprigs from the pot on our balcony, and crystallised what I didn’t use in the sauce, as a garnish.

When reducing the raspberry puree, make sure to stir regularly, or it might catch and burn. I reduced mine further than recommended, so that I would get a thicker sauce. Once made and cooled, the sauce was like a silky, glorious custard. I sandwiched it between macarons. The recipe for the macarons is Helen’s. I wanted to make these, but aggravatingly, I only discovered my lack of appropriate food colouring when the time came to include them in the batter. Instead, I sprinkled the tops with berry powder. As for the swirly macarons, there is always next time! Or did I mean, thyme? 😛

Raspberry and White Chocolate Sauce with Thyme:
(makes about 2 1/2 cups; from Chocolate Obsession by Michael Recchiuti and Fran Gage)

453g raspberries (I used frozen)
3 tablespoons granulated cane sugar
340g heavy whipping cream (I used “thickened cream”)
2 teaspoons fresh thyme leaves
255g white chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used Lindt)
30g butter with 82% fat, very soft

Puree the raspberries in a food processor, then push them through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the seeds. You should have 1 cup.

Put the berry puree in a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Place over medium heat, bring to a simmer, and cook, stirring occasionally with a spatula, until the puree reduces by half, about 15 minutes.

Put the cream and thyme in a small saucepan. Place over medium heat, bring to a boil, and remove from the heat.

Add the raspberry puree and the chocolate to the hot cream. Whisk until the chocolate is melted. Pour the sauce into a clear vessel. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Add the butter and again blend until smooth. Strain the sauce through a fine-mesh sieve to remove the thyme leaves.

Use immediately or let cool to room temperature before using. Or, pour the sauce into a jar, cover, and refrigerate. It will keep for at least 2 weeks. Bring to room temperature before serving or stir over low heat to reheat.

You know when you get a weird urge some times; something in your head that you can’t shake, and it’s not because you ate some dodgy takeaway? It’s been in my mind all week, to make green tea brioche. I even knew what I wanted to do with it, once it was baked. Cut them into stars, skewer them and serve them alongside a hot beverage. Tea is my usual default option, but this time I thought I would attempt to overcome my prejudice against hot chocolate, to try Michel Bras’ recipe. There was also Michael Recchiuti’s recipe for white hot chocolate to consider, but I think that would be like stepping too far into the deep end without arm-floaties, for me.

So, dark hot chocolate it is. The recipe below serves two kids, or 1 adult who might claim to not like hot chocolate, until they taste this and beg for more, so make sure you prepare a little extra for such eventualities.

Other great things you can do this brioche (apart from eating it as is), is make caramelised green tea brioche and blackberry custard sandwiches (as pictured), a brioche and red bean bread ‘n’ butter pudding, or even green tea brioche ice-cream. Or, you could just eat it as it is. Really!

Hot Chocolate :
(Un chocolat chaud pour petit e pour grand; from The Notebooks of Michel Bras, by Michel Bras)

150g to 200g whole milk
60g butter
50g bittersweet chocolate
5g pralin (optional)
small pinch of salt
10g sugar

Combine all the ingredients and boil. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes. Mix [with an electric blender]. Serve piping hot. Drink and have another.

If you are a “grown-up”, you can strengthen the flavour by adding a teaspoon of cocoa powder.

True story. A long time ago, I bought a blowtorch not so I could caramelise petit creme brulees, but so I could take to whole cakes with it.

When I wield the torch, I am Martha Rambo Stewart, applying a burnish to my cake with tightlipped concentration. In 2008 : A Baking Odyssey, I am the ape in a gingham apron, arms raised at the spectre of the monolithic blowtorch.

Cake is good, my friends. And fire? Fire is a beautiful thing.

It all started with the urge to make lemon curd, and eventually morphed into a lemon meringue cake, slathered with said lemon curd, lightened with some whipped cream. In case you’re wondering, yes, that is an excessively large cake. I accidentally made it one tier too tall than what I had intended. Once it was cut up, I got the boy to do the rounds of our apartment block, pressing plates of cake into neighbours’ hands. Luckily there were some takers, or we would still be eating the same cake, one week later.

My favourite lemon curd recipe comes courtesy of a pastry chef I once worked for. Amongst many other things I learnt from him, he taught me the best and foolproof (for me) way of making this luscious lemon curd. For something a little different, you can even substitute the lemon juice with yuzu, that rather special and very aromatic Japanese citrus fruit. Here in Sydney, bottled yuzu juice can be obtained at considerable expense, from Simon Johnson. Once you’ve tried it though, believe me, you’ll understand what all the fuss is about (and will subsequently manage to forget how much you paid for it).

Lemon curd :

finely grated zest of 3 lemons
160g lemon juice
4 eggs (should yield about 200g, once cracked)
240g sugar
300g cold unsalted butter, cubed

Mix the first four ingredients together well and place in a saucepan. Over low heat, cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens. Take the pan off the heat and gradually whisk in the cubes of butter, bit by bit. When all the butter has been incorporated, strain the mixture, chill over ice and then refrigerate, covered.