(At the risk of getting panned again, I still have to say, I’m currently really enjoying the Scissor Sisters’ version of Comfortably Numb, over the original Pink Floyd version. So there.)

Now, onto some macarons..

A friend recently went cherry picking in Young, and arranged to drop by yesterday with a kilo bag of sour cherries, and joy of joys, some jam she had made. Time permitting, I hope to transform the fresh cherries into a juicy cherry pie. I’ve never made cherry pie before, can you believe? (And have always wanted to, ever since that song by Warrant, which really had nothing to do with pie, did it..). First thing I need to do is get a cherry pitter though. We pit a lot of cherries at work and I can attest to the fact that it’s one of the messiest jobs ever. Not sure how such a simple job as removing stones from a small piece of fruit can transform your work bench into Cherry Wars 2008.

Since I knew she would be visiting, I spent part of the morning baking some macarons as a gift in return. I was experimenting with flavours, and came up with strawberry with white chocolate and sheeps milk yogurt, salted vanilla caramel, chocolate truffle, and “carrot cake”. The more successful ones went into a box for her.

This morning I woke up to The National and Everything But the Girl, and feeling somewhat in the mood (Christmas shopping be damned), thought of a macaron dessert, using the leftover shells and fillings. So here is : macaron with salted vanilla caramel, chocolate and black sesame. The black sesame component is an Adria recipe for a sponge that cooks in 20 seconds in the microwave, and is the airiest and tastiest bit of sponge cake ever. B calls it “that mould”. To be fair, it looks like a cross between roof insulation, a loofah bath sponge and the aforementioned mould.

The overall dish was inspired by this picture of B that Mike took during their last visit to Tokyo:

I love how dark and mysterious it is. Captured like characters in a Wong Kar Wai movie.

My macaron dish probably doesn’t look as mysterious, but if anyone wanted to know the story behind it, I’d have to say, well, it all started with this girl who dropped by with a bagful of cherries..

I am thinking it’s a sign
That the freckles in our eyes
Are mirror images and
When we kiss they’re perfectly aligned

And I have to speculate
That God himself did make us into
Corresponding shapes like puzzles pieces
From the clay

True, it may seem like a stretch
But it’s thoughts like this
That catch my troubled head
When you’re away, when I am missing you to death

When you were out there on the road
For several weeks of shows
And when you scan the radio
I hope this song will guide you home

–Such Great Heights, Postal Service (but in my head, I hear the Iron & Wine version!).

I’m finally making it official. I have the world’s ugliest hands. They are wrinkly, dry and quite often, food-stained. I should probably insure them for $millions. Against ever being photographed again. Lucky you can’t see the burns on my arms though. M says I look like someone who self-harms.

Anyway, B returned yesterday from another work trip and I made him these macarons as a surprise gift. He took an impromptu picture while I was sandwiching them together, hence the unprepared hands. The macarons were banana flavoured caramel, with bitter chocolate ganache. I dusted the tops of the macarons with cocoa, to imitate that ‘ripe banana skin’ look.

As this month is shaping up to be a busy one and I might not be posting as frequently, I thought I would take the opportunity to wish everyone an early Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. I love Christmas, but have to admit, I can’t wait for January, as we have tickets to see The Swell Season, Cinematic Orchestra and Camille. Also, I’m hoping the new year will bring new things with it, like a bit of travel or more time for me to spend in my kitchen.

Looking back, it’s been a crazy year. I started a new job – my most demanding one to date – and am amazed that I have still managed to squeeze in some blogging time. This blog has always been intended to be a bit of an outlet for me. A place to write down some thoughts, and to help me keep track of the things I have been baking at home. Through it, I have also discovered some inspiring blogs and the people behind them, such as Vera, Duncan, Aran, Lisa, Pete and Matt.

So I want to thank them, and everyone else who has continued to read and be so supportive of all this pixellated junk I’ve thrown in front of their screens over the past year. 🙂

(PS: I have been toying with the idea of making a macaron series, dedicated to some of my favourite blogs. I already have a yogurt one in mind, and a cherry ripe one. What macaron would you make for your favourite blog? Suggestions, please!)

You might want to bookmark this post for future reference, because it contains the best excuse ever, for not turning up to something.

A friend was in a bit of a bind the other day, because she had organised to attend a show with two other friends and they had cancelled on her at the last minute, despite the fact she had already bought tickets for everyone. The first person was sick, and as for the second? Well, you’d expect that her car might have broken down, a toilet was severely blocked, or she had taken ill as well. But no :

“X just sent me an email saying that she just found out that a liver to dissect will be coming in this afternoon and she’s not sure if she’ll be able to make it.”

How is that for an awesome excuse?

Oh, and the chocolate cake is pretty good too. But no one ever needs an excuse to make yet another chocolate cake. 😀

Chocolate Fudge Cake :
This cake didn’t look like anything special to me, until I read the recipe closely and discovered that the batter is actually baked in two stages, yielding a dense fudgey layer at the base, and a moussey layer on top. Intriguing enough to warrant an attempt. My version turned out wonderfully moist with great chocolate flavour, but it wasn’t quite so obvious that there was a distinction between the layers. I think if I wanted a true moussey layer, I’d still prefer to make the Eve’s chocolate cake. If you want to try making this cake, but can’t be bothered baking it twice, you can just bake the entire cake as is. It will still be great.
(serves 6-8, from Ottolenghi : The Cookbook, by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi)

240g unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
265g dark chocolate (52% cocoa solids), cut into small pieces
95g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), cut into small pieces
290g light muscovado sugar
4 tablespoons water
5 large free-range eggs, separated
a pinch of salt
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Preheat the oven to 170’C. Grease a 20cm springform cake tin and line the base and sides with baking parchment.

2. Place the butter and both types of chocolate in a very large heatproof bowl – it should be big enough to accomodate the entire mix. Put the brown sugar and water in a small saucepan, stir to mix, then bring to the boil over a medium heat. Pour the boiling syrup over the butter and chocolate and stir well until they have melted and you are left with a runny chocolate sauce. Stir in the egg yolks, one at a time. Set aside until the mixture comes to room temperature.

3. Put the egg whites and salt in a large bowl and whisk to a firm, but not too dry meringue. Using a rubber spatula or a large metal spoon, gently fold the meringue into the cooled chocolate mixture a third at a time. The whites should be fully incorporated but there is no harm if you see small bits of meringue in the mix.

4. Pour 800g (about two-thirds) of the mixture into the prepared cake tin and level gently with a palette knife. Leave the rest of the batter for later. Place the cake in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes, until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out almost clean. Remove from the oven and leave to cool properly.

5. Flatten the top of the cake with a palette knife. Don’t worry about breaking the crust. Pour the rest of the batter on top and level the surface again. Return to the oven and bake for 20 – 25 minutes. The cake should still have moist crumbs when checked with a skewer. Leave to cool completely before removing from the tin. Dust with cocoa powder and serve.

6. The cake will keep, covered at room temperature for 4 days.

(This Chocolate Fudge Cake by Ottolenghi is my second submission to Lorraine’s Chocolate Cake Challenge.)