Individual Cheesecakes Cute as Can Be

These perfect little individual cheesecakes were made to serve at a special dinner for some friends. Every, single thing about them was perfect: flavors, appearance, texture, and the bonus was that they came out of the little ramekins just perfectly. Better results could not be hoped for. 

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

While they were perfect, and have stayed in my mind ever since, I haven't returned to them. Why? Well, there is really no huge valid excuse at all really. The biggest thing was that I ran out of Matcha Green Tea powder and haven't replaced it. 

Even longer ago, I had made Matcha and Black Sesame Muffins, and they were delightful. It was this combination, the green and the black flecks together are quite striking, that made me want to do something else with it. 

Using Matcha Green Tea

Matcha Green Tea Powder

Using Matcha green tea powder can be tricky, only in the sense that depending on the quality, the color may be the brightest of lime green (higher quality, more flavor, higher price), or a very dull green, or even a very pale green (lower quality, less flavor, lower price). The dull green was what was used in both the muffins and the cheesecakes.

With less flavor and color, more is needed to achieve even the least bit of color in a baked good. This alters the dry ingredient contents upwards, with the possibility of a dry outcome, whether dry muffins or a very stiff and dry cheesecake. 

Using higher quality Matcha will give a lot of color, but when it comes down to the facts, Matcha is very bitter. Too many people will not automatically love this bitterness, so a fine line is walked when making something like these recipes. Too much of a good thing and they may not be at all well-received. 

Some of this bitterness in a baked item can be mitigated by using more sugar, yet breakfast muffins are not meant to be sweet as a cupcake (though far too many are), and too much sugar will alter a cheesecake's consistency as well. 

An idea on that score is to dissolve the green tea powder in just enough hot water to make a smooth paste. In this way, the texture of either recipe would not be significantly altered. It also would afford the ability of actually seeing how much color is being added. The final baked goods will never be that same color, but it at least gives a clue. 

Aside from the issue of Matcha, having some in the first place, and then all these other considerations, these little cheesecakes are no difficulty to make. The mixture is a straightforward style, black sesame is available in many stores nowadays. While black sesame is not much different in flavor than the white, they do give visual interest. So, on with the recipe:

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

Makes about 6 (6-ounce) 

or 8 (4-ounce) servings

Black Sesame Matcha Individual Cheesecakes

12 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
1 teaspoon lime zest, finely grated
½ cup white sugar
2-3 tablespoons Matcha Green Tea powder
1 pinch salt
1 cup sour cream
3 large eggs, room temperature
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds

- Extra sugar, for dusting
- Butter for greasing

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease six (6-ounce) or eight (4-ounce) ramekins with butter. Dust them with sugar, tapping out excess. Set the ramekins into a roaster pan that can hold water halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Heat a large kettle of water and keep hot.

In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and green tea powder. In a separate mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth, then add in the sugar mixture and lime zest and beat gently, just to combine. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating gently until incorporated, then add in the sour cream and fold in the black sesame seeds.

Fill the ramekins of choice with the mixture. Set the roaster pan into the oven and carefully pour in the hot water around the ramekins to about halfway up their sides. Bake the cheesecakes 20 minutes for the smaller ones or 25 minutes for the larger ones. The centers should be a bit jiggly. Remove the pan from the oven and set the ramekins aside to cool. Chill the cheesecakes completely, refrigerated, before unmolding.

To unmold the cheesecakes, run a knife around the edges. They should start to spin a bit in their molds. Set a plate over top of the mold and invert the ramekin over the plate until the cheesecake comes loose onto the plate. Serve with a twist of lime and/or a dollop of whipped cream.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Darling but Finicky Macarons

Last Year's Less Sweet Chocolate Macarons

It's been a year since I made my first attempt at macarons, those darling, but finicky, little confections. I had been seeing photos of them for years already, and making them was on the "to-do" list, which sometimes takes a while before getting around to. I have a serious lack of "round tuits" to hand. I also had never tasted macarons before, and when I finally did try some from a new local "patisserie," which does a fantastic job at all their pastries and breads mind you, I was really surprised and dismayed at how tooth-achingly sweet they were. At that time last year then, I was searching for ways to make them less sweet, and so called my confections "Less-Sweet Chocolate Macarons." Not necessarily a glamorous name, but it fit the bill, and they were amazing. They were also a LOT of work, even for me.

I guess sometimes time passes and we forget the magnitude of a thing. Kind of like having a baby and swearing off sex, only to come back once all that trauma wears off and decide to give it another go. Maybe it wasn't quite that bad, after all? 

Unsuccessful First Attempt
at Matcha Macarons

So it happened that last week I got an idea. I swear absolutely that I did not look up a single recipe, nor had I even seen macarons in photos for quite a while. I decided that if cocoa in macarons would  help making them less sweet, then surely Matcha tea powder would do the same thing. And then I thought about what I would use to fill Matcha flavored macarons and came up with two possible options: raspberry or orange. As it happened, I had a frozen bag of raspberries that needed using, and so raspberry filling it would be.

What are "Macarons?"

Macarons are a confection made with meringue and almond meal. There is no flour being added to the batter, so these are essentially meringue "cookies" of a sort, and by their nature, gluten-free. There is a delicate balance needed with the ingredients to get the texture just right, otherwise the characteristic smooth tops and pretty, frilly little "feet" at the base of the cookies will not happen. The batter itself has to come out slightly thick, but acting much as a lava flow: slow, but implacable movement. If it is too runny, it will spread all out of shape and make thin, unappetizing wafers. If the batter is too thick, it cannot spread at all, and the tops can never become smooth. The little frilly feet cannot form when baking. There is no "give." And so, that delicate balance needed. I speak from experience. 😉

I have most often seen macarons as quite small confections of a bite or two size. They can be made larger, if preferred, but the baking time will need to be altered as well, to accommodate the proper setting and drying time. I like the 1½-inch diameter size, but they can be made smaller, as well.

First Attempt

I used the recipe in the links above last year, substituting Matcha tea powder for the cocoa. But somehow, my measurements were totally off or something, and instead of adorable little cookie confections, they turned out rather incredible-hulk-ish. There was far too much dry ingredient to be able to mix into the meringue. There was far too much Matcha tea powder, period. The whole mixture was dry and deep dark, dark green. Not a single view of the little "feet" at the base of the cookies. Not a single glossy top. Not terribly appetizing or appealing (note the photo above right). The one great thing was the filling, which turned out perfect. 
 

Successful Matcha Macarons with Raspberry Filling

In the meanwhile, a couple of days back, out of curiosity, I Googled "Matcha Macarons with Raspberry Filling". You cannot even believe how many recipes are out there for this same combination. Oh well; nothing new under the sun, I continue to aver. Still, my idea also encompasses the less-sweet aspect, and the way I chose to make my filling was totally different that those recipes I read. This version is all my own. Once the raspberry puree is fully cooked down to a thick paste, it is nicely tart, toning down the very sweet icing and making a great counterpoint to the less-sweet meringue cookie. Plus, you just cannot beat that lovely, all-natural color.

Raspberry Filling

Raspberry Filling

Makes about 2 cups

12 ounces frozen or fresh, unsweetened raspberries
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 cups confectioners' sugar
¼ teaspoon salt

Place the raspberries in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and cook for about 5 to 10 minutes, until well broken down. Remove from heat and pour into a sieve over a bowl. Use a spoon to press out raspberry juices and any solids that will pass through the sieve. Keep pressing until the seeds are looking very dry inside the sieve. With a clean spoon scrape off any thick raspberry puree from the outside of the sieve and stir well into the juices. Discard the seeds and return the puree to a clean saucepan. Set over low heat, allowing the puree to cook down to approximately 2 tablespoons of very thick puree. Let cool, not refrigerated.

Straining raspberries - cooked down puree - mixed with icing

Make the frosting by first placing the butter into a stand mixer and beating on medium speed for 8 minutes, until very light and nearly white in color, scraping down sides and bottom as needed. Slow the beating speed to as low as it will go and add in the confectioners' sugar and salt. Beat gently about 1 minute, to incorporate the dry ingredients, then increase to medium speed and beat a further 6 minutes, scraping down sides twice during this time. The frosting will be very light and fluffy. Add in the completely cooled 2 tablespoons of raspberry puree and beat well to completely incorporate.

Use immediately or refrigerate, well covered for up to a week. Bring completely to room temperature before using.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Round Two . . .

As I said, somehow last week I had to have measured or weighed wrong. It can happen to the best of us. I went back and re-examined my older recipe, re-read my own blog, and still couldn't find any flaw in it, so apparently it was my measuring at fault last week. Today, I tried it again. I still had plenty of the filling left to use, so it was only the macarons themselves I had to re-do. And today I worked carefully and measured carefully and they came out - if not completely perfect - at least 98% close. I am more than happy. The tops are not 100% smooth. But there are lovely little feet at the base of each cookie. The flavor of the Matcha is lovely and not overdone. I am happy. 

Matcha Macarons with Raspberry Filling

In order to make macarons less sweet, there are a couple of things that can be done without totally screwing up the delicate balance of the recipe. 

1. It is possible to substitute 1/10th of the confectioners' sugar (but no more, at the risk of altering the consistency needed) with rice flour. Simply take the total amount of the confectioners' sugar called for in a recipe, easiest done by weight, and multiply by 1/10th:  8 ounces x .10 = .8 ounce. This means that this same amount (.8 ounce) is removed from the confectioners' sugar, leaving 7.2 ounces of the sugar, as well as measuring out .8 ounce of rice flour to add back in. This keeps the proportion even, without upsetting balance.
2. You may substitute 1 tablespoon of the almond meal with 1 tablespoon of unsweetened cocoa powder or Matcha tea powder, both bitter on their own, which further helps tone down the sweetness.

Today, I re-weighed and re-measured these substitutions, to ensure that my older recipe was okay. As the photos demonstrate, this time they came out quite well. I think I might add in just a little more egg white, if I was making these again. Maybe using 4 ounces of egg white would give a bit more looseness to the batter, making for smoother tops. That will be my next test.

Altogether, the macarons came out really wonderfully, with far less bitterness from the Matcha than that first time, and the nice bright and tart raspberry filling just pops with flavor.

Matcha Macarons with Raspberry Filling

Made 76 (1½-inch) individual macarons or 38 sandwiches

Matcha Macarons with Raspberry Filling

7.2 ounces (204 grams) confectioners' sugar
0.8 ounces (22 grams) rice flour
5.4 ounces (153 grams) almond meal
0.2 ounces (4 grams, or 1 tablespoon) good quality Matcha tea powder
3.85 ounces egg whites (3 to 4 medium), completely room temperature
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1.4 ounces (3 tablespoons) superfine sugar

One recipe for Raspberry Filling, above

Set the egg whites in a squeaky clean glass or metal bowl and allow them to come completely to room temperature, at least 2 hours.

Draw 1½-inch circles, spaced at least 1-inch apart, on the underside of three sheets of parchment. Set the parchment onto three baking sheets with the circles on the under side. They can be seen through, giving a template. Make at least 80 circles. Set baking sheets aside.

Weigh out the almond meal first and pass through a sifter or sieve with medium holes. Any almond bits that do not pass through, place these into a tablespoon measure. Remove a further amount from the sifted almond meal, enough to top off the tablespoon measure, leveled. This tablespoon of almond will not be used; discard or return to the bag of meal. Return the sifted almond meal to the sifter and add in the tablespoon of Matcha powder. Sift again, and once completely sieved through, return any bits of almond that did not pass through, back to the bowl with the rest (some become so coated with the Matcha powder that they seem too big, but they are not). Once more, add the sifted almond-Matcha mixture back to the sifter. Add in the confectioners' sugar and the rice flour and sift the whole mixture into the bowl and set aside.

Prepare a piping bag, or a zip-top bag and have it ready. The batter will need to be used right away once finalized.

With extremely clean beaters and a stand or hand mixer on medium speed, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar until they are very foamy and holding soft peaks. Continue beating, raising the speed and adding in the superfine sugar, one tablespoon at a time, until well incorporated and the mixture is holding stiff peaks.

Using a large spatula, fold the dry mixture into the meringue in three additions, folding each addition in completely before adding the next third. It should take a total of about 50 to 60 "folds" to completely incorporate all the dry ingredients. (Folding: Spatula down the center of the bowl from 12 to 6 o'clock and continuing the swipe down around and up the side edges of the bowl and folding over to the center. Turn the bowl slightly and repeat, until all the dry is mixed in.) At this point, the batter should resemble a lava flow, a slow but definite slide off the spatula. If not, then do a couple more folds.

Scoop the batter into the prepared bag and snip off the tip to make a ½-inch opening. Be careful, the batter is soft and will start to run out. Pipe the batter inside the circle templates on the parchment. The batter should spread only slightly. Once finished piping all the circles on one sheet, set the bag aside and with both hands, lift the baking sheet and let it drop at least three times from a height of about 6 or 7 inches. This helps to release air bubbles. If any air bubbles appear on the surface but do not break open, use a straight pin to burst them. Set the pan aside and proceed with piping rounds of batter inside the circles on the next sheet, repeating with the lifting and dropping once that pan is filled. If there is more batter, continue on the next sheet of parchment.

Once finished piping all the batter, set the trays aside for 30 to 60 minutes and let them air dry. The tops of the meringue cookies should be dry to the (gentle) touch. Fifteen minutes before you are going to bake the cookies, set the oven to 300 degrees. Set one tray in the oven and time for 5 minutes. Rotate the tray 180 degrees and bake for a further 5 minutes. Then put the handle of a wooden spoon in the oven door to keep it slightly opened and bake a further 5 minutes. Once done, replace the tray with the next one and repeat the sequence.

When all the meringue cookies are baked and cooled, you can begin removing them from the parchment. Understand that these meringues are quite delicate and need to be handled gently. They should not stick badly to the parchment, but if they do not lift off easily, use the method of sliding the parchment over the edge of the counter and effecting release of the meringues that way.

If your filling is prepared, pipe a small amount in the center of the underside of one cooled meringue, then gently press a second meringue over top. Repeat with all the meringues.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

More Morning Muffins

"BAKE from scratch" Beet & Goat Cheese Muffins

Muffins are a lovely start to a morning. I surely don't make them too often, but I do love them. This quarter's issue of "BAKE from Scratch" had a feature with (I believe) 7 different muffin recipes. I went a little wild with the last quarter's issue with the 8 different kinds of scones. I somehow cannot get quite as excited about the muffins for some reason. There are some that certainly piqued my interest. One of them was a recipe that contained pureed beets (making them prettily pink in color), goat cheese (for a little piquancy), lots and lots of orange zest and a whole lot of streusel.

I made these last because I happened to have pureed beets in my freezer. I used them to make a most excellently moist Chocolate Beet Cake, though if any of my readers have kept up with my blogs, they will know that chocolate is very low on my list of things to make or eat. Ergo, I still have lots of pureed beets in the freezer!

Matcha & Black Sesame Muffins

Another of the muffin recipes that called my attention was one that used Matcha Green Tea powder and black sesame seeds. I love using Matcha powder in recipes and have made many things this way. I made some really excellent molded individual Black Sesame Matcha Cheesecakes once. They were to DIE for. I made some Green Tea Lime Sables about a year ago, and a GF Angelfood Cake with Green Tea Pistachio Swirl a year ago March. I love the Green color in things, though the flavor does not always come through strongly. 

Matcha & Black Sesame Muffins

While reading the recipe for the muffins in "BAKE from scratch", I rather disagreed with the method for making the muffins, and also with the streusel for the top. I followed the recipe for the pretty beet muffins to the letter. I was unsure how much beet flavor would come through for one thing, but the streusel seemed excessive, and excessively sweet. There was as much sugar in the entire muffin recipe as was in the streusel part. To me, that was just plain overkill. The same went for the Green Tea muffins. I love sweets; don't get me wrong. I do love sweets. But sometimes, there can be too much of a good thing. I opted to skip the streusel entirely on the green tea muffins and instead use the black sesame in the recipe. One thing I particularly liked in the recipe as it was presented was the use of almond meal. This would automatically make them moist. I kept that idea. Instead of streusel, I just sprinkled the muffins with sliced almonds before baking, to make them look pretty.

All the recipes in the magazine were sized for jumbo muffin tins. I do not own jumbo muffin tins, though I do have a 12-well square holed tin. I believe the square shape holds a larger amount than a regular muffin tin, though I have not officially measured. I know when making this recipe, it all fit into the square holed 12-well tin, though when I made one of the other recipes in a regular muffin tin, I had to use 3 extra wells in a regular tin to accommodate. Be aware of

this when pouring into the tins, and also when baking. Larger, jumbo muffins will take longer to bake through completely. I was so very pleased with what I did and how they came out. Here is my method:

Matcha & Black Sesame Muffins

Makes 8 jumbo muffins or 12 - 16 regular muffins

Matcha & Black Sesame Muffins

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup almond meal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
4 teaspoons Matcha green tea powder 
1 tablespoon black sesame seeds
1 cup brown sugar
2 large eggs 
1 cup milk
¼ cup (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted
½ cup sliced almonds, for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray the wells of 12 - 16 regular muffin tin wells with cooking spray, or simply use muffin papers.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the first 6 ingredients. In another bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, eggs, milk and melted butter. Pour the liquid ingredients into the wet ingredients and stir well with a silicone spatula or a spoon, until no dry ingredients are left. Divide the batter between the prepared muffin tins and sprinkle the tops with the sliced almonds.

Bake the muffins for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Remove the muffins from the tin to cool on a rack. 


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Back from the Holidays - Happy New Year

Before drizzling with melted white chocolate

My husband and I got to visit with most of my sisters and also some friends over the recent holidays. It is always a celebration when my sisters get together and only one missed out this time, so there were 5 of us, along with spouses, some children and some grandchildren. My sister hosting most of the get together had 20 people in her house. The decibel level was amazing! It was a riotously good time. The week prior to Xmas we visited with friends and also enjoyed their company immensely. I am grateful for all the people we got to spend time with, some for the first time. I am grateful to have been able to arrive safely at all the destinations, though driving conditions were not always optimal. And, grateful to be home safely as well. 

Before leaving for the holidays I had done some baking and prep for holiday goodies. One new item I made was a White Chocolate Matcha Bark with Pistachios, Almonds and Rose Petals. I have had a fascination with Matcha green tea for some time. I have found that all Matcha is not created equal. The best, and best for drinking can be exceedingly costly, while there are some sold that are so pale in color as to hardly be noticeable. The best is a deep and bright green, or so I have read. My first attempt at buying Matcha green tea powder yielded a very pale green powder that required large amounts if one was looking for color in the final product. I had made some Pistachio Tea Cookies, a version of Snowballs. They were delightfully flavored, but their color was pale, pale green.

Paler Matcha Cookies left, Darker Matcha Cookies right

Then this past year I ran out of that powder and ordered another bag, this time being more careful of what I was ordering. This batch was a deep green, nearly olive, and far stronger flavored. I made the Pistachio Tea Cookies once again and this time I used less of the Matcha powder, yet the recipe yielded a far deeper green color, shown in the photos above. The flavor was excellent both times, though the tea flavor was slightly more pronounced this second time around. I explain this so that any who are unfamiliar with this Matcha powder might know what they are looking at, or for.

Back to the White Chocolate

I guess in my life, I had always taken for granted what was called white chocolate. I recall loving white chocolate as a child. Perhaps because when I was a child, there was actually white chocolate made with cocoa butter. These days it is becoming harder and harder to find any true white chocolate at all. What is commonly sold is an approximation of white chocolate, and often with no cocoa butter in the ingredients. It never occurred to me that one could make white chocolate from scratch!

After drizzling with melted white chocolate

Generally, white chocolate is a combination of cocoa butter, whole milk powder and sugar. Often, the white chocolate sold commercially is far too sweet. Making it oneself allows one to judge the amount of sweetness involved, making it more to taste. I felt that adding the Matcha powder would also help with this sweetness factor, as the Matcha is a bit bitter. I am not much of one for chocolate at all, and rarely eat chocolate. Once in a great while I will crave chocolate, eat a few bits, and be done with it for months on end. Since this is the case, I do not use chocolate often. I keep chocolate chips in case of the need to make cookies. I generally do not make candy. One of my sisters does make candies and does a lovely job of it. But not me. Which brings me to the subject of "tempering."

Tempering Chocolate

I will not go into too great detail on tempering chocolate here - only enough so you might try out this recipe with some success. Tempering is not absolutely necessary. What tempering adds to the outcome is that shiny exterior and a crisp snap when it is broken. Since I was starting from scratch, I felt I might as well go the whole nine yards and see if I could successfully temper the white chocolate.

Tempered White Chocolate Matcha Bark with a lovely shine

In order to temper chocolate, it is necessary to have on hand some commercial (or homemade) chocolate that has been previously tempered.  Since I was making this white chocolate from scratch with cocoa butter, I had to get something commercial that was previously tempered. I found some Lindt White Chocolate with true cocoa butter in it. This previously tempered chocolate had already had a chemical chain reaction called "seeding" occur. Some of this commercial tempered chocolate is needed to "seed" the new batch of chocolate. Tempering is required for this shiny exterior and crisp snap on breaking whether it is white or dark chocolate being tempered. 

Tempered White Chocolate Matcha Bark with drizzled white chocolate

In tempering white chocolate, bring ¾ of the chocolate (in my case all of the new white chocolate made from cocoa butter) to 110 degrees F. Chop the remaining ¼ of the chocolate (in my case some commercial white chocolate kept aside, i.e. the Lindt) into small pieces and keep handy. Remove the melted chocolate from the heat as soon as it reaches 110 degrees and begin stirring in the chopped commercial chocolate, a few bits at a time. Stir gently, so as not to incorporate air bubbles, and allow the pieces to melt before adding more. Continue adding in pieces of the "seed" chocolate until the temperature is reduced to 83 degrees.

At this point, remove any unmelted pieces of the "seed" chocolate. It is suggested to use a blow dryer to heat the sides of the pan gently. Blow the hot air onto the sides of the pan in 5 to 10 second bursts, until the temperature of the chocolate increases to 87 degrees F. Now, proceed with whatever is being done, whether using the chocolate for dipping or for pouring out onto a surface, as in my recipe. 

A Note on Dried Rose Petals

I happened to have some dried rosebuds in my spice pantry, as I had used them when making my Ras el Hanout. Not everyone will have dried rose petals in their cupboards, so these can be left out entirely, if desired. For the Xmas holidays, I felt the pretty dark rose colored petals would look great on the green colored chocolate. If desired, dried rose petals are available on www.amazon.com.

White Chocolate Matcha Bark with Pistachios, Almonds and Rose Petals

White Chocolate Matcha Bark

Makes approximately ¾ pound candy

12 ounces (¾ pound) cacao butter
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1½ cups confectioners' sugar
3 - 5 teaspoons Matcha green tea powder
1 tablespoon dried whole milk powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 - 5 drops rosewater
1½ tablespoons chopped pistachios
1½ tablespoons sliced almonds
2 tablespoons crushed dried rose petals
½ teaspoon medium grind Himalayan sea salt 

FOR TEMPERING:
1 bar (4.4 oz.) Lindt Classic White Chocolate Bar, broken or cut into small pieces

In a double boiler, set over (not in) boiling water at a gentle simmer, melt the cacao butter and coconut oil. Stir or sift together the confectioners' sugar, green tea powder and dried whole milk powder. Stir this mixture into the melted cacao butter. Add in the rosewater and vanilla extract. Pour onto a Silpat or proceed with tempering.

To Temper: With a candy thermometer, or one that will show lower temperatures from 83 to 110 degrees, monitor the temperature until the chocolate reaches 110 degrees. Remove from heat. Begin adding the Lindt white chocolate pieces, one or two at a time, stirring gently to melt. Add more only once the previous pieces have melted. Monitor the temperature carefully until the temperature decreases to 83 degrees F. Have handy a blow dryer. Begin blowing the warm air at he sides of the pan in bursts of 5 to 10 seconds. Monitor the temperature until the temperature of the chocolate reaches 87 degrees. 

Have ready a Silpat or other silicone surface, or grease aluminum foil and place on a baking sheet. Pour the tempered white chocolate onto the surface. Combine the chopped pistachios, sliced almonds and rose petals with the Himalayan salt and sprinkle this mixture over top of the chocolate. Allow the chocolate to cool completely, then break apart into chunks and store in a tightly sealed tin. If desired, melt any remaining Lindt White Chocolate and drizzle over the top.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Beets in Chocolate Cake Oh My

Chioggia Beets, ready to go in the oven

What next? Beets used in chocolate cake may not be a new thing for many people, but for me the first I ever heard of it was last week when I was given many bags of beets from someone's garden. I love beets. Mainly, I would pickle them and either eat them that way or make my Grandmother's Horseradish with beets for Easter (or any time there is ham around the house). There is another way I have eaten beets in recent years, since finding a recipe in an ad in Food and Wine Magazine. It was one of F & W's Grace Parisi recipes called Lemon and Garlic Roasted Beets, and was created to pair with Folie a Deux's "Menage a Trois" red wine. The recipe does pair excellently with the wine, but just the beets alone are just addictive for me; I just can't stop eating them. That recipe is no longer available on Food and Wine's website, but with a few little changes, I have been making them myself for years. I made them a couple of years back using Chioggia Beets from the Farmers' Market. They were the prettiest things you've ever seen. Well, if you like beets. 

Chocolate Beet Mini Cupcakes

So, you must get the idea - I love beets. Yet in all my years, I never heard of or thought of using them in cake. I don't know why, really. After all, we make carrot cakes and zucchini bread. Why not use beets? They would provide the same moistness as these other vegetables. I asked the woman for the recipe she used, as she said it was her family's favorite chocolate cake. 

That day I came home with all those beets, I first washed, trimmed and peeled all the largest beets, wrapped them individually in foil and baked them. Smaller ones were done at 55 minutes; larger ones took up to 75 minutes in a 400-degree oven. I pureed the whole batch and got quite a bit of pureed beets, for use in cake or for anything else. I kept a couple of cups, in separate freezer baggies in the fridge, to use for a cake. I looked up "Chocolate Beet Cake" on the internet and found many recipes, with many variations. As usual, I compared those recipes to my idea of a chocolate cake or another similar type cake using a vegetable and created a recipe of my own.

A Slice of Chocolate Beet Cake

I was going to be making appetizers for the Open House this past Sunday, and thought to add in a few mini cupcakes to the agreed-upon foods. It is often the case that someone requires a special diet. Around here it seems gluten intolerance is one of the biggest difficulties. Since the fillings I created for the cherry tomatoes and endive leaves were both gluten free, I thought to give this cake recipe a try using gluten free flours.  I have found that gluten free cakes and dessert loaves seem to be more moist in general, so I proceeded with this in mind.

The recipe is large enough to make a 2-layer (8-inch) cake or a 9 x 13-inch pan. I used slightly less than half the batter and made 24 mini cupcakes. The rest of the batter I baked in a 9-inch round cake pan. I am sure the batter could be divided into two 9-inch pans, but the cakes would be far thinner; less lofty. The cake and the cupcakes turned out absolutely delicious. Again, as with the Maraschino Cherry Cake I made for my husband's birthday, it seemed the cake was done before I noticed, and it was a little more dry than I wanted. Not as dry as the cherry cake, mind you. This one is really nice. It could, however, have taken a few minutes less in the oven. 

I want to make this cake again, using a few different ideas. I do not keep cooking oil in the house, except for olive oil. I would like to try using melted butter or melted coconut oil instead of creaming the room temperature butter. I would also like to try using more of the beets than I did. I went conservatively for this first cake, using only 1 cup of beets. More would make a moister cake, and as there was absolutely no "beet" flavor in this cake, I have more confidence going with a larger amount. Here is my recipe as it stands today:

Chocolate Beet Cake (Gluten Free optional)

Makes two 8-inch round cakes, or one 9 x 13-inch cake

1 cup cooked, pureed beets (about 2 medium)
2 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
2 cups "6-2-1 gluten-free all-purpose flour blend" (or use regular all-purpose flour)

Unbaked batter left                 |                Baked cake on right

½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda

• (If using a GF flour blend:add 1½ teaspoons guar gum, and 2 tablespoons of powdered egg whites)
  

½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1½ cup sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a small saucepan over low heat melt together the 4 tablespoons of butter and the 2 ounces of chocolate. Once just melted, remove from heat and set aside to cool to room temperature.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 on Convection). Grease two 8-inch pans and line them with parchment. Grease the parchment. Set aside. IF using a 9 x 13 inch pan where the cake will remain in the pan, it is not necessary to line the pan.

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. If making the cake gluten free, ass the guar gum and powdered egg whites to the bowl and whisk well to combine.

In a mixer bowl, cream together the 8 tablespoons butter with the sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Add in the pureed beets and mix to combine. Add in the dry ingredients and mix just until incorporated. Divide the mixture equally between the two 8-inch pans, or pour all the mixture into the 9 x 13 inch pan.

If making regular cupcakes, I estimate about 1 dozen. If making mini cupcakes, the minimum yield will be 48.

Bake the 8-inch cakes for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out with a few fudgy crumbs. The 9 x 13 will take a few minutes more. The mini cupcakes took about 12 minutes.

Allow the 8-inch cakes to rest in the pan for 10 minutes before turning out to cool completely before frosting.
For this cake I made a frosting using 1 part cream cheese to two parts butter and flavored it with green tea powder and a little pistachio flavoring. For this frosting the butter and cream cheese MUST be very soft, at room temperature, or it will not whip properly. The flavors were a wonderful match:

Pistachio Green Tea Icing

Enough to frost top and sides of a two layer 8-inch cake

Pistachio Green Tea Icing

2 sticks or 8 ounces unsalted butter, room temperature
4 ounces cream cheese
4 cups confectioners' sugar
½ teaspoon salt
1 - 2 teaspoons Matcha Green Tea Powder, optional
a few drops of pistachio flavoring, optional
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 - 2 tablespoons heavy cream, as needed

In a stand mixer, beat the first two ingredients on medium or medium high for 8 minutes, until nearly white and very soft. Sift together in a separate bowl the confectioners' sugar, salt and green tea powder if using. Stop the mixer and add these dry ingredients all at once. Turn mixer on to very low speed for about one minute, until the dry ingredients are moistened. Add the flavorings. Increase mixer speed to medium or medium high and beat for 6 minutes more, adding the cream if necessary to make it spreading consistency.

This makes a very pale green colored icing. If more color is desired, add in a few drops of green food coloring. I grated a little more of the bittersweet chocolate to sprinkle over the icing.

My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake for St. Paddy's

I have been saving up egg whites, having used the yolks for one thing or another, for the past couple of weeks. Often, I make little meringue cookies, which are wonderful, but I had so many whites I thought maybe an angel food cake would be a nice change. 

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake with Pistachio Green Tea Swirl

Steps 1 & 2: Beat yolks till thick - add water & sugar

Recipes for angel food cakes are very similar. I guess there are only so many possible things to do with the ingredients. Sugar varies little, whites are almost a resounding 12 whites or 1½ cups. Flour might be all-purpose or cake flour or a combo. But one thing I had never done is make a gluten free angel food cake. I didn't know if it was possible or not. I am not gluten intolerant, so it isn't something I check into unless I want to see if something works. I read a few recipes for a GF angel food, and again, the ingredients were all remarkably similar. One thing I saw was the King Arthur Flour site, which had a little variation: to use 5 yolks and make a bit of a different color to swirl into the angel food batter. Since today is St. Patrick's Day, I thought to try something in the green line. I  had some ground pistachios in a jar, and I have a new packet of Matcha Green Tea. I proceeded much as the KAF recipe stated, though I used less sugar, in all, and added some pistachio flavoring to the green part of the batter. 

Steps 3 & 4: folding in the tea & pistachios

Starting with the yolks first, beating them till thick, I then added hot water and the sugar to the mixer and beat till thick and relatively fluffy. When folding in the nuts and green tea powder, I added 3 drops of pistachio flavoring. I wanted a flavor, but not so overwhelming.

Steps 5 & 6: Beat whites, add sugar

Once that was done, I set that aside and washed the whisk attachment thoroughly, then started with the egg whites, beating with cream of tartar and salt till fluffy. The sugar was added bit by bit and then the vanilla. The dry mixture (¼ cup each of white rice flour, cornstarch, potato starch and tapioca starch) was folded in gently. I added half the egg white mixture to the yolk mixture to make a nice batter. The one and only thing I would do differently is sort of checkerboard the two mixtures in the pan. This would allow for a better swirl throughout. As it was, I layered white in the bottom, then a layer of the green, then the white. I swirled through with a spatula, but the main bulk of the green mixture was in the middle. It is lovely, but not as swirled as I would have preferred.

I do not believe anyone would know this cake was gluten free. It tastes like angel food, is light like angel food, and delicate like angel food. What more can one ask? I am more than pleased with the result. If you do not have GF flours on hand, use cake flour. The result should be extremely similar.

Gluten-Free Angel Food Cake with Pistachio Green Tea Swirl

Makes one 10-inch tube/angel food pan

Steps 7 & 8: Folding white into yolks

1½ cups sugar, divided
¼ cup cornstarch
¼ cup white rice flour
¼ cup potato starch
¼ cup tapioca starch
1½ cups egg whites, room temperature (about 12)
1½ teaspoons cream of tartar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
5 egg yolks
3 tablespoons boiling water
3 - 4 drops pistachio flavoring or almond extract
2 tablespoons Matcha Green Tea powder
⅓ cup finely ground pistachios 

Steps 9 & 10: Batter in pan, then baked

First, place all the sugar into a food processor and whirl until the sugar is very fine, about 5 minutes. Divide the sugar into three separate parts: ¼ cup for the yolks, ¾ cup to combine with the flours, and ½ cup to mix with the egg whites. Set these three portions aside.

Sift together the cornstarch, white rice flour, potato starch, tapioca starch and the ¾ cup of the fine sugar. Repeat the sifting at least 5 times to thoroughly combine and lighten the mixture. Set aside.

Sift together the ground pistachios and the green tea powder and set aside.

Gluten Free Angel Food Cake with Pistachio Green Tea Swirl

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (325 if Convection). Place the 5 yolks into a mixer bowl and whip until they become thick and light lemon colored. Add in the ¼ cup of sugar gradually, beating until incorporated, then drizzle in the boiling water and the flavoring of choice; beat until the volume of the yolks increases (Steps 1 & 2). Remove bowl from the mixer and gently fold in the reserved pistachio and green tea mixture (Steps 3 & 4). Set this aside.

In a clean mixer bowl, with a scrupulously cleaned whisk attachment, beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar and salt until light and frothy. Begin adding the ½ cup of reserved sugar, about 1 - 2 tablespoons at a time, allowing the beating to combine well before adding more. When the sugar is incorporated, add the vanilla (Steps 5 & 6).  Remove bowl from mixer and begin sifting the flour mixture, in 4 separate additions, to the egg whites, very gently folding in to avoid deflating the whites. Once the mixture is totally incorporated, scoop about half the whites into the yolk mixture and fold that together (Steps 7 & 8).

Using an ungreased 10-inch angel food pan with removable bottom, begin adding spoons full of batter to the pan, alternating between the green mixture and the white mixture. Gently rap the pan on a countertop to remove any large air bubbles. Using a spatula or long knife, swirl the implement through the batter to gently mix the two colors (Step 9). Bake the cake for about 40 to 45 minutes, trying not to open the oven door at all before at least 35 minutes have gone by. Once cake tests done, remove from oven and invert pan for at least 1 hour, until barely warm. If your pan does not have the little tabs to keep it high enough so the cake is not being smashed, set the center ring over the neck of a bottle to cool.

Once cooled, run a knife around the outer edge of the pan, and around the center tube. Lift the center of the pan out of the sides and run the knife under the bottom of the cake. Invert the cake onto a cake plate and dust with confectioners' sugar (Step 10). To cut the cake use a serrated knife with a very gently back and forth sawing motion, with no downward pressure.


My passion is teaching people how to create a harmony of flavors with their cooking, and passing along my love and joy of food, both simple or exotic, plain or fancy. I continue my journey in ethnic and domestic cuisines, continuing my journey to explore diverse culinary experiences and hopefully to start you on a journey of your own. Join me also at A Harmony of Flavors on Facebook, and Pinterest.