STEMS & FORKS

Beautiful musings of flora and fare.

Mulled Wine Chocolate Cake with Mulled Wine Swiss Meringue Buttercream and Poached Pears

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This post was sponsored by Woodbridge by Robert Mondavi Wines. All thoughts and opinions are my own. Please enjoy wine responsibly.

Wine, chocolate and cake. My three Achilles heel, my guilty pleasures, my three best amigos. These three are my food soulmates. I know it sounds extreme but that’s how much I love wine, chocolate and cake. And interestingly all three came at different points in my life.

Cake.

As a child, I’d remember attending birthday parties and seeing my friends crowd around the gift table ogling all the colourfully wrapped gifts shaking, sniffing and guessing what was in each package. I however, would be in the kitchen ogling the cake. Wondering what flavour was inside. Praying the icing wasn’t that flavourless saccharin drenched grease from a can but a fluffy home made butter cream or cream cheese icing. I’d then cue myself up in the line of kids just so, to make sure I got the right piece. That is, the largest piece and the piece from the moist centre. And of course, I always had seconds and occasionally thirds. 

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Spiced Rum, Date, Walnut, Molasses Bundt Cake with Rum Caramel Drizzle

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Koreans can’t bake.

That’s been my insecurity since starting this baking journey. That I’m Korean. And unlike my fellow caucasian friends, I have no family pie recipe or a mom that baked chocolate chip cookies with me on Saturday mornings. The only things I baked as a child were Pillsbury crescents from a tin or boxed Duncan Hines. Baking from scratch was never a part of my family growing up.

Instead, my Saturdays consisted of Korean language classes followed by math drills with Sargent Shin… and his chopstick wand. After math, my sisters and I would get to watch some TV whilst stuffing thousands of Korean dumplings called “mandu”. Okay. Maybe not thousands but god did it ever feel like thousands! Only after all the mandus were stuffed and our math drills were done correctly, were my sisters and I allowed to bake Duncan Hines Classic Yellow Cake. And if we were really lucky, my mom would have bought the chocolate icing in a carton for us to ice the yellow cake with. As a child, baking this cake and devouring it was my escape, my utopia, my moment of being unkorean. 

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SweeTango Apple, Chèvre and Cardamom Tart (refined sugar free)

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This is a sponsored post in collaboration with SweeTango. All thoughts and opinions are my own. 

Apples are the most cultivated and universally recognized fruit and perhaps one of the oldest that has existed on earth. It’s also arguably the most written about fruit in fables, religion and myths. It has been symbolized as both good and evil.

In the western world, we know the story of Adam and Eve in the Old Testament, where the serpent tempts man to eat the forbidden fruit thereby starting the fall of man and the Christian definition of sin. Irish folklore has it that if a woman peels the skin of the apple in one continuous ribbon and tosses it over her shoulder then the initials of her future husband will appear. And the Trojan War? Well, the idea of Troy tossing the golden apple to the chosen goddess soon evolved to an ancient Greek tradition of throwing an apple to the one you love. 

SweeTango apples available early October to mid November. See SweeTango.com for a retailer near you

It’s no wonder this beloved fruit has been developed and bred into such amazing varieties. One favourite variety of mine is SweeTango. Grown in Canada exclusively for the Canadian market, SweetTango is a premium apple variety famed for its crisp, sweet, tangy and juicy bite. SweeTango also holds the Guinness World Record for “Loudest Crunch of an Apple” (March 2016) The bite registered at an impressive 79.1 decibels. To put things in perspective, a normal conversation clocks in at 60 decibels and a vacuum or kitchen blender 70-80 decibels (according to American Speech-Language Hearing Association)

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Food Styling and Photography Workshop

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FOOD STYLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 3rd 2018

SOLD OUT

One Day Intensive Workshop

This workshop will demonstrate how to style food to tell the best and most appropriate visual story for your food or subject.  Through elements such as props, natural light, angles, botanicals and editing, the simplest food or subject can be transformed into an opulent visual story. Learn how to achieve a bright and vibrant scene or a dark and moody painterly capture.  

There will be a hands on style sessions where you can create a still life scene with cake, food and props. As well as an opportunity to work with a model to learn the art of Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro/lighting and triangle technique in portraits. All this will be followed up with a tutorial on editing your work in Adobe Lightroom.

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FOOD STYLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

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FOOD STYLING AND PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP

SATURDAY OCTOBER 20TH 2018

SOLD OUT

One Day Intensive Workshop

This workshop will demonstrate how to style food to tell the best and most appropriate visual story for your food or subject.  Through elements such as props, natural light, angles, botanicals and editing, the simplest food or subject can be transformed into an opulent visual story. Learn how to achieve a bright and vibrant scene or a dark and moody painterly capture.  

There will be a hands on style sessions where you can create a still life scene with cake, food and props. As well as an opportunity to work with a model to learn the art of Rembrandt’s chiaroscuro/lighting and triangle technique in portraits. All this will be followed up with a tutorial on editing your work in Adobe Lightroom.

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Carrot Almond Cake with Toasted Meringue – Dairy and Gluten Free

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I hadn’t planned on posting this recipe but you asked, so here it is.

I recently had a friend over that was lactose and gluten intolerant that was itching to try one of my cakes. I was also asked by fellow food blogger Andrey Tulsky to collaborate on posting a photograph on Instagram with carrots and one’s pet. And so was born this gluten free and dairy free almond and carrot cake. I love it when I kill two birds with one stone! 

This uber moist, high fibre, vitamin rich cake alone was a bit too “healthy”.  Initially I thought roll cake with orange marmalade to fill. But as I was cutting the cake into mini bite sizes and sampling the cutaway pieces, I realized it needed something fluffy, soft, sweet and naughty. It needed toasted meringue.

And in all fairness, meringue isn’t really “naughty” is it. Its simply egg whites and sugar. It’s the torching part that’s naughty I suppose. Firing up pure white fluffs into a light brown caramelized skin. Totally naughty. But if you’d rather “nice”, feel free to simply dust the sheet cake with some icing sugar. 

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PRIVATE FLORAL MASTERCLASS: DUTCH INSPIRED URN ARRANGEMENT

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PRIVATE 1:1 FLORAL MASTERCLASS: DUTCH INSPIRED URN ARRANGEMENT

Private One Day Workshops:

In the spirit of the Dutch Golden Age floral still life paintings, we will be creating beauty “vanitas” style. The idea that life is transient. As fragile as a large blossom standing tall from a thin stem. As futile as a tulip, blooming to a magnificent bloom only to drop its petals and bear seeds showing a new phase of life that is equally beguiling. The certainty of death, the reality of life for both flower and man is ephemeral. All captured in an unruly yet structured arrangement where every stem and bloom is purposeful. 

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Paris The Goddess of Liberty

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Arc De Triomphe, formerly Place de l’Étoile, honours those who served in French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars

Paris…the city of lights and romance. The first time I went to Paris I was in my mid-twenties – almost two decades ago! It was my second time in Europe but the first time I was awestruck by the sheer overload of beauty. The fashion forward people, architecture (particularly Haussmann’s architectural renovation in the “everyday” structures), the symmetrical gardens, galleries, luxury brand names and food overwhelmed me. It was such an extreme contrast to Toronto. Everything in Paris was made with such artistic detail. At twenty-something years old, I felt I had found my soulmate.

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Pavlova with White Currant Curd

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I’ve been promising a Pavlova recipe for ages. And while the web is doused with Pavlova recipes, I thought this white currant curd one might stand out. And stand out she does!  I rigorously researched (meaning I Googled it), and I couldn’t find a white currant Pavlova or for that matter a white currant curd anywhere online. 

It’s been a week since I got back from Paris, France and if you’ve been following along on my Instagram account you’ll know Pierre and I were sick for half the time we were there. Food poisoning from lightly seared tuna during a heatwave. I never seem to learn. (Second time…but the seafood stands look utterly scrumptious!) The worst part about this food poisoning story…I had forced Pierre to eat my leftover tuna (of course before I knew it was tainted), and the Airbnb we stayed at only had one toilet. Merde! 

So why a Pavlova now? Before heading to Paris, Pierre had made a mental list of all the foods he wanted to eat. Meringues were one of them. As a child, Pierre and his parents would make a yearly pilgrimage from Geneva to Paris to do some shopping. Not LV or Chanel, but books and antiques. Very old and special books you’d find in the markets along the Seine river. But for Pierre, it was meringues. He’d dream of those fluffy saccharin-drenched, swirly clouds of egg whites every year as a child. 

It’s been 14 or so years since we’ve both been to France and unfortunately that meringue plan never happened for Pierre. Between jet-lagged kids, food poisoning and my workshop, there were maybe at most, two days that we got to venture out …albeit with recovering woozy bellies. So for two days, we focused on showing the kids Paris’ sights and attractions much to their conspicuous lack of enthusiasm.

In the meanwhile white currant curd Pavlova for Pierre…crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside sweet meringue discs, sandwiching a sugary but tart curd topped with freshly whipped cream. Sorry Pierre! But French meringue will have to wait. First world problems. C’est la vie!

Bon app!

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Pavlova with White Currant Curd
Author: 
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 7
 
For a single tier Pavlova, make exactly half the quantity.
Ingredients
  • FOR THE PAVLOVA:
  • 6 Egg whites room temperature
  • pinch of salt
  • 300 grams or 1½ cups super fine white sugar
  • 2 table spoons corn starch
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 teaspoon vinegar
  • FOR THE CURD:
  • 10 ounces or 285 grams more or less of fresh white currants stemmed
  • 4 tablespoons water
  • 6 egg yolks
  • 100 grams or ½ cup white sugar
  • 115 grams or ½ cup unsalted butter room temperature cut into cubes
  • FOR THE WHIPPED CREAM
  • 473 ml or 1 pint fresh heavy whipping cream
  • 4 table spoons fine white sugar
  • 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
  1. DIRECTIONS - PAVLOVA:
  2. Preheat oven with rack in middle to 325 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper and draw two 7 inch circles with a gap of at least 4 inches between the two circles
  3. In a very clean stand mixer with very clean whisk attachment, beat the egg whites and salt on low speed and work your way up gradually to medium high speed until soft peaks are formed
  4. Start adding the sugar on high speed a table spoon at a time until egg whites are stiff and shiny...test by holding bowl upside down...whites shouldn't move. As well, take a bit of meringue and test between fingers...should be smooth with no grittiness left from sugar...takes about 5-7 minutes
  5. Sift the cornstarch over the meringue and whisk again on medium for max 5 seconds
  6. With spatula, gently fold in the vanilla and vinegar into the meringue until combined
  7. Take spatula and evenly divide the meringue into the two circles traced on the parchment paper
  8. Take an off set spatula and smooth out into circles and smooth out tops...you can make swirls or kisses on the side for an interesting design
  9. Place baking tray with meringues in 325 F pre heated oven but immediately turn down to 300 F and bake for 1 hour.
  10. Once bake time is finished, turn oven off, but do not remove or open door to oven!!! Leave in oven for at least 2-3 more hours. !Important otherwise major cracking and/or sinking pavlova! (keep in mind a little sinking and a little cracking is okay!)
  11. Allow to complete cooling outside in room temperature
  12. DIRECTIONS - CURD:
  13. While the pavlova is baking, in a medium saucepan, cook the stemmed white currants and the water for about 5 minutes all the while mashing them with a potato masher
  14. Once the berries have reduced, remove from heat and push the currant puree through a fine mesh strainer into a bowl... (you'll be left with about ¾ cup of currant puree) ..discard seeds and skin
  15. In a clean saucepan over medium heat add the egg yolks, sugar and white currant puree until well mixed and dissolved- whisking constantly about 4 minutes
  16. Add butter cubes one at a time once mixture warms up and is lightly bubbling and whisk frequently for another 5 minutes or until the mixture is thick and bubbling
  17. Strain through sieve into a bowl (for quicker cooler, use a baking tray lined with parchment paper.)
  18. Cover with plastic film so it touches the curd and refrigerate
  19. DIRECTIONS - WHIPPED CREAM:
  20. Take a clean stand mixer bowl, the whisk attachment, the cream and pop in freezer for 10 minutes
  21. Put the cream, sugar and vanilla extract in the cold stand mixer bowl and whisk on high speed for 1-1½ minutes or until medium stiff peaks form - do not over mix!
  22. ASSEMBLING PAVLOVA:
  23. Place first meringue layer down on your cake stand, take an offset spatula and spread the cooled down white currant curd evenly over the layer
  24. Place next meringue layer on top ...top with all the whipped cream
  25. Garnish with some white currant berries
  26. Keep refrigerated for up to 2 days, however be aware pav will become soggy. Best to consume same day it's been prepared.
  27. Pavlova discs can be made a few days in advance and stored at room temperature in an air tight container with parchment paper between the discs to avoid them from sticking

 

 

PARIS FOOD AND FLORAL WORKSHOP

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Elise Dumas, The Pineapple Chef

Paris Food and Floral Styling Workshop 

SOLD OUT 

POUR LE FRANÇAIS 🇫🇷, VOIR CI-DESSOUS

I’m thrilled to announce that I’ll be co-hosting an epic workshop on food and floral photography from the world’s epicentre of style, Paris, France with the talented food stylist and photographer, Elise Dumas from The Pineapple Chef.

Join us for a full day of intensive learning – whether you’re a hobby photographer or an established influencer, you’ll get tons of photography hacks and best practices to elevate you to the next level. We’ll have step-by-step demos, hands-on practice breakouts, and a practical session on how to navigate the social media sphere to put your best foot forward.

Spaces are limited so book soon.

Food & Floral Photography Master Class:

When:

Saturday, July 7th 2018

9:00 AM – 5:00 PM

Where: 

Gorgeous classic Parisian Studio in the trendy 7th Arrondissement, Paris, France

Instructors:

Elise Dumas, The Pineapple Chef, @thepineapplechef http://thepineapplechef.com/en

Betty Binon, Stems & Forks, @stemsandforks http://stemsandforks.com/

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