Sweet Corn, Blackberry and Lime Cake

My cake lust strikes again! I'm steadily working down my list of weird cakes I've dreamed up, one month at a time. I'm still finding the whole process a wonderful stress reliever, giving myself over to entire days of crafting cakes. It demands my full attention and creativity and when I'm done, it's like waking up from the best meditation. Probably.

What am I saying? I don't meditate.

So, this particular cake went through several iterations in my mind, until I recently got around to watching the David Chang episodes of Mind of a Chef. One binge session later and I was buying freeze-dried corn, ring molds and acetate online and prepping to be the best Christina Tosi I could be. 

I don't think she'd hire me to work at Milk Bar based on this cake but I was pretty happy with it! I successfully turned cornmeal into a light and fluffy cake, freeze-dried corn into a super-stable whipped cream, and blackberries into, well, it definitely was more sticky goo than jam, but let's say jam. And after I stacked it all up and froze it, it didn't fall apart on me! 

Best of all, I fed it to friends and they seemed to like it? Though they had had A LOT of wine at that point.

It's kind of all over the place, texture-wise, with fluffy cake and soft cream, sticky filling and crunchy cookies. And the flavor makes you think a little bit, coasting to the savory side of the spectrum through the cake and whipped cream layers, before slamming back to sweet with the blackberries. I was into it. 

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Sweet Corn, Blackberry and Lime Cake

Cake adapted from Alice Medrich, whipped cream adapted from Serious Eats, corn cookie crumbles adapted from Flour. There are a few components here, but cake and all fillings can be made ahead and stored before assembling.

For the Sweet Corn Cake:

• 1/2 cup sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup corn flour (masa)
• 1/4 cup white rice flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3 large egg yolks
• 1/4 cup grapeseed oil
• 2 limes, zested
• 4 large egg whites, room temperature
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

For the Corn Cookie Crunch:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime zest
• 1 egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup cornmeal
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

For the Corn Whipped Cream:

• 1/2 cup freeze dried corn
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 16 oz heavy whipping cream

For the Lime Blackberry Jam:

• 2 cups blackberries
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• zest 1/2 lime
• 2 tbs lime juice

1. Make the cake layers: Add the sugar to a large mixing bowl and set aside 1/8 cup of the sugar. Add flours to the bowl, with baking powder and salat, then add the egg yolks, oil and 1/4 cup water. Add lime zest to bowl and whisk all to incorporate. Set aside for 15 minutes to let the flours absorb the moisture. Heat oven to 325 degrees.
2. Combine the egg whites and cream of tartar in the bowl of a stand mixer. Beat with the whist attachment on medium-high until creamy and white and the beater leaves a trail. Slowly sprinkles in the 1/8 cup sugar while beating on high speed until firm, not dry peaks form. If you aren't sure you are there yet it's better to under-beat the whites.
3. Fold half of the whites into the batter to lighten it, then fold in the remaining egg whites until full blended. Divide batter between 3 ungreased 6-inch pans, and bake, checking for doneness at 15 minutes by inserting a toothpick in the middle (see note). If it comes out dry, the cake is done, otherwise bake a few minutes more. When done, place pans on a cooling rack and slide a thin knive or icing spatula around the sides to loosen, then let cool completely in pans. When cool, remove from pans for assembly or to store in fridge or freezer wrapped tightly in plastic.
4. Make the corn whipped cream: In a food processor, grind the corn and sugar together for 1 minute, until fine. Add the heavy cream and stir around a bit with a fork to break up any chunks of the corn sugar mixture. Pulse together for up to 2 minutes, until thick, being very careful not to cross the line from thick whipped cream to butter. If you aren't sure, it's best to stop and finish with a mixer. Transfer to an airtight container and chill until needed.
5. Make the corn cookie crumbles: Heat oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of a stand mixer, rub together the sugar and the lime zest. Add the butter and cream together on medium speed for 5 minutes, scraping down the sides as needed. Add eggs and vanilla and beat for 2-3 more minutes, until combined, again scraping the bowl as needed.
6. Whisk together flour, cornmeal, baking powder and salt in a small bowl, then beat into the mixture at low speed until completely combined. Drop by 1/4 cup spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake 15-20 minutes, until slightly browned around the edges. Let cool a bit, then break up a few of the cookies into a rough crumble. Spread out on a baking sheet and toast for 10 minutes, until browned and crunchy. Enjoy the remaining cookies as a snack for the baker!
7. Make the blackberry lime jam: Place a plate in the freezer. Combine the berries, sugar and zest in a large pot over medium heat. Stir while the sugar dissolves, crushing the blackberries against the side of the pot with the spoon to help release their juice. 
8. Bring to a rolling boil on high heat for 1 minute, then remove from heat and run through a fine sieve or food mill to remove the seeds.
9. Return to the heat and bring to a simmer, cooking until the jam is thickened, about 15 minutes. Test for jelling by dropping a bit of the jam mixture on the frozen plate. Wait a few seconds, then push the jam with your finger. If it wrinkles, it's done. Stir in the lime juice and set aside to cool completely.
10. Assemble the cake: Using a six-inch cake ring and a sheet of acetate at least 20 inches long, start stacking. On a cake board, place a layer of cake in the cake ring, line with the acetate. Spread half the corn whipped cream across the cake as evenly as possible. Sprinkle with a good amount of cookie crumbles, then spread a third of the jam over the crumbles. Top with another layer of cake and repeat layers until you have topped with the last cake layer, adding another layer of acetate if needed. Spread last 1/3 of jam across the top of the cake and then chill the entire layered cake in the freezer at least 3 hours. Thaw before slicing and serving.

Notes:

• If you don't want to bake 3 layers, you can divide the batter between 2 pans and bake 20-25 minutes. When assembling, slice each layer horizontally about 2/3 of the way up. Stack the thinner layers together into 1 layer on the bottom of the cake.

Vegan Berry Kiwi Pavlova Cake

Friends who don’t cook, how do you eat out or get food delivered EVERY DAY? Do you just eventually get used to it, or do you have strategic ways to make yourself not feel weighed down by it all? I’m on week three of not cooking and I have such dining out fatigue I don’t even know who I am anymore. I started thinking yesterday of where I was going to eat dinner and just sighed. Usually, thinking of dinner is one of my favorite things! 

I thought since I’m staying in an Airbnb I’d be cooking at least a little, but it turns out I don’t really want to have to guess at the purchase date of the dusty bottle of olive oil shoved in back of the cabinet. But I also don’t want to have to pick another place for dinner tonight, either. I’m thisclose to just giving up and going to McDonald’s, but I don't want to be an American cliche and besides, I already feel like that guy from Supersize Me. 

So tell me your secrets please, because this can’t be my mental state going into a week of vacation! I WILL discover all the food New Zealand can offer me in 8 days, and nothing’s going to stop me, but at the same time, I’d rather enjoy it, you know? 

Anyway, I do realize now that I seem to be complaining about going from Australia to New Zealand, but I promise I’m not! I just really, really, want a salad. All I really know about New Zealand food is that a lot of the lamb I buy seems to come from there, so let’s hope some of that meat comes with veggies, yeah? 

The only other thing I know about New Zealand food is that they are in a bit of a war with Australia over ownership of the Pavlova. Not the kind of war I worry about when checking twitter updates on North Korea, but more the kind of war like which tiny taqueria in SF invented the Mission burrito. I don’t know the answer to that one, and I think similarly, the Aussies and the Kiwis just agree to pleasantly disagree about who first thought to pair meringue with berries and cream. 

So, in honor of my flight today (tomorrow? what day is it?) from the Land Down Under to the Land of the Long White Cloud (heyyyy book club!), I made a pavlova!* I didn’t really want to upset tradition too much with this one, so I went with the usual mix of berries, kiwi, and passionfruit to decorate, but that’s where the tradition stops. 

*Obviously, like a month ago, see my above rant.

I’ve been curious about aquafaba, that brine that comes out of a can of chickpeas. Usually I just toss it down the sink, but some desperate vegan discovered that you can whip and whip and whip it until it behaves remarkably similarly to egg whites in baking. That includes adding a ton of sugar and baking it up into meringue, which I did here, and then layered it with a coconut whip cream and the fruit.

It was an impressive miracle of science for sure, but it’s probably my last vegan pavlova. For one thing, I kind of forgot I don’t like whipped coconut cream, and this cake has A LOT of it. You’ve really gotta be into eating that stuff with a spoon to enjoy the amount here. Also, aquafaba bakes up into a beautiful looking meringue, but I think egg whites add a little more stability to desserts, whereas my vegan version was a light-as-air crispy shell that disintegrated at the mere introduction of moisture. You can imagine how well it held up under the weight of whipped coconut cream and juicy fruit. Have you ever seen the episode of Great British Bake Off where they make towers out of eclairs and cream puffs? Call me Paul.

But I managed to take a couple shots of it before it fully collapsed, and it’s certainly pretty! All you vegans out there, enjoy the pudding-like final result! I’ll be busy crying over Yelp and Google maps trying to figure out where to feed myself in Auckland.

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Vegan Berry Kiwi Pavlova Cake

• One 14 oz can chickpeas (unsalted)
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp cream of tartar
• 3 tsp vanilla bean paste, divided
• two 15 oz cans full fat coconut milk
• 2 tbs sugar
• strawberries, sliced
• 1 kiwi, sliced thin
• pulp from 2 passionfruits
• blackberries for garnish

1. Chill cans of coconut milk in fridge upside down, overnight.
2. Make meringue layers: Drain the chickpea brine into a bowl, and reserve the chickpeas for another use. Chill the chickpea brine until cold, about 2 hours.
3. Heat oven to 250 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and trace two 4-inch circles on each. Transfer chickpea brine to the bowl of a stand mixer or a mixing bowl and using the whisk attachment, whisk on high for 5 minutes, until white and foamy and doubled in size. Add the cream of tartar and whisk for another minute. Continue whisking and add the sugar 1 tbs at a time, for about 5 minutes more, until mixture forms stiff, glossy peaks. Whisk in 2 tsp vanilla bean paste.
4. Spoon mixture onto parchment lined sheets, just a bit smaller than the 4-inch circles (mixture will expand a bit when baking). Bake for 2 to 2.5 hours,  until the outsides are firm and crisp and meringues sound hollow when lightly tapped. Turn off oven and leave to cool in oven for at least 4 hours or overnight.
5. When ready to assemble cake, make the whipped coconut cream. Open bottoms of cans and pour off the coconut water. Spoon the chilled coconut cream into the bowl of a mixer, add the sugar and remaining 1 tsp vanilla bean paste. Whisk to soft peaks. 
6. Strain the passion fruit pulp into a small pot and heat to simmering on the stove over medium high heat. Cook for about 1-2 minutes, until thickened and reduced to a syrup. Watch closely as this happens fast! Spoon into a bowl to cool completely.
7. Spread a bit of the coconut cream onto each meringue round, then pipe a thick border of the cream around 3 of the rounds. Fill each with assorted fruit and drizzle with a bit of the passionfruit syrup.
8. Stack the filled layers on top of each other, and top the third filled layer with the last meringue round. Pipe on remaining coconut cream and decorate as desired with strawberries, kiwi, blackberries, and the remaining passionfruit syrup. Serve immediatley.

Vanilla Rhubarb Pear Cider Cake

Oh me oh my this cake.

It was a labor of determination, let me tell you.

The thing about my cake ideas is that they are just that, ideas. They are ephemeral, yet to be turned into real, edible desserts. In some ways, I prefer them that way. My ideas can live in the safety of my mind, constantly evolving and perfecting, but existing in a future, flawlessly presented state, unblemished by reality or my fumbling execution.

But eventually, ideas have to be acted on, and it is then that they show themselves for what they are actually going to be, whether a cake with an overly enthusiastic caramel drip, a too-subtly flavored cardamom cake, or a semi-nude lemon (but no thyme) delight. Usually in the reality vs. expectation war, casualties are rare for me. If my cakes come out not quite as expected but still delicious, I'm happy to call the battle a win and move on. 

But this particular cake gave me pause. It was just tricky for me on all levels, from deciding on a flavor profile to deciding how to bring those flavors into a cake, to then trying to accomplish my original intent, to finally retreating a bit before a second try. 

I knew I wanted to use rhubarb because it is gloriously in season, brilliant red stalks filling the shelves of the produce aisle. But I also had this nagging desire to pair it with pears, all because of a memorable scoop of gelato I ate in Sydney back in November. This pairing raised a few questions for me then, because rhubarb and pears are residents of opposite seasons, so how did they even find each other? The flavor combination was so delicious though that I just decided not to care. As for my interpretation, I still hesitated. While I can certainly find pears now, I didn't really want to bake with them in my current, Spring-loving mood. I knew I would be tempted to pair them with a spice cake and probably some ginger and, well, that just seemed so...autumnal.

So in my first attempt I went with a basic vanilla cake paired with the rhubarb, and compromised with an apple cider mousse made with sparkling cider. That way I still got the flavor without using the actual fruit, and apple seemed somehow a less daring choice in May than pears. The end result was just ok, though. The individual elements were good, but together, I just felt they didn't add up to anything that special. The mousse was fussy and I didn't like the way it changed the texture of the cake layers, and as for the flavor, you can never go wrong with vanilla and rhubarb together, but I suspected those autumnal spices I had hesitated to add were the missing element.

But then! A couple weeks ago I saw this cake and realized I'm not the only one craving fall flavors with my spring produce! I took it as permission to proceed with my original vision and embarked on Rhubarb Pear Cake 2.0. This time, I used the spice cake base from my Apple, Brie & Caramel cake, and sandwiched it around the same vanilla rhubarb compote from version 1.0 and a hard pear cider custard instead of a mousse. The whole cake then got frosted in a blanket of pear cider buttercream before being gently wrapped in a striped coat of many-colored rhubarb. 

Sure, the buttercream still doesn't taste enough like pear for me to be completely happy with it, and my rhubarb wrapping skills are amateur hour, but I'm calling it! The final cake is close enough to my initial vision that I'm not embarrassed to post it here, I get to have my rhubarb and taste pears too, and now I have yummy cake filling my freezer. WIN-WIN-WIN.

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Vanilla Rhubarb Pear Cider Cake

Rhubarb decoration technique adapted from Sprinkle Bakes. Spice cake adapted from King Arthur Flour. This makes one 6-inch cake. Pear Cider reduction, cake, rhubarb filling, and pear cider custard can all be made ahead.

Hard Pear Cider Reduction

• 3 cups hard pear cider, like Perry

Pear Cider Spice cake: 

• 1 1/4 cup white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 cup cake flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
• 6 large eggs, separated
• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup water
• 1/4 cup reduced pear cider
• 1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Vanilla Rhubarb compote:

• 2 stalks rhubarb, trimmed of leaves
• 1 small vanilla bean pod, split
• 2 tbs sugar
• 3/4 cup water

Pear Cider Ginger Custard:

• 1/4 cup hard pear cider reduction
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• pinch salt
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 tbs cornstarch
• 1/2 tbs unsalted butter, softened

Hard Pear Cider Buttercream:

• 3 egg whites
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 1/4 sticks (9 oz) unsalted butter, room temperature 
• 1/4 cup reduced pear cider

Rhubarb strips:

• 4-5 stalks of rhubarb 
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 cup sugar

1. Make the cider reduction: Simmer cider over medium heat until reduced to 3/4 cup, remove from heat and let cool.
2. Make the cake: Heat oven to 350 degrees and prepare three 6 inch cake pans. Butter the bottom and sides of pans, line bottoms with a circle of parchment, butter the parchment, then dust the pans with a coating of flour. Set aside.
3. Whisk the dry ingredients except sugar and cream of tartar together and set aside. In the bowl of a mixer, rub the ginger and sugar together until fully mixed. Add the egg yolks and oil, and mix at low speed to combine. Add water and reduced cider and beat on medium speed for 3 minutes, then fold in the dry ingredients.
4. In another bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, then add the cream of tartar and beat until soft peaks form, then fold the whites into the batter, being careful not to deflate them too much.
5. Divide batter among the cake pans and bake 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on a cooling rack in the pan, then turn out onto the rack and cool completely.
6. While cake is baking and cooling, make the fillings. Chop rhubarb stalks into 1/2 inch pieces. Add to a pot with the sugar and vanilla pod, and cover with the water. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Cover, and simmer for 20 minutes until rhubarb has melted into a pulpy mass. Remove from the heat, uncover and let cool, then strain through a fine mesh strainer. Reserve the lovely pink syrup for another use (it makes an excellent soda). Set rhubarb aside to cool completely.
7. Make the custard: In a small pot over medium heat, whisk together 1/4 cup of the cider reduction with the sugar, ginger, and sour cream. Cook until hot but not boiling.
8. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and then slowly pour in a bit of the hot mixture to temper the eggs, then slowly add the remaining mixture. Dissolve the cornstarch in 1/2 tbs water and whisk into the mixture. Return to the heat and cook until thickened, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, then pour through a fine mesh strainer into a shallow dish to cool completely. Once cooled, whisk until smooth. 
9. Make the buttercream: Set a heatproof bowl of an electric mixer (or any large heatproof bowl if you are using a hand mixer) over a pot of simmering water. Combine the egg whites and sugar in the bowl and cook, whisking constantly, until sugar is dissolved and the mixture is warm to the touch (about 160 degrees).
10. Transfer the bowl to the mixer and beat with a whisk attachment until stiff but not dry peaks. Continue beating about 6 minutes more, until fluffy and cooled.
11. Switch to the paddle attachment, and turn the mixer to medium-low. Add the butter a few tablespoons at a time and beat well after each addition. Beat in the remaining pear cider reduction, then beat on lowest speed for 2 minutes. 
12. Prepare the rhubarb strips: Using a sharp vegetable peeler (Y-shape is best), peel long strips off the rhubarb stalks. Bring water and sugar to a boil, then reduce to a low simmer. Drop rhubarb strips 2 or 3 at a time into the simmering water, and cook for 20-30 seconds, then remove and lay out onto paper towel lined baking sheets to cool and drain. 
13. Assemble the cake: trim the cake layers as necessary to flatten the tops. Pipe a thick border of the buttercream around the circumference of the first layer, then fill with the pear custard and then the rhubarb compote. Stack another layer on top and repeat. Once all three layers are stacked, frost the cake with a crumb coat of the buttercream, then frost with remaining buttercream. 
14. Wrap the cake: Lay strips across the top of the cake, trimming with kitchen scissors to appropriate lengths. Then, starting at the bottom of the cake, wrap strips around, trimming as necessary. 
15. Before slicing, it's best to make sure cake is well chilled and you have a very sharp knife to cut through the fibrous rhubarb.