In a word: divine. I tweaked the recipe a little so these are actually tangerine buttermilk cakes, but the light-as-air cake sitting atop a layer of pudding is an incredible combination. I baked these early today for a dinner party later. The recipe says they keep well overnight, and I wanted to make sure I got the recipe right rather than risk a last minute disaster. But having tasted them fresh from the oven, I'm sad that my guests won't be able to taste them piping hot!
Here's a shot of the cross section of an inverted cake. The top is sort of a cross between a souffle and a Japanese style cheesecake, and the bottom is a gooey custart. Here's the recipe for the adventurous:
RECIPE
1c sugar
1/3c a-p flour
1/4 tsp salt
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups full fat buttermilk
2 tsp lemon zest
1/2 c lemon juice
Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a waterbath.
Whisk flour, sugar, salt together. In a second bowl whisk together egg yolks, buttermilk, and lemon zest and juice. Make a well in the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture. Whisk until smooth.
Whisk egg whites until they hold soft peaks. Scoop 1/3 into yolk mixture and stir. Gently fold in remainig whites. Transfer to a clean 2 qt souffle dish (for one large shared cake) or six 3/4 cup dishes.
Place in water bath, make sure water reaches up to 3/4th of the souffle dish, bake for 30-40 minutes until golden on top, or 20-25 minutes for the 3/4 cup dishes.
Gratuitous eye candy for your inner lush. T brought over 10 Cane rum (my favorite) and other mojito ingredients, so I have a pitcher of muddled ingredients ready to go: just add club soda!
6 comments:
Notes:
risk, not rist!
I used 1% lowfat buttermilk and the results were just fine.
Instead of lemon juice I used tangerine juice, but kept the juice and zest of one small lemon for acidity. I should also have decreased the sugar by a few tablespoons, but forgot and it was fine.
These are from the Tartine Bakery cookbook, which I love so far! Everything has been relatively easy and turned out wonderfully.
Pei, I've read your blog for a long time now and always enjoy it. Welcome back to the Bay Area! These cakes, with your modifications, look and sound wonderful - will give them a try soon. I've never had a goody from Tartine that I didn't love; I can tell I'll love the cookbook too. Thanks for sharing -
J from Boston
It's not fair I don't get to eat these yummy pudding cakes. Why?! -- C
Thanks J! A word of warning: we had the bigger cakes for dessert and they were on the runny side (more like pudding, not enough like cake). When they're baking, watch them until they are lighly browned all the way across the top, not partially brown like that one on the right in my photo. And definitely not yellow on top like all the other cakes. Those were too runny. Good luck!
As for C, you're just gonna have to make them yourself--or visit?
Let's see? Things in my life because of Pei. Global knives (love them), Salter scale, and visited several San Francisco restaurants due to her recs. Now, looks like I am going to order a Tartine cookbook. I luv you pei, you make my life better. G.
*sniffle* I have the warm fuzzies!
Post a Comment