Spices & Surprises (eGullet pastry and baking challenge round 11

[Chufi]

Spices & Surprises (eGullet pastry and baking challenge round 11

The challenge for this dessert was to create a dessert using speculaasspices, evoking the spirit of the Dutch holiday Sinterklaas. For more about this holiday and the thoughts behind the elements of this dessert, please see the challenge thread

Here, I give the recipes for the various components of this dessert:

speculaascake trifle with poached pears, white chocolate custard and muscat wine

filoparcels with almond paste

membrillo

speculaas parfait with cardamom-orangeflowerwater marinated clementines

for the trifles:

I made a small,simple spongecake with

120 grams selfraising flour

120 grams sugar

120 grams soft butter

2 large eggs

1 tablespoon speculaasspices. You can make your own spicemix following this formula:

cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, aniseed, coriander, cardamom, in a ratio: cinnamon 3 : cloves 2: nutmeg 2: ginger 1/2: aniseed 1/2: coriander 1/2: cardamom 1/2.

If you make your own mix from freshly ground spices, you might want to add a little less than 1 tablespoon to the spongemix, because the spices will be more pungent and you want the cake to be only lightly spiced.

Bake the cake for about 25 minutes in a 180 C oven. Let cool and slice thinly.

The fruit in my trifles was a dutch poaching pear that, to my kowledge, is not available elsewhere. Use your favorite poaching pear and simmer in sugarsyrup with a little red wine or port for colouring.

White chocolatecustard

Just a basic custard from 400 ml cream, a tablespoon of sugar, 4 eggyolks - cooked over very low heat until thickened. Melt 125 grams white chocolate (I do this in the microwave) and stir into the warm custard, let cool.

Assemble the trifles: Put slices of the cake in the bottom of individual glasses (or a large bowl). Make a mixture of 1 part pear poaching liquid and 3 parts muscat wine, and drizzle this over the cake. The cake should be nicely soaked. Top with the poached pears, our over the custard, top with lightly whipped cream and decorate any way you like - I tought the green pistachios made a nice color contrast.

Membrillo

For the membrillo I chopped up a couple of quinces, cooked them in ample water until soft. Drain, weigh. Puree the quinces. Put back in the pan with equal weight in sugar, and cook, stirring often, until you have a thick, red paste. (about 1 hour) Pour onto a baking sheet and dry in a very low ove, preferably with the fan on, for about an hour. Cut into small cubes and roll half of them in castor sugar.

Clementines in cardamom-orangeflowerwater syrup

peel 4 clementines and spend a lot of time removing as much of the pith as possible. Cut them in half crosswise and place in a shallow bowl. Juice 2 clementines. Make a caramelsyrup by heating 100 grams sugar with 3 tablespoons of water. Cook until you have an amber-coloured syrup. Of the heat, stir in the clementine juice. Put back on the heat en stir until the syrup is smooth. Take off the heat, add half a tablespoon of orangeflowerwater, and one cracked cardamompod. Pour over the clementines and leave to marinate (overnight) in the fridge.

Serve these on top of a slice of speculaasparfait.

First make speculaascookies following this recipe. You an omit the almonds but you don't have to.

Now, take 60 grams of cookies (about 6 cookies) and crumble them.

2 eggs, seperated

50 grams sugar

100 ml. cream

1 tablespoon Amaretto liqueur

Whip the eggwhites with half the sugar. Whip the cream in another bowl. Whisk the eggyolks with the rest of the sugar, then cook them au bain marie until thick and creamy.

Mix he crumbled cookies into the cream, together with the Amaretto. Mix this into the yolks, and finally fold in the beaten eggwhites. Pour into small plastic containers/cups and freeze, for at least 4 hours. To unmold, briefly dip into a jug of hot water.

Filo parcels

make an almond paste by grinding equal amounts of sugar and almonds together until you have a fine powder. I flavored the paste this time with a little of the clementine syrup, and added a litle bit of milk to make a smooth paste. Put dollops of this mixture on sheets of filo, brushed with butter, and wrap them up any way yu like - I made square parcels and little purses. Brush with some more butter and bake in a moderate ovenuntil golden.

( RG1899 )