Chinese Quince Cake

 

Chinese quinces! I got two and decided to make a cake! 

First I peeled and sliced the quinces, removing the stones, and then I cooked them with lemon juice, a tiny bit of water and very little sugar (about a tbsp).

Then I made the base, and for this cake it comes from my book Sweet As..., it is the base for most of my fruit cakes, and the original recipe is on page 28, where is used for a cherry berry cake. I start by mixing 4 eggs with 200 g of sugar, then 250 g of self-raising flour, and the zest of one lemon (optional) and 50 g of partially melted butter (I use salted butter, otherwise add a pinch of salt to the mixture). In the recipe in the book I start with mixing the butter with the sugar, this gives you a 'sponger' cake and it is suitable for berries, but quince slices and heavier fruit pieces call for a lightly more compact base and you can achieve that by adding the butter last. 

Honestly, this basic recipe is so good ... I know that I shouldn't brag because it is my own creation, but it is one of those that I make over and over again, and even my Mother in Law was complimentary (and she was a great baker, from Christchurch too, and they are choosy about their recipes there, especially when they come from foreigners).

Last step: I poured the mixture in a 23 cm round baking tin lined with baking paper, and arranged the cooked quince slices on top (had some left over, in the freezer now, for cupcakes later on). I sprinkle just a little bit of sugar on top and baked the cake at 180°C for approx. 45 minutes. I eat it as it is, and my 

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©

Crema Bruciata, or Crème brûlée, with nectarines, plums and cherries

The original recipes comes from my book Sweet As... ,  my own recipe which doesn't require steam baking in the oven and includes nectarine slices. Plum slices and cherries were also added here, and the result was delicious!  In Italy we also call this crema bruciata, but crème brûlée is most commonly used now as it sounds sophisticated :-).

To make the crème you will need one egg yolk for each 100ml of cream and 1 tbsp of sugar, for this recipes I used 5 egg yolks (thus 500ml cream and 5 tbsp of sugar) and I filled 8 ramekins, plus I had a little left to fill three miniature ones. Of course if you don't put any fruit on the bottom you will need more crème.

It is up to you how much fruit you put in, generally I just line the bottom of the ramekins with 4-5 think slices, this time I think I overdid it (thus the leftover crème) sicne stone fruit season is not long in NZ, and I wanted to use more fruit than crème! Don't use watery fruit and remove any juice from from cutting: you don't want to have a soggy base!

For the crème you need to mix well the egg yolks with sugar, then add the cream and either some vanilla seeds scraped from a vanilla pod, or a few drops of pure vanilla essence. If using vanilla essence add it when the crème is thick. A whole pod of vanilla is good too, but I find it to be in the way while stirring the crème!

Put the bowl with the mixture over a saucepan of boiling water and cook at bain-marie stirring constantly. It will take a long time, at least 30 minutes, possibly more, and your wrist will get tired and you will get bored. You can read a book at the same time, as long as you are careful. When you cannot take it any longer the cream will magically thicken, and when it is thick enough (remember that it will need to set in the fridge, not in the oven) and it looks bright yellow, remove from the heat and let it cool down lightly, always stirring.

Then pour over your fruit (or into the ramekins if you don't have any fruit). Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, better overnight, or a whole day. One hour before serving spread some brown or sugar over the top and caramelize under the grill, or with a blow-torch. At this stage I realized that I got rid of my old oven upstairs, the one that I never used since moving the kitchen downstairs 16 years ago except for the grill, and crème brûlée. The grill in the downstair kitchen is not as good, the oven is too big and it takes too long, still, I managed to melt the sugar (mostly).

Then refrigerate again for one hour and serve. The top should be crunchy and the centre smooth. It will be more creamy than the standard crème brûlée puddings that we find in restaurants, which have more of a 'set' texture, but if the crème is far too runny it means that you didn't cook it long enough at bain-marie, so you will know next time :-). If the top is not crunchy it means that you have left it in the fridge too long after caramelizing the sugar.
Mine was yummy and delicious, although thinking back at the grilling part (and seeing the details in the photos) I think that is it time for me to get a blow-torch. I never had one, it should be fun!

And the miniature ones? Well, they were so pretty next time I am just going to make a tray of them!

And now for the flowers of the day, all from my garden!

Photos and Recipes by Alessandra Zecchini ©