Rhubarb and Custard Swiss Roll - a swoonworthy summery dessert!

Even though my Swiss Roll ended up looking more like a Swiss Fold it tasted just as heavenly as it looks - light, luscious and a perfect summer delight. How could a combination of Genoise Cake, Rhubarb Curd, Pastry Cream and Whipped Cream really be anything but?? 

I made this with my spindly rhubarb which needs thinning and  moving desperately but if it's too late for rhubarb in your area you can use any curd - lemon, lemon and apple, blueberry - there are links to my other curd recipes below. 

I adapted this recipe from one over at Great British Chefs - here is the LINK to their recipe grandly called a roulade because they did their roll right, maybe because they did a longer narrower cake than mine - you can do that too but you just need a small sheet pan for my size recipe - maybe a 9 x 13 :) 

This is a time consuming recipe but if you make enough curd and custard you can use them to great advantage elsewhere - rhubarb curd on buttered toast, custard as a dollop on another dessert - or both just spooned from the reused Bonne Maman jars!!

Get me a spoon and quickly!!

 So let's make the Rhubarb Curd and Pastry Cream first to allow them to cool completely.

THE RHUBARB CURD - you could also make this cake with Blueberry,  Lemon and Apple or any store bought Lemon or other flavour curd - click on the bold type flavours to go to my recipes for these!

This is enough for this recipe plus a bit extra but feel free to make double so you have plenty on hand!
 

1 cup of rhubarb cut into small pieces

2 tablespoons of sugar

 
2 tablespoons of water
 

2 teaspoons of lemon juice

 
Combine these four ingredients in a saucepan, preferably stainless steel, and boil together at med-high until rhubarb goes completely mushy...let it cool then liquidize in a blender or food processor (if you blend when it is hot it could blow the top off the blender and burn you...I have had this happen before so be cautious and let it cool!!)

2 egg yolks
 
6 tablespoons sugar
 
2 ozs butter...again I use salted, if you use unsalted add a pinch of salt
  
Whisk the yolks and sugar together in the top part of a double boiler with simmering water in the bottom pan. 

Add the cooled rhubarb and the butter in pieces and stir, stir, stir until it is all combined and starts to thicken...it should already be quite thick because of the blended rhubarb...but let it thicken up some more. 

Cool completely and again it will thicken some more...this curd tastes infinitely better when it is cold so don't judge the flavour or texture if you taste it when it is warm...when cold it is creamy, a bit caramelly and quite tangy at the end...YUMMY!!!...you can use it for a multitude of things...especially on hot, buttered toast with a spot of tea!!!


Now for THE CUSTARD or Creme Pat, Pastry Cream, Creme Patissiere - ie stiff custard gleaned from Martha Stewart - you have to pay close attention to this recipe as it is easy to curdle the pastry cream if you cook the mix too long or don't stir continually.

3 large egg yolks

2 1/2oz/ heaped 1/4 cup sugar

1 cup of whole milk

a good pinch of salt

1 teaspoon vanilla essence/extract

2 tablespoons of white flour

1 teaspoon of soft butter

1. Whisk the egg yolks and 3 tablespoons sugar together until mixture has the consistency of light ribbons when you lift the whisk from the mix.

 

2. Add the flour and whisk thoroughly to combine. 

3. In a medium saucepan heat the milk with remaining sugar and vanilla essence/extract until it comes just to a boil.

 

4. Remove from heat and slowly pour into the whisked egg yolks and sugar mix then transfer back to the saucepan.

 

5. Bring to a boil over medium heat, whisking constantly and allow to bubble for 2 minutes.

 

6. Transfer to a medium bowl and dot the surface with small pieces of butter to prevent a skin from forming. Allow to cool completely before using in the cake.

 

Finally make the GENOISE CAKE - I have learned a great trick to making this rise really well, it can be tricky to make and more than once in the past I have ended up with a pancake instead of spongecake.

HAVE ALL YOUR INGREDIENTS AT ROOM TEMPERATURE AND BAKE ON A DRY DAY.

  This Swiss Roll serves 4 portions for genteel people or for James and I, who like our puddings most enthusiastically, it serves 2!

THE CAKE:

2 large eggs separated

1/2 cup/ scant 4 ozs sugar 

1/2 cup/ 2 ozs white flour sifted 

METHOD:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F

2. Butter and line a 10" square x 1" deep baking pan - do not butter the parchment again - the butter underneath is to anchor it to the pan.

3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks then gradually add half the sugar until peaks are stiff but not dry.

4. Whisk the egg yolks with the other half of the sugar until light and fluffy (that's THE trick - don't just whisk the whites, whisk the yolks too and the sugar helps with the volume!!! TA DAH!!!!) 

5. Fold the yolks in to the whites very gingerly until just combined.

6. Gently fold the flour into the egg mixture and mix very very delicately until blended.

7. Gently spread into your prepared pan and smooth the top - the batter doesn't spread during baking so if you want a smooth top you need to do that before it goes in the oven.

8. Bake for about 10-12 minutes until golden in colour, springy to the touch and sightly coming away from the side of the pan as below. 

9. Have a fresh sheet of parchment paper underneath the cooling rack - I snipped a lot of holes in the sheet so as to let the steam out of the cake and not have it go soggy - you'll see what all this oddness if for very shortly! 

10. Remove from the oven, allow to cool for a couple of minutes in the pan - then invert onto the cooling rack and peel off the paper - don't worry if some of the sponge surface comes off with the paper - the cosmetic look of the sponge is irrelevant in the final pudding.

The next bit is the tricky part - only allow to cool slightly you need to work as quickly as possible whilst the cake is still warm and flexible...invert the cake onto the fresh parchment and roll gently - this is to help the cake roll again when the curd and cream have been applied to the cake - somehow the cake keeps the memory of the roll as it cools - but beware it can still crack or end up looking folded instead of rolled as mine did - I think you have to do this a lot to get the rolling part perfect!

Allow the cake to cool and when you ready to assemble unroll and cover with the rhubarb curd and then the pastry cream/whipped cream mixture:
 

Before you assemble the cake whip 3/4 cup/ 6 fl. oz heavy/double cream to stiff and fold in an equal amount of the patsry cream - mix well together

A MISTAKE I made which you can see in this pic above was that I spread the curd and cream too close to the bottom of the cake...leave more room at the bottom and when you roll your cake less of the filling will fall out thus:

I used extra whipped cream and pastry cream mix to pipes rosettes hither and yon - to cover any cracks etc and to make people think you really worked hard on this cake - the addition of piped rosettes always make a dessert look ever so special don't you think? 

FINALLY sprinkle with confectioner's/icing sugar and TA DAH!!! your glorious Rhubarb Curd and Pastry Cream Swiss Roll is ready for the eating.

***If you at all intrigued by the simple, watercolour Blue Gingham fabric in these pics. (also available in wallpaper and wrapping paper) - you can find it in two different sizes in my Spoonflower shop***
One inch HERE
Half inch HERE

HAPPY BAKING!!!

On a design note - for as you know I bake for fun and design for my career - I am thrilled to announce the recent addition of fantastic, large, beautifully printed and fabulously priced Chiffon Scarves to the coterie of offerings in my online shops. 

Westminster Mandala on Black - available HERE

Gilding the Lily Scarf - on a windy day - available HERE

My next blogpost will be about all the wonderful, recent new item additions to my Society6
(there's free worldwide shipping there right now, on most of my items, until midnight West Coast June 7th 2015) and Redbubble online print on demand shops. Stay tuned! 

Thanks for reading and please be in touch

Patricia

An Earl Grey Possett for your Valentine's perhaps?

A divine Earl Grey Possett...swoon....sigh......

ELIZABETHAN POSSET:

OED definition is: Drink made of hot milk curdled with ale, wine etc (sounds charming....) formerly used much as a remedy for colds. In the Elizabethan era it became the recipe you see below...a more refined pudding in the truest Blighty tradition.

OK I’ve said some of my other desserts/puddings here were simple but this beats them all….4 ingredients (you can even make it 3 if you want to exclude the tea flavouring and just have it as a Lemon Possett) and 3 minutes of cooking and a really impressive and divine dessert results!! Sure to impress your beloved on Valentine’s Day!!

INGREDIENTS:

Makes 4 servings.

 

3 1/2oz/ mounded half cup sugar (I used organic slightly brown sugar but if you want your posset the palest of colours then use white)

1 1/2 cups/12 fl oz heavy/double cream

1 tablespoon of the best, most perfumed Earl Grey tea you can find
(it doesn't have to be Earl Grey - it can be any tea you like but Earl Grey is so romantic!)

3 tablespoons lemon juice (from one lemon) - organic preferably, so you can use the peel for glacee'ing (is that a word?) if you'd like. 

METHOD:

1. Put cream, sugar and tea in a heavy bottomed pan.

2. Warm to just barely boiling

3. Simmer very gently for 3 minutes and stir occasionally to prevent stickage.

4. Strain into a bowl, some flecks of the tea may go through the strainer - that's OK - it looks quite pretty - then gently and slowly whisk in the lemon juice dribble by dribble…be in awe as the mixture starts to thicken - you can stir instead of whisk but as I found when you whisk it gives you a nice bubbly surface on the creams as they set and when served in a teacup look like a frothy cuppa as seen below :)
5. Pour into small, ½ cup containers and allow to cool then pop

into the fridgerdator (tee hee) for about 4 hours until completely set.

6. I still am in awe of how this dessert sets with just the lemon juice.

WHAT a sublimely delicious, smooth, luxurious treat this is....PLEASE do try it sometime.

I embellished mine with candied/glaceed lemon peel:

which is simply a combination of peel, water and sugar:

as I have my wood stove cranked during this period of Arctic bleakness and vast episodes of heavy snow I utilize the heat to make candied/glaceed peel from any and all organic oranges and lemons that come through the house - I simply save the peels and then boil, boil, boil them in a simple syrup of one cup of water to one cup of sugar in a small pan and keep adding water and sugar as I see fit when the mixture reduces down, I let it boil down maybe 4 or 5 times to a thickish syrup then fill again with water - not at all scientific but eventually the peel softens, becomes translucent, tastes really good when you fish out a piece and allow it cool - beware this stuff is screaming hot -  and when the syrup boils down to a bubbly thickness after you decide it is ready - keep your eyes peeled on the pan as if it burns the house will smell for days and you've lost your lovely peel -  then I strain and roll the peel in more sugar and leave on a plate on a shelf above the stove to dry out - doesn't usually get much chance to do so as James and I are both rather fond of this and it disappear quite quickly.

 I save the sugar syrup from the straining in a jar to help start the next batch off in good stead.

In the background of these pics are my fabrics EUROPA and BLUE RHAPSODY - click on the names to go to my online shop - Thank YOU!!!

Meanwhile outside in Maine:

The snow has been piling up....

and the sculpture has been disappearing:

          As of this Valentine's evening we should be seeing yet another 1 or 2 feet of snow arriving and settling on top of the already 4 feet we have right now - I love a good blizzard and can't wait to cosy down and eat my possett!!

HAPPY VALENTINE'S DAY EVERYONE!

Sticky Toffee Pear and Gingerbread Upside Down Cake Pudding!

She may not win any competitions for prettiest cake but she might win some for taste - especially if you're after a sticky, gooey, gingerbready cake with tooth and lusciousness!

If you follow my blog recipes you will know by now how many times I use my sticky toffee pudding sauce in other recipes - it is just fantastic - very simple, easy to make and it goes with or on almost anything sweet - over ice cream, in actually sticky toffee pudding recipes, over steamed puddings and cakes, in apple pies and gallettes - you name it I bet this sauce will improve it!

So make your sticky toffee sauce first:

STICKY TOFFEE SAUCE:

2 1/2oz/ heaped 1/4 cup brown sugar 

 1 1/2 oz / 3 tablespoons salted butter 

 2 tablespoons cream or half and half 

1. Put all three ingredients in a pan to melt together, mix and keep mixing whilst letting it bubble a couple of minutes until it gets a bit thick - allow to cool and then pour into a well buttered cake tin - I always use a 6" round so the cake is small in diameter and taller because of it but you can do an 8" and the cake of course will be shallower and may take a shorter time to bake - so beware of that!!

2. Now slice one good firm pear into about 1/4" slices and arrange on top of the sauce in the bottom of the tin:

 For the cake part: please have your ingredients at room temperature and your oven at 350F to start

5 1/5 ozs/ 1 1/4 cups/ 150 g white flour sifted

1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda/baking soda

1/2 teaspoon of salt 

1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

 1 teaspoon cardamom 

2 tablespoons of freshly grated ginger root - I was lucky enough to get local Maine ginger and it is gorgeous!

1 egg whisked

2 fluid ounces/ 1/4 cup treacle/molasses 

4 oz/ 1/2 cup/ 125g sugar 

1 fluid ounce/ 1/8 cup  whole milk 

2 1/2 ozs/ 5 tablespoons/60g melted butter 

2oz chopped crystallized ginger 

1/2 a chopped pear

1. Sift all the dry ingredients together (not the pear or ginger) in a medium sized bowl.

2. Mix all the wet ingredients together and blend well.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet and mix together til smooth and even.

4. Add the ginger and chopped pear - mix well til evenly distributed.

5. Dollop batter atop pears and sauce and gently smooth until evenly spread in the pan

6. Cover with parchment to prevent the top burning - I didn't do that at the very beginning and I should have done - my cake top got a little burnt as you can see:

7. Bake at 350F for 30 mins and then lower to 325F for about another half an hour, but check at 15 mins (especially if you used an 8" cake pan) until a toothpick comes out of the cake clean - don't push the toothpick to the bottom of the pan or you'll get sauce on it and think the cake is not done.

8. Leave in the pan for about 10 minutes and then flip onto a plate and watch the sauce flow over the cake and pool around - ahhhhh!!!

If you're really lucky - as I was - the pears will be in tact and stay on the cake neatly when you flip it over!

Allow to cool completely, and if it's possible keep to the next day for the ginger flavour to develop - if you can't wait that long wait as long as you can before devouring!

We had half the day of and the rest the next day - a fair compromise methinks!!

Soft caramelly pears, sticky gooey top to the cake and a toothsome cake gingerbread body - just aching to be eaten with a nice hot cuppa!!!

And may I introduce you to my little buddy Ginger - doesn't this look like a little clown like creature with eyes closed and little eyelashes - such a character - it was hard to eat but I managed!!

Well HAPPY BAKING my friends - please let me know if you make this - it would be a good Thanksgiving dessert - very seasonally appropriate.

You can post your pics on my FACEBOOK PAGE - I'd love to see your cakes!

Thanks, Patricia

I wasn't quite expecting this much snow!

So there I was  going to bed round 3am - for I truly am a night owl - on November 1st watching a flake or two falling gaily from the sky amidst rain and sleet and checking the weather forecast which was saying 5 to 8 inches of snow the next day thinking maybe they were wrong. Nope - it appears, as you can see from my pictures, that I was the one who was wrong. I awoke next morning to see a blizzard in full swing ready to turn into a maelstrom of wild winds and accumulating heavy, wet, snowman snow! Luckily I had fired up my camera just before the power went off at noonish November 2nd only to return two days later with the internet not coming on for another 12 hours. It was wild but awfully pretty and very The Lion, the witch and the wardrobe-y.

Here's the storm gearing up:

 and in full swing...

Before the storm began I was worried these last 2 of a very meagre crops of apples wouldn't make it through....

- I should have worried about the trees themselves - two of which lost large limbs but are still standing old and proud. We were lucky as we saw when we drove into town, so many limbs were down and the clean up is still continuing.

 

The day after the storm was bright and sunny and almost balmy. 

the roads were perfectly clear and it was so strange to see so many trees still with leaves and colour against the snow

Luckily we had our sturdy old wood stove to keep us warm and toasty, she heated the house and provided a way to cook for the couple of days we were without power.

Maybe winter is already over?

The pretty Autumn fields of Maine

A glowing vignette

 We have had a recent run of absolutely beautiful temperate weather here in Maine. The day time temperatures have been as high as 74F and it has been so very pleasant being outdoors enjoying the last vestiges of the summer like weather. Plus it made taking in the wood to keep us warm this coming winter so much easier to achieve.

But the autumn/fall in Maine is not just about the brilliant colours of red, orange and yellow but also the lovely muted, antique, dreamlike russets, greyed whites, pale yellows and dark tracery of naked branches and veins on the leaves.

Ghostly white leaves - pretty against the backdrop of russets

Checkerboard leaves - lovely colours - I wonder what they are?

I love the tumble and tumult of the speckled, sprinkly fields

 

 And of course we cannot leave out the young maple leaves that turn such a pretty, almost ghostly pink....

 I leave you though with some of the glowing autumn colours we think of when we think of "Fall in New England"

I hope you are enjoying your season of mists and mellow fruitfulness!

Next up on my blog will be a luscious, sticky, stodgy Pear and Ginger Cake that just screams out for lashings of custard.

STAY TUNED and please consider following me on