There are several perks to writing a food blog, the best being the excuse to have delicious cakes, like this almond chiffon cake, in the house at all times. The only person who has an issue with this is my personal trainer, but I just remind him what job security it is for him. I also have an extensive (300+) cookbook library that I attribute to “research” when my husband asks where we will put them all, now that my book shelves are over flowing. Then there are the products companies send me to critique and review. I have received everything from peanut flour (which I adore) to a confectionery funnel (which is for portion control of pancakes and other runny stuff. Really, you have to make your pancakes the exact same size???). I will never review or endorse a product I don’t actually love and find value in.
Now back to the baking…this cake was inspired by my trip to Italy this past summer. The man who owned the home we rented introduced me to his favorite cookie, the ricciarelli. They are made from almond paste and egg whites baked into little rich clouds and dusted with pure white confectioners’ sugar. I was completely addicted to them after the first bite. They are available all over Tuscany and when baked fresh you want to sing their praises. The stale ones you buy in the tin are to be avoided and unfortunately that is what most of us have tried. After writing this description I realize I need to create and post a recipe for the actual cookie, but for now I have a cake that it inspired. It is light and spongy, but at the same time decadent because of the almond paste. The cake is great on its own with a cup of coffee for breakfast or with ice cream or coulis for dessert.
For recipe…
Ricciarelli cookies on the counter in San Gimignano (the best I had).
A typical day’s sampling of the local Tuscan bakery.
(My average breakfast when traveling. Now you see why I need the personal trainer.)
Ricciarelli (rich-ee-a-relly) Chiffon Cake
2 cups (220g) Cake Flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
7 ounces (200g) Almond Paste
5 egg yolks
1 cup (200g) sugar
1/2 cup (118 ml) oil (I used 1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup vegetable oil)
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
8 egg whites
confectioner’s sugar for the top
To make the cake: preheat the oven to 350 degrees
In a medium bowl stir together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside. Cream the almond paste until smooth and then add egg yolks, 1/2 cup sugar, oil, water and extracts. Cream together until smooth, about 3 minutes, set aside.
Whip the egg whites until foamy then add 1/2 cup sugar and whip until stiff peaks, they should be stiff enough to hold onto the whip when lifted out of the bowl, but the peak will be soft enough to flop over like a dairy queen ice cream cone. (If you over whip the egg whites they will not have any elasticity left to rise when they get to the oven.) Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture over the whites and fold it in gently using a rubber spatula. Repeat two more times with remaining flour.
Fold the egg white mixture into the almond paste mixture, again in 3 additions.
Place the batter into an ungreased 10-Inch Tube Pan
Bake for about 50 minutes or until a tester comes out clean.
Remove almond chiffon cake from the oven and invert the pan over the neck of a bottle to cool. This guarantees that the cake will not collapse while cooling.
Dust almond chiffon cake with lots of confectioners’ sugar and enjoy!
I don’t have a lot of utencils in my kitchen, but I do have a “baby whisk”….which I forget about using. I think my mom gave it to me.
An apple peeler. It may not be all that unusual, but I use it all the time. One of those old fashioned crank types that whirls the apple around through the cutter.
My oddest piece of kitchen equipment is a zucchini corer,I haven’t used it yet but still plan too.My favorite piece is my kitchenaid stsnd mixer,I do not know what I did for so many years of baking without it!
Someone once gave me one of those Bloomin’ Onion makers. I never have and never will use it but I hung on to the stupid thing for years because it was a gift from my aunt.
A heating pad. Alton Brown suggested to use one for tempering chocolate. Haven’t used it yet!
my oddest kitchen tool is a cube mold for hard-boiled eggs and my favorite tool is a set of wooden moon cake molds.
my oddest kitchen tool is my cube mold for hard-boiled eggs and my favorite tool is my set of wooden moon cake molds.
I saved those little plastic cups the nurses used to give me my medication when I was in the hospital. They have measurement lines on the sides for teaspoons and tablespoons. I have about 6 of them and use them when I have small quantities of liquids to measure and set aside for later incorporation into a recipe. Very useful and probably only cost me a few thousand dollars each!
I have an “Ulu” knife. I got it as a gift when we lived in Alaska. It’s very sharpe and works great. You can skin a fish or just chop nuts or pasley with it…UNIQUE!!!
I have a rubber spatula with all these colors running through it, it is so funky looking and I use it for EVERYTHING! It is the best spatula I’ve ever owned.
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i have a dough bowl. not really an odd thing but it is unique for this day in age. it has been a great find, its old and seasoned and i love it!
They thing I use the least is my cheese slicer. It slices cheese way to thick. I can slice cheese with my knife thinner !!! Why do I keep it? Reminds me of my mom. She still has that same one in her utensil drawer !!!
My Grandmother’s egg separator. It looks like a cross between a mini lacrosse stick and a whisk, and it’s antique, but it still does an amazing job separating those yolks and whites. I never win anything, so pick me.
I am not sure I would classify it has a ‘strange’ tool, tho I say so only but I haven’t really figured out how to use it yet. It’s a biscuit cutter that rotates a complete 360 degrees. The 2 cutters are attached to a handle, …it looks like you just push the tool over rolled out dough and it cuts the dough into beautiful little squares….a cool antique baking tool
The strangest piece of equipment in my kitchen is a wooden rice timbale mold. My mother gave it to me years ago and I can’t bear to part with it now that she’s gone.
I have a small porcelain mold used to make coeur la creme. It is white and heart-shaped with holes to drain the “pudding.” The finished creme is dusted with sugar sparkles and fresh raspberries — it is perfect for a shower or tea party.
The oddest tool that doesn’t get much use in my kitchen is my banana slicer. I’m not sure why I even bought it since bananas can cut so easily with a spoon! My most favorite tool in my kitchen is the cabinet that my Kitchen-Aid stand mixer sits in. There is a shelf that raises to counter height and lowers back into the cabinet when it’s not being used.
OK, so the oddest thing in my kitchen isn’t really a tool for cooking, but I think it still qualifies since I store it there. Once we were married, my husband and I inherited the “fertility beads” that have been passed through each of his 5 aunts/uncles and claim to have a 99.98 % record of conception. It must work as they each have no fewer than for children a piece. The only thing to mar their success (so far) is if they’re frozen. So we keep them in the freezer next to the ice.
A rock! Yes a rock about the size of a small orange. My parents, from the Philippines use it for crushing garlic and I do the same in my home.
I have a little tool that looks like a mini-dustpan, with a rolled edge as a grip. You’re supposed to use it to scoop up chopped stuff — vegetables, fruit, etc. — off a cutting board. Do I use it? Never. It’s just as eat to use the flat of my chef knife and my hand (carefully) to scoop up big slices, and with little slices, I just scrape the cutting board into a bowl. Oh well, it seemed like a good idea at the time. 😛
Most useful random cooking gadget? The danish dough whisk you recommend — it is so much better at mixing dough for your master recipes I never use a regular wooden spoon or even my mixer any more for that.
My live-in boyfriend has a Pizzazz. I had never heard of these before I met him, and very few other people I know have ever heard of them, which perplexes him, because he thinks it’s the most amazing thing ever. It’s a rotating platform that’s heated from above and below to cook pizzas – the kind of thing I would’ve written off as “takes up space unnecessarily as a single-use appliance” – but it turns out you can use it to reheat almost anything, and it makes things crispy, much like a toaster oven (which we don’t have). So, really, I’m learning that it’s a very useful multi-purpose appliance!
hmm I have a small pan that’s big enough for just one egg. I haven’t used it yet because I always want more than one egg!
The cake looks wonderful, thank you for sharing the recipe.
Weirdest item in my kitchen? A Scottish spurtle which was beautifully hand crafted in the USA. 🙂 It looks lovely displayed; but, I don’t ever use it because we don’t actually eat oatmeal for breakfast unless it’s in granola. Still, it’s adorable.
Williams Sonoma is my favorite shopping destination ~ my heart is currently longing for the Magimix 5200 food processor. deep sigh.
I have 1,300+ cookbooks and trust me you can find room for them if you need to by constructing furniture from stacks of books, working them into kitchen/dining room/living room and even bedroom decor. 🙂 My current obsession is AU cooks and bakers, particulary Donna Hay. I’m already looking forward to your pizza book.
My favorite kitchen tool has to be my new Cuisinart Immersion Blender!
Not strange to me but guess it might be to others…my disposable gloves! They are a must in my kitchen and can be used for so many things! I always use them when I’m cooking any sort of meat. Raw meat…ICK!