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 know that it’s odd so much as just rarely used: a pineapple cutter. It does work well though.
My oddest kitchen tool? I guess it would be a cheese slicer that never gets used. Though, I’m not sure that that qualifies as odd, or just useless!
The oddest thing we have in our kitchen is a set of graduated scoops, presumably for flour and sugar, made from Yak bone. My husband picked these up on one or other research trip he took, and they are the ugliest things I’ve ever seen. Plus they smell, and no way would I ever use them do scoop out dry goods much less anything else, but he won’t throw them away. (sigh)
I tend to pick up anything I run across that’s food oriented with a red bakelite handle and I think my favorite thing is a little two pronged gripper for picking up drink garnishes like olives and onions and whatnot. Very impractical for my lifestyle, but it’s freaking adorable. 🙂
I’m with Anna…I too have an unhealthy (LOL) amount of cake pans and assorted other baking supplies on hand! They run over to a 6 shelf metal unit in the garage. But I couldn’t part with a one even though I swear I’ll never do another wedding cake!
I don’t have any really odd kitchen tools. I do however love my 14c food processor!
Like Judy I use dental floss in the kitchen, but to slice cheesecake! It’s way easier than using a knife.
But the oddest thing in the kitchen (that I DO use) us a cake lifter, which looks like a giant round spatula (or a small pizza peel). It’s heavy duty and perfect for sliding layers of cake on and off durface without destroying them. People who walk into my kitchen think it looks like a torture device.
The other odd piece of equipment I hope to own, and use, is a pastry fork. (I think Julie Child called it a “granny fork”.)
Definitely my egg separator…It takes ages but i still love it!!!And it looks adorable.
I have two mini-whisks and my mother in law looks at me so weird because of them. I love them and use them all the time.
Those cookies look wonderful.
My latest addiction is to my long zester….I seem to find lots of uses for it. I’m pretty much a gadget nerd….I adore them all. My mother-in-law gave me a green bean frencher(is that a word) a zillion years ago and I didn’t know what it was. I have used it countless times now. My daughter just bought one for her home. Probably because she was given that dinner chore when she was growing up.
Hi Zoe
that cake looks amazing! I have never made a chiffon cake before, you make me want to go right in the kitchen and bake one!
I think the strangest piece of kitchen equipment I have is a restaurant grade meat hammer, it looks more like a serious weapon than a kitchen meat hammer.
Cheers
Dennis
A portable knife that a cooking school sent to me for a review. It has a cheap plastic handle which might break even if I try to cut some butter!
Someone gave me a container to save a half-banana in once…looks like this http://www.asseenontvguys.com/nana-saver.aspx
My favorite favorite favorite kitchen tool is my 6-inch Ateco offset spatula. I use it for everything from removing cookies, icing cakes and cupcakes, removing muffins, flipping fish and delicate meats. It’s my go to tool. I even carry one in the glovebox of my car. =)
My Lame for slicing.
I have a bottle opener that doesn’t really work, but it’s attractive. It’s a metal bird.
dental floss! I use it to tie off my homemade tea packets and to slice cinnamon rolls.
I have a silicone baking sheet that is for miniature flower shaped something or others. I don’t know what to make with it – teensy quiches? Bite sized brownies? It’s cute to look at but intimidates me.
My strangest kitchen tool is the strawberry-deleafer. Seriously. I don’t need a gadget to pull the leaves off the strawberries. But thanks!
My most useless/oddest kitchen tools would be either my cherry pitter (used one time), egg separator (duh – hands or the shells work just fine) and my Japanese dumpling steamer (have yet to use that one!)
I have a tiny little skillet just big enough to cook one egg. That’s it. It’s cute, but I’m a scrambled egg fan, so it just gets moved around from place to place in the kitchen every time I attempt to organize.
While I wish I had some strange kitchen appliances like the people commenting on the post, I do not.
My favorite tools to use are a medium sized wooden spoon and a large whisk. They do everything.
I have this egg cracking thing that is supposed to keep your hands clean. However, the shells get stuck and you end up having to touch raw egg anyway, so it has been stuffed into a corner after one use.
During a recent kitchen renovation we got “Eggy”, a gadget to make hard boiled eggs in the microwave. It worked, but I only used it once after I read some scary reviews about eggs blowing up!
Oddest=set of measuring spoons that read “pinch” “dash” “dab” etc. Not that wacky, and not terribly useful either, but sometimes silly is enough 🙂