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!
Strangest? Probably my “onion goggles.” They look pretty silly, but they work! I never realized I needed them until I quit wearing contacts, LOL
One of mine that’s not common in most house holds is an IR Thermometer. I’m not sure I’d call it odd though.
As for most used, maybe the scale or our mixing bowls. I’m slowly editing all my recipes to weight rather than volume measurements. Not only is it more accurate, but I don’t have to clean all the measuring cups after baking.
My favorite kitchen gadget is my rolling mat. I love it specially when I make pies and breads, I use it often.
I have a cake slicer- a plastic thing that is supposed to cut even slices. I think I tried it once and it made a mess of my cake. However
I keep it because my son gave it to me when he was around 9 and did his shopping at the hardware store on the corner. It makes me smile whenever I see it in the drawer.
I have a pan that makes heart shaped, uh, not cookies-too thick; not cup cakes-too small; and definitly not brownies because they stick and won’t come out. (The only time it was used) But I love my pastry and bread scrapers. So handy!
My favorite kitchen gadget is a garlic press. I have tried to use garlic everyday for its health benefits and this beats dicing it by hand.
My favorite kitchen tool is my food processor. I have discovered so many ways to use it and it makes my life so much easier. it was the best money I’ve ever spent on a kitchen appliance!
I own a turkey baster and the bulb is shaped like a turkey. Kinda silly but it does make me laugh every time I use it
One of my weirdest cooking things is a set of rosette irons for making rosettes shaped like pumpkins, ghosts and spiders.
And one of my most useful is a chocolate chopper thing — like a big heavy fork with sharp tines and a wood handle. I don’t use it that often but when I do I’m really glad I have it.
Thanks for your great site!
Karen
My odd kitchen gadget is an ancient metal tortilla press for making home-made tortillas. I love it, as my mom had it when I was little, but I’m afraid to use it because it probably has lead and mercury in it and who-knows-what-else. I also have a tiny wooden rolling pin a friend of mine got in India, for rolling out chapati dough. I do use that! Loving that W-S gift card!!
I have a tiny wheel that cuts pie dough into a wavy edge for a lattice crust. I use it all the time!
I have a VERY small kitchen, so I have to resist buying kitchen tools and make the best with what I have. Sometimes, it’s absolutely necessary to buy a particular gadget or whatever for something that I need. My two favorite are my ravioli maker (from William-Sonoma of course) and my ice cream maker. I know, totally unrelated, but both get a fair amount of use in my kitchen. Sadly, my ice cream maker’s on it’s last legs so I’d love a WS gift card to replace it!
I don’t have anything all that strange but I do love my cookie scoops!
My strangest kitchen tool has to be my hello kitty ice cube tray, complete kitchen kitsch!
The lovely Vidalia Chop Wizard that my dad thought I just had to have. It’s so flimsy I worry about the blades shooting out of it and taking off my pinky. Like you said about pancakes, I can live without my onion/tomato/eggs being sliced into identical pieces. It sits sadly in a drawer, taking up space for no good reason.
But I vote for the Butt Spoon. I gotta get me one of them!
I should say my oddest gadget is this mini spatula scrapers that I bought which are in a metal ring…I say odd, because I can’t remove them from the ring and can’t use the scraper when one of them is in the way! Now it’s collecting dust…
Let’s see, maybe it’s the salad dressing thingy I have. It’s a plastic bottle with a top that has a whisk attached to it. you put your dressing ingredients in, put the top on, and turn a little knob to whisk it. Come to think of it, I think I got rid of it. So I’m not sure what my current strange kitchen tool is. Half of my kitchen is up in a bedroom anyway. We are remodeling and there is stuff all over the house. Can’t wait to be done!!!
My mother in law insisted I must own this little plastic tube thing with a serrated end and holes along the sides. I don’t even know what it is called. You shove it into an orange and then squeeze the orange to drink the juice like a straw. I am sure this is a great tool for people who live in Florida or somewhere citrus is dirt cheap, but not in the frozen wasteland I lived in at the time. They lived in my drawer for several years before I threw them away.
The strangest tool I own is a garlic press. I got it as a gift but only used it once. So much garlic gets stuck in the press that it takes more time to clean out than just chopping up the garlic with a knife. I also have an egg separator which gets used often because I like that the edge clips onto a bowl.
My absolute favorite kitchen tool is my Thermapen. Would hate to go back to life in the kitchen without it!
My favorite kitchen tool is my KitchenAid. My weirdest probably has to the the Wilton Mini Wonder Pan, which I used once (on a Corset Cake) and is now probably in the back of the cabinet. 🙂
I too have a miniwisk–for salad dressing–but the weirdest is a mesh glove that keeps me from cutting myself. It’s especially good to wear when you’re trying to grate the last little bit of Parmesan off the rind.
I Love my kitchen shears!!
The strangest gadget is my Parmesan grater – it’s like the kind that restaurants use when they come around to see if you want fresh Parmesan on your salad or pasta. I used to use it a lot, but decided it’s a lot of work and a pain to clean, so it’s been sitting up on a shelf for a couple of years!
I love my utensils that are shaped like animals. My favorites are a vegetable peeler that looks like a monkey and a pizza cutter that looks like a shark.