I've Got Cakes Coming Out My....

I think one of the first things people ask you when they find out you are a chef, or even a cook, is "What is your speciality?" "Speciality!" I used to exclaim. "Well I can drink two sailors under the table and be back to the boat before them in the morning!" After receiving one too many sideways glances it finally occurred to me people were referring to pastry specifically not life in general. At the time I was obviously much more versed in the latter. So in answering their queries, I could not. I was really, truly stumped. There was no speciality. And they were asking a mere cook. Did they think perhaps I worked in an Italian restaurant where I could have been say the zabaglione queen. But this question to me also meant I had to love my "speciality." So zabaglione queen or not, was there something I saw myself in love with. My alarm clock goes off at 5 am (or I have just gotten in after a night with the sailors) and I jump out of bed singing "zabaglione I must whip you, my day is not complete without you." No. I really just couldn't see anything like that. Nothing that I had ever made at that point or for many years after elicited small cries of excitement or longing looks. I do love and have always loved what I do but I'm not a banker or mortgage broker or another job with titles. A job where I can tell you what my speciality is because it says it on my business card. Probably a more fair question is "What's not your speciality?" How long do you have, we'll see what's left after I'm done kind of thing. But alas, love is in the air!

Let's speak of this love shall we? Cakes. That's it. Carrot cake, red velvet, lemon pound you ask. No, simply cakes. It's not the flavor I am in love with. I love them all already. To me there is nothing finer than a really good cake. I don't mean the mousse filled glazed affairs, either. Those are beautiful and complicated and I do enjoy making them. But if I am eating a cake, I want a cake. A toothsome one like the ones I grew up on (except the ones I grew up on were filled with funfetti and artificial strawberry flavoring!). It doesn't even have to be a 3-layer cake. Just cake and buttercream or chocolate frosting or cream cheese or curd. It's about the layers of goodness not so much as what comprises them. I just want every layer of it to be delicious. No syrup dredged cake for me. If a cake is dry, it's dry. Syrup won't make it moist. It will make it a wet dry cake and maybe some people like to believe that is a good contrast, but I am not one of them. One of my strong beliefs is that if you don't like cake it's because you have never had a good one.

And I like the decorating. Probably because they are all different. A little bit of me, a little bit of the recipient in each one. I like the fact the cakes are for celebrations. My favorite part is when I deliver them and the box is opened and I see a big smile. And sometimes a hint of happy tears. Those are maybe the real reasons for my love of cakes. The old memories of them and the new ones they are making, I may be on my way to answering one very complicated question.

Millions of Peaches

OMG! Okay, I have been waiting MONTHS to be able to use that in something more than texting with my teenage sister! Or my husband LOL! But seriously the peaches this year are a little bit of that. I just got some. I was a little scared I admit. And before I go on, I am not trying to offend any peach growers. I am simply speaking from my own peach experiences the last couple of years. The peaches just were not what I remembered. They looked beautiful but yes, their beauty was skin deep. The ones I encountered were either ripe feeling but dry and tasteless or knock your ex-boyfriend out hard as a rock acidic. When choosing between the two, I always picked the latter for two reasons. You could always cook or quickly poach them and bring out some peachy flavor. And just the thought of knocking out your boyfriend with a rock hard peach was enough to bring a smile to your face and make you forget about the lack of peachiness for a second. I was a little more like doubled over in laughter but that seems a little boastful. Those poor dry guys, there was just no helping them. And to be honest with you, I didn't want to. I mean if I you are soooo bad I have to dress you up just to take you out and once we get out everyone is just like 'oh, he's here?' then I don't want to take the time to dress you up. Make sense?

But this year-I haven't seen those problems. Even the firmer peaches I have gotten still have a beautiful perfume to them. You can see from their little blushing cheeks and sweet peach flesh they are only going to get better. And the ripe ones should be labled candy, truly. I just hope everyone else is having a great peach experience. Oh please let the rest of the season yield such delights.

What can I do with them you cry! Whatever you would like of course. Summer is not complete without peach pie or cobbler or crisp or ice cream! Sauté them with a little sugar, vanilla and butter. Finish with a little Sauternes, over ice cream, beautiful! Poach them in a white wine syrup. Dress them up with fresh herbs like thyme. You can even serve them with pork or chicken. In a salad you say? Why not! Just eat them and enjoy them now in their season.

I was recently asked to make a video tape (stop!) and demonstrate a summer dessert I like to make. There is a peach tart I like to make that is so simple and delicious. It is a little more sophisticated than serving a pie and it is even easier. The recipe and directions follow. You can watch me make the tart on www.palmbeachfoodandwinefestival.com and read about the event taking place in December.

Peach Tart

Frozen Puff Pastry - this tart takes 1/2 package of the Pepperidge Farms brand

3-4 peaches-firm but not hard

1/3 recipe almond cream-recipe follows

One rectangle tart pan w/removeable bottom (4"x 13.5")

1/2 stick of butter, melted for brushing the tart just before baking

2 T sugar for sprinkling on the tart just before baking

Thaw one piece of the puff pastry and roll out until it is about 14.5" in length. This doesn't have to be exact, but the puff should be just longer than the pan so it covers the ends and drapes well over the long sides. Dock the pastry with a fork or dough docker and place in the sprayed tart pan. Press gently on the bottom and up the sides. Do not trim. Reserve in the freezer until ready to use.

Almond cream:

4 oz butter, room temp

4 oz sugar

4 oz almond flour

3 ea eggs, room temp

Combine butter, sugar, and flour in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix just until the ingredients start to stick to the sides. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping between each addition. Mix until everything is combined. The mixture should be all one color. The left over almond cream may be frozen in an airtight container.

To assemble:

Preheat oven to 350℉. Remove the tart shell from the freezer. Trim the long sides, leaving about 1/4" on each side. Spoon about 1/3 of the almond cream into the shell and spread out evenly along the bottom. Slice the peaches about 1/8" thick and shingle onto the almond cream. Fold in the long sides of the puff and place the tart back in the freezer. Melt 1/2 stick of butter, brush over the tart and sprinkle with a little sugar. Bake the tart for 30-40 minutes. The puff will be golden brown and the almond cream will be starting to color. Serve warm or room temperature with pistachio ice cream and a summer fruit salad or out of a picnic basket with a nice glass of sauternes.

Dry Heat My A#*.....

Take a seat because I am back already! It's a miracle. Or maybe my life is just too darn exciting to keep it to myself. Yeah, I vote for miracle, too.

So, I just returned from Arizona. Just to clear one detail up-that dry heat thing is a LIE! Yes, I already was a true believer of the lie, but after soaking up the 105℉(yes the F is extremely important here!!) heat at 10PM(!!!)-okay that may be a lie-but point being it is HOT. Sweaty, pants sticking to you, gum melting, business card ruining, hot. I am still trying to figure out why one of the restaurants has ginormous torches lighting(heating) their outside seating. Or I guess why for that matter I took part in their al fresco dining? Florida ocean breeze I love you!

ANYWAY..., I was there for the world pastry forum. I went to attend a class on wedding cakes and watch National Pastry Team Championship. The winner of the competition goes on to compete in the World Pastry Championship. The competition was 2 days and the teams had to complete a chocolate showpiece, sugar showpiece, entremet, plated dessert, bonbons, petit gateau, entremet glace, presentation piece for their bonbons, as well as being judged on cleanliness, teamwork, organization. It all sounds easy, right? I mean the 2 days it's like 12 whole hours. That's like a crazy amount of time. And you have 3 people on your team except for the one team that only had 2+one broken finger. Oh, and did I mention that you have specific times to present your entremet, petit gateau, etc., throughout the competition. You just don't hit a bell and say done. They tell you. Yeah, hats off to all of the competitors. You prepare for months, mostly on your own dime. Oh, and the whole time you are working, the judges can come over and talk to you about what you are doing. No, seriously, kudos to them all. Just the months of practice takes so much discipline. They should all be winners right? You can check out www.pastrychampionship.com to see the winners and to see pictures.

Now about the wedding cakes. I never really did any wedding cakes. I made gumpaste flowers for a wedding cake. And I made a figurine, not for a wedding cake. He would be more like for some crazy tripped out party cake. Do people have many of those? But I met some great new friends and saw a lot of cool stuff. I actually brought my whole crazy cake man home (he got checked with the luggage) and he sits here with me now. Well in the office and he scares me everytime I go in. But not bad enough that you wouldn't want him for your crazy tripped out party!