Piemont – Pistachio Mousse Cake

 

This new trial is from a Japanese baker whose recipes were translated in Chinese.  The photos are fabulous.  The one catches my almost attention is a cake called Piemont made of pistachio, one of my favourite nuts.   Piemont is a province in Italy which is famous for its wine and food.  It is a place where a friend and an ex-colleague are from. 

The base is chocolate cake made with egg white, ground almond, cake flour, cocoa, dashed with walnut (originally hazelnut) and pistachio,  Then layered with pistachio mousse, chocolate cake with Kirsch wine, pistachio mousse and finally pistachio wrapped in syrup.  The mousse, according to the recipe, is made up of loads of sugar cooked in syrup.  I cut a lot.  It then did not get solid nicely.  I will recommend adding gelatin.

Cinnamon Nut Streusel Yoghurt Cake

I like a few spices: cinnamon, cardamom and rosemary.  It’s Easter Holiday, much free time that I can experiment bread and cake with my favourite spices.   I prepared a bread dough of prune and cardamom last night.  At time, it is not ready to show.  But the cinnamon nut streusel yoghurt cake does.

It is a trial version, half of the size of the recipe that I took reference of.    A bundt form will have made a nicer presentation.  But for this 7″ cake, I do not have one.  Nevertheless, important are the taste and texture.  This cake is soft with a crunch.  Superb for breakfast!  I enjoyed slices together with my mom. 

Streusel Topping:
22g plain flour
15 cold butter, cut into chunks
20g brown sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
25g toasted walnut, ground
20g ground hazelnut

Cake:
90g butter
150g plain flour
100g sugar
190g yoghurt
2 large eggs
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 180°C. Grease a 7’’ / 18 cm cake.

Streusel Topping:

Mix flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in cold butter with pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Stir in ground nuts.

Cake:

1. Mix and sieve dry ingredients.
2. Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Beat in eggs, one at a time, until well blended.
3. Fold in 1/3 flour mixture to the batter.  Fold in half of the yoghurt.  Add flour and yoghurt to the cake mixture alternately.
4. Pour half of the cake mixture into the cake pan.  Place half of the streusel on top. Pour in the rest of the cake mixture and top with the streusel.
5. Bake for 40-45 minutes until a test pin comes out clean.  Cool for 10 minutes and serve warm.

Hazelnut Cake with Lemon Zest

This weekend is packed.  In two hours I will serve at the elderly lunch.  Only a few elderly remain since another church offers slightly cheaper meal with choices of main dishes. 

Then I will meet my investment consultant.  It’s a year after I have stopped my monthly investment since the redundancy.  See if it is a good timing to reinvest.

Next will be the church service and cell group.  The regular meeting forms a rapport and bond between us.  It is dear to have friends around.   

Tomorrow will be another round of the rehearsal of the street performance for the Good Friday.  I will act as one of the women following Jesus.  We rehearsed last night.  It’s not easy to remain sorrow all through.  Hope the atmosphere on the day will help all actors/actress live in the respective character.

Well, let’s grasp time to make a simple cake for breakfast. 

125g ground hazelnut
60g butter
90g brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
Zest of 1 lemon
Preheat the oven to 150ºC. 

Cream the butter and brown sugar until a bit pale.  Add egg yolk one after one and mix well.  Blend in the ground hazelnut and lemon zest. 

Beat the egg whites until they become stiff.  Fold in half of the egg white.  Mix well.  Fold in the rest.    Bake for 40 – 60 minutes.    Let the cake cool a bit.   A few blueberries on top were placed on top as a simple delight.

I enjoyed a piece with coffee macchiato.