Alvin and I try to make it a point to invite friends over to our humble abode for intimate dinner or dessert parties just so that we can spend quality time getting to know them better. Often, over the course of the academic year, we bump into each other at the Forum or at school functions and we say we have to get together for a meal, but it seldom happens because finding a common date and time to sit down at one place for 3 hours is such a huge challenge. However, this time, I was determined to make good on my word to some of our good friends, so I badgered Alvin to send out an invite for a dessert party at our place 2.5 weeks prior to tonight to get them to 'save the date'. Amazingly, all 7 people who received the invite showed up. I had been looking forward to tonight for some time now. Firstly, I haven't seen most of them for some time and really wanted to catch up. Secondly, I had an excuse to bake!
Today, I spent 6 hours in the kitchen preparing 3 desserts. Could have spent a lot less time, but one turned out to be a disaster, so I had to reconstruct it. You will find out which one in a moment.
I started planning tonight's menu about 1 week in advance. I had bought a bottle of rose flower water when we were in New York City last summer, but hadn't used it, so I wanted to try out the panna cotta just so that I could use my almost-a-year-old purchase. Don't worry, there wasn't a use by date. You can keep these extracts for years.
Rosewater Panna Cotta
Serves 6 - 8 depending on the size of your ramekins or glass containers
1/3 cup milk
1 (.25 ounce) envelope unflavored gelatin
2 1/2 cups heavy cream
1/2 cup white sugar
1 1/2 tablespoon rose flower water Pour milk into a small bowl, and stir in the gelatin powder. Don't worry if texture is not consistent or smooth. Set aside.
In a saucepan, stir together the heavy cream and sugar, and set over medium heat. Bring to a full boil, watching carefully, as the cream will quickly rise to the top of the pan. Pour the gelatin and milk into the cream, stirring until completely dissolved. Cook for one minute, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, stir in the rose flower water and pour into individual glass containers. Be careful not to stain the sides. If this happens, wipe the spillage with a wet tissue immediately.
Cool the glass containers uncovered at room temperature. When cool, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, but preferably overnight before serving. The reason why I decorated it simply with just a strawberry is because drizzling any sauce over the panna cotta would have taken away from the rose scent, which would have defeated the purpose of adding rose flower water instead of vanilla extract.
After I had put the panna cotta in the refrigerator to set, I went about making the pavlova. I love making pavlovas because its majestic presentation never fails to impress guests. I also love the texture - crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside.
Fresh Berry Pavlova
Serves 8 - 10
4 egg whites
1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 1/4 cups heavy cream, whipped
Mixed berries such as blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, blueberries
1 teaspoon icing sugar for dusting
In a large bowl, bet egg whites until stiff but not dry. Ensure that not a particle of grease or egg yolk gets into the whites. Gradually add in the sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat until thick and glossy. This process should take about 8 minutes. Overbeating the egg whites can cause them to lose volume and deflate when other ingredients are folded in. Gently fold in vanilla extract and cornstarch with a spatula. To achieve a pristine white meringue, you will have to use clear vanilla extract. I didn't have that on hand, so the normal one did just fine too - it's just that I got a slightly beige meringue instead.
Spoon mixture into the circle drawn on the parchment paper. Working from the center, spread mixture toward the outside edge, building edge slightly. This should leave a slight depression in the center.
Bake for 1 1/2 hour. After 1 1/2 hours, turn off the heat in the oven, but just leave the pavlova inside the oven for another 1 hour. A good pavlova will be chewy on the itside, but crispy on the outside. You can test the texture of the inside of the pavlova by poking a toothpick or a knife in the middle. Do not panic if the pavlova's crust cracks in the center - it will be disguised in the next step.
Remove the parchment paper carefully and place meringue flat on serving plate. Only place the whipped cream in the center of the meringue when you are about to serve the dessert. Top with berries and dust with icing sugar.
I was pleasantly surprised at how I breezed through these 2 desserts. Little did I know, the third one was going to give me a lot of grieve. I had ordered 2 Nordic Ware baking pans from amazon.com and they were still sitting in the box, unwrapped, so this was the perfect opportunity for me to use them to make swiss rolls. I thought of doing something Asian, and sine I had a can of azuki bean paste in the pantry, I thought a green tea swiss roll would be good. Flopped big time. Somehow, I couldn't roll the sponge without having all the beans spill out. So I decided to reconstruct it. I made another bunch of sponge from scratch (I know. Pat on my own back for perseverance) and cut out heart shapes to make a heart shaped green tea layer cake.
Matcha and Azuki Layer Cake
Serves 8
For the cake:
4 eggs, separated
2 tablespoons butter (melted and cooled)
6 tablespoons sugar
2/3 cup flour
3 tablespoons corn starch
1 tablespoon matcha (finely powdered green tea)
Pinch of salt
For the filling:
300 grams anko (sweetened azuki bean paste)
2/3 cup heavy cream, whipped
Prepare the cake:
Preheat the oven to 400°F/205°C and line a 13-by-9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, combine the egg yolks with the butter and sugar. Beat well with a wooden spoon. In another bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, and matcha. Stir the flour mixture into the egg yolk mixture until just blended, without overmixing.
Place the egg whites and the pinch of salt in a clean, grease-free mixing bowl, and whisk until stiff. Stir one third of the egg whites into the batter, then fold in the rest with a spatula, lifting the mixture to keep as much air as possible in the egg whites.
Pour the batter onto the prepared baking pan, making sure it reaches the corners, and smooth out the surface gently with the spatula. Bake for 6 to 8 minutes, keeping a close eye on it, until just set. You do not want it to under-bake (if you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean, you're good to go). You also do not want it to over-bake because the sponge will be too tough.
Once sponge layer is baked, remove parchment paper and place it on a clean dish cloth. Use cookie cutter to cut out shapes. You want to make sure you have 24 (for 8 individual cakes x 3 layers) shapes in hand.
Prepare the filling:
Mix the azuki bean paste together with the whipped cream.
Assemble:
Place one shape at the bottom, spread filling over it, top with another layer, spread filling again and finish with final layer. Dust with matcha powder. Refrigerate before serving.
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