Hello from newsletter no. 14. Thank you for taking the time to be here this week, and if it’s your first time here, welcome!
If you’re the kind of soul that loves good commentary, ideas and inspiration concerning the world of baking, including its more esoteric bits and pieces, then you’re in the right place. Here we explore such things with a resourceful approach that aims to champion flavour and wholesome, seasonal ingredients.
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Last week’s newsletter looked at how we can explore Spring through scent and use it to inform our baking, from fresh green and herbaceous to floral and fruity aromas. So I thought I’d share something I’ve worked on this past week that employed some of the techniques discussed and demonstrates the kind of lateral thinking that can spark from the initial aroma of just one ingredient.
This cake commission came with carte blanche to create something unique and delicious and, as such, provided an excellent opportunity to explore flavours and textures using what was available around me. I hadn’t made a cake like this in a long while, and sure, I had the niggling thoughts and self-doubt; I felt dog tired from too many challenges at work but thought, ahh, what the heck…and you know what, I’m glad I did.
Cake creating of this kind is like a construction project; consideration goes into the foundations both in a structural sense and a flavour sense, relying on a base building component (i.e. cake) and a grounding ‘base’ flavour to create the most intense part of the flavour story.
From there, I work to develop the ‘in between’ layers, a flavourful custard, crème diplomat, a mousse or a crémeux. This will carry the ‘middle note’, the flavour that will gradually reveal itself and build on your palate as you take bite after bite.
Finally, we will need top notes and accents to keep things fresh, reinforce complimentary flavours within the cake and provide seasoning to the whole thing.
My starting point for almost all baking is the grain, and having received a fresh batch of Einkorn flour, I chose this as the bedrock. Milled beautifully, fine and soft in appearance (even in its wholegrain form) and carrying a delicate creamy and malty aroma, it would be light enough to work into the genoise sponge and, at the same time, would create a velvety, melt-in-the-mouth texture for the shortbread layer.
Next, I looked to the garden, and knowing that a cake like this requires some well-considered decoration, I took stock of the edible leaves and flowers that could serve this purpose. Generally, I like whatever is on the cake to be part of the flavour story, so aroma and flavour are important considerations here.
Sweet Cicely is going strong right now; also known as Myrrhis odorata or garden myrrh, it is a herbaceous, perennial member of the Apiaceae family; it blooms early in the season with tiny white flowers and fern-like leaves that bring movement and texture to the cake canvas.
It has an anise, liquorice-like sweetness and characteristic green notes commonly found in tender herbs (mainly green leaf volatiles GLV’s), an excellent candidate for imparting flavour by infusion. Like liquorice, it has a natural sweetness that can round off the sharp edges of tart fruits, and I hunt in the preserve cupboard to find a jar of golden plum and sweet cicely jam I put up last year. This will bring bright fruit notes to the cake party and be a valuable structural adhesive in the cake construction process.
A natural side step from sweet cicely puts me in tarragon territory. They have anise and liquorice notes in common, but tarragon has more in reserve, contained within a more robust leave type. When cut, those leaves release a green and mildly coconutty aroma. It wasn’t a giant leap to decide that coconut milk and tarragon custard should be the creamy element between the cake layers.
So we have the core constituents of any cake construction project, cake, cream element and jammy element. But there are still vacancies to fill. For example, the airy vacuoles in genoise sponge demand to be filled with something to keep it well hydrated, and there are still opportunities to add accent flavours and textures in the finishing touches.
We’ve covered the base notes (einkorn and some caramelly coconut blossom sugar for depth). Then we have the mid notes, green leaf, anise and coconut; now we need the top notes.
This is where I reach for the citrus. Imperial Lemon syrup from copious amounts of candying will be the cake soak, and fresh zest will infuse the final outer layer of Swiss meringue buttercream. Candied citrus carries through on delivering this note in the decoration, providing a bittersweet seasoning and intense little pools of tarragon-infused olive oil to express the most verdant green flavour (and because when I think of anise, I think of Pernod and when I think Pernod, I think of a martini riff and when I think of martini I think of olives). So it’s not just about olfactory science but olfactory memory too.
So what’s the takeaway this week? Same as most weeks, I guess, ride the wave of unknowing, take on the challenges, stop procrastinating, be realistic and resourceful…’ start where you are, use what you have, do what you can’. - Arthur Ashe. A mantra for life, work and cake.