peaks.

Things are happening over here, I'm busy, but things are finally coming together.

There is good news on the way.  I know where I'm going in the New Year and there are exciting projects coming up.  I'll share all soon, I swear. 

winter.

Last night we got at least a foot of snow.  

I'm in a funny place, where I can't say where I'll be in a month.  Classes will be ending in one week and I only have two more weeks in my apartment.  These deadlines are holding me and before I know it everything will be different.

rosemary lemon mousse cakes with olive oil cake

It's hard to believe Christmas is only 14 days away.  I'm so far away from being prepared.  I have one gift together and a small pile of ideas that I have yet to make any progress on.  Honestly, aside from listening to a lot of A Charlie Brown Christmas' soundtrack, making these cakes is the most holiday-y thing I've done.  I'll get myself together eventually, right? 

These little mousse cakes aren't too hard to make, just a layering of rosemary lemon mousse and olive oil cake, with tiny white chocolate paste holly berries and candied rosemary on top.  I used 4" concentric rings, but it could just be made into one large ring also.

R o s e m a r y   L e m o n   M o u s s e

3 cups  Lemon Curd 

1 quart  Heavy Cream

4 each Gelatin Sheets

1/4 cup Orange Juice

5 sprigs rosemary

I.  Heat heavy cream and Rosemary in saucepan and let simmer for about 30 minutes.  Allow cream to cool.

II.  Bloom gelatin in cold water

III.  Heat orange juice on medium heat.

IV.  Add gelatin to orange juice and whisk until melted

V. Add curd to gelatin mixture and whisk until combined

VI.  Whip the rosemary heavy cream until soft peaks, fold into the curd mixture.

O l i v e   O i l   C a k e

10 oz.  Cake Flour

1  oz  Baking Powder

.2 oz  Salt

13 oz   Sugar

6 oz  Olive Oil

5 oz.  Milk

15 oz Eggs

I.  Line a sheetpan with parchment paper and oil pan.

II.  Place all the wet ingredients in a kitchen aid mixer, pour dry on top.  Using whip attachment blend together on low for 30 seconds.

III.  Whip for 3 minutes on high speed.

IV.  Whip for 2 minutes on medium speed.

V.  Mixture will be relatively liquidy, pour onto sheet pan and bake for about 30 - 40 minutes, or until top is golden brown.  

VI.  Once cake is cooled, cut layers with the concentric rings, 3 layers per ring that you have.  Line the ring with acetate.  Put the 1st layer on the bottom of each ring, and then pipe the rosemary lemon mousse about 1/3 of the way up the ring.  Alternate until you have piped mousse onto the 3rd layer of cake.

The berries were created by folding in a bit of red gel coloring into white chocolate modeling paste and rolling them into little berry shapes.  The rosemary was candied by dipping sprigs of rosemary into nearly caramelized simple syrup and then rolling them in sugar.  This method did leave the rosemary pretty crunchy however, letting them simmer in the simple syrup for about 5 minutes and then rolling them in sugar might create better results.

< 3

in doors

*      *     *

~

hubbard park

Little Montpelier has its very own town forest. 

s n o w

Went to bed with barren trees and grey land to see, and the next morning looked out my window to see a world quite different. 

~ cranberry apple pie ~

This Thanksgiving I've been reunited with my familiy in snowy Minnesota, not the coastal North Carolina where I grew up, but still a place I'm learning to call my home away from home.  It's been interesting and funny and different being reunited with everyone, a comfort sometimes, and then a reminder of childhood angst at others.  I suppose this is how families go.  On Thanksgiving we arrived home to find that nothing had been prepared and it was nearly 4 o'clock, so I put my game face on and quickly prepared as much as I could in a few hours.  I whipped up rosemary mashed potatoes, a sweet potato bake where I used eggnog (surprisingly delicious!) with maple brown sugared pecans on top,  sauteed spinach and shallots with lemon and grated parmesan, stuffing, and a Greek salad, all in a couple of hours!  While we were waiting for the turkey to I decided to finish it all off with a pie - cranberry apple pie.

We didn't have any cutters in the house, so I had a lot of fun cutting these shapes by hand.  The process was very organic and quieting and I felt reunited with my decision to pursue baking.