Super-Minimal Sponge Cake

This is an amazingly airy basic sponge cake recipe.... I love it, the batter is also delicous!


There is no baking soda, baking powder, ridiculous ingredients. Just simple things that are already in the average kitchen.


(for a 15cm round pan)
2 Eggs (room temperature)
5 1/2 tbsp (80g) Sugar
5 tbsp (70g) Flour
2 tsp (10g) unsalted butter
2 tsp (10g) vegetable oil
2 tbsp  (25g) milk










Line your baking pan with baking paper,,, you dont want to make a cake, only to have it stick to the pan, do you???


1))  If your eggs aren't room temp., run them under some warm water. In a large pot, fill it about 1/3 with water and heat it to the point that it steams, but doesn't boil.
      In a large mixing bowl, add the eggs and sugar. Hold the bowl over the hot water while beating with a mixer on high. This way, the sugar will dissolve and the eggs will become high and fluffy. 
 ☆the mixture should never go above skin-temperature. Occasionally touch the mixture to test this. If it feels cool, put it over the pot. If it feels slightly warm to the touch, immediately take it off. 

 2))  The mixture should come to a light peak, like this

 3)) Cut and fold in the flour with a rubber spatula. Be gentle, and finish as soon as all of the flour is incorporated. 

 4)) in a separate small bowl, heat the butter, oil, and milk until the butter melts. Add it to the batter, and gently mix it in.

 5)) Gently pout into the prepared cake pan, and smack the bottom against the countertop to release bubbles. 

 ☆ i put the leftover batter into the cupcake tin

 6)) Bake at 356 degrees for about 20 minutes, then for the last 8-10 minutes of baking, lower the temperature to 340.


☆If a toothpick is inserted and comes out clean, you're done!

 It shouldn't dome or crack too much on top. If it did, maybe you could lower the oven temperature a little bit next time.

 7)) Invert onto a cooling rack.
             - Once the paper is removed and the cake is flipped back over, do be sure to cover it with a thin cloth, as this cake will dry out quickly.

The end!

Papayas,baby!

Papayas are a beautifully colored fruit, with a smooth texture and slightly floral taste.

It`s important to use every bit of your produce, so don`t throw those seeds away just yet!
Did you know the seeds are used as an aphrodisiac in some countries? 


They are crunchy,and have a pepper-like kick to them. 


Usually people use them in salad dressing 

Papaya dressing:
 

1/2 ripe papaya

2 tablespoons fresh papaya seeds
1/2 cup nut oil
1 tablespoon of rice or white wine vinegar



Simply mix, and puree in a blender

Or, you could toss them whole into a salad, although I prefer to roast them a bit before doing so, as they`re a little hard to chew raw.

Roses made of Homemade Marzipan

I`m prepping for the 2 cakes I`m making this week. One is a birthday cake for my boyfriend, so I kinda want it to turn out decent.
I want it to at least turn out better than the half-assed cream cheese truffles i made him last year.
He doesn`t even like to eat cream cheese. Whoops.


So!!! Working with fondants and marzipan scare the shit out of most people, but really, it`s not so hard at all. I promise.


The recipe I use for homemade marzipan is simple:
☆combine even parts of
                 ★Almond powder
                 ★Powdered sugar
then just add water to get it to a play-doh consistency. A true marzipan should have egg whites in it,  to help it stiffen up, but let`s make this as simple as peach cobbler.


After its at desired consistency, add food colouring of choice. Then, shove it into the freezer for about 3 minutes, just to chill it. When this stuff warms up, it becomes hard to work with. While its in the freezer, cover the surface of a flat plate with plastic wrap.


After chilling the marzipan, take small globs of it and press them with your thumb onto the plate. These will become the petals.  I would say that each one was roughly 4cm long.
I`m hyped up on black coffee at the moment, and obviously did a pretty shitty job at getting them all the same size, but they sure worked fine.
       ☆ If the marzipan becomes warm and hard to work with, shove it in the freezer for a minute before working again.  

 I made two bowls of marzipan dough, pink and yellow.


Let me demonstrate the building of the flowers with the yellow dough!


Take one petal (I use the smallest one of the bunch) to make the center of the rose. Simply, curl the dough around itself. Squish the bottom part of the curl together to make a slightly cone-shape.

 Continue to curl the petals around the base you have made, keeping the very bottom of the flower slightly smaller than the top, and with each new layer spreading the top part of the petals out to give the appearance of a blossoming rose.

Getting there.....

Done! This one was a small one.

 The other yellow one was a medium size, and the pink one was a whopper.


And I was feeling nice and tacky, and put  dragée  on them.
Interesting thing i read about metallic  dragées:

            ☆The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) considers metallic dragées to be for decorative purposes only, and should not be consumed, and are actually BANNED in California.

　　　　　　　　MMMMMM artificial food coloring AND  banned metallic beads
I must really love my boyfriend to be making him a mercury-bomb of a cake like this!

See how easy it was to do? Get creative with the marzipan! Make marzipan tacos or marzipan cats to top off the cupcakes you plan on giving to your lover or friends!




Will post the steps for when its time to make the cake!

Dear Friends..

Salut!


This is my cooking and crafts blog. I also have an Ameba blog for Japanese posts, under this domain name:
http://profile.ameba.jp/alexis-meringue/


My intentions are to show step-by-step tutorials for Japanese cooking, as well as the junk food and sweets I make, and the rarity of a craft that may come up once in a blue moon.


As this is a self-introduction, let`s get started!
(ahem)  I`m Alexis, and love to cook for people. Having dinner parties or afternoon tea gatherings is the best way to not only make yourself popular among your friends, but also bring people together for  old-fashioned entertainment and fun.


I live in Tokyo, and work part-time at a pharmacy, as well as the occasional modeling gig.
Cats are my favorite animal, and I will post updates of the 4 sweeties my family in America keeps, via photos e-mailed from my mother.


I suppose that should be enough of an intro for now, we can get to know each other with each new post. 


The future is bright...
-Alexis Meringue