Whole lotta hubris goin' on

That, friends, is Alex's First Sponge. The hubris comes from the fact that, well, it wasn't hard. I'm sure my next one will rise more, but I'm quite happy with this one. I forgot to measure it before I split and filled it (with cream and Kate's aunt's "qunicalade"), but I'm claiming a height around 45mm.

It looks a little funny around the sides because I was initially putting cream around the sides as well as on top, and then I realised that might be a leedle bit too much. Clutterpunk's oven having done some... interesting... things over the last week, we're not having pizza tonight, so it will be takeaway of some sort. Some filling sort. Hopefully we'll leave room to sample Alex's First Sponge. Hopefully it will be worth it...

Recipe: "Jackie's mum's sponge", from Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion.

Addendum:

A cross-section. Turns out that even with quantities of Thai food, we were still able to polish off a fair chunk of the sponge, which was indeed quite spongey.

How'dya like THEM apples - er, macaroons?

The first time I made macaroons, they kind of looked like fried eggs: they spread at the base, and went crispy, with a bit of 'proper' macaroon in the middle. It was a problem with the oven temperature. This time, I made a few changes. Firstly, I bought a new piping bag, which is easier to use than the cheapo plastic one I had. Secondly, and I don't know how much this helped, but I sifted the whole lot - about 400g worth of almond meal, icing sugar, and cocoa - three times!! This was a suggestion from Mel, who I believe stole it from Masterchef. Oh, and thirdly I allowed my darling to pipe them for me; I actually had little choice, he just started doing it after helping me to fill the bag.

I realised halfway through the cooking that I had made the same mistake, temperature-wise, as last time - because I didn't realise I made this mistake last time. The recipe says to cook for 10-12 minutes, and after 5 minutes turn the temperature down. I read that as cook for 10-12 minutes, and then cook for another 5 minutes at the lower temp. Ah well. I adjusted the temp for the last couple of minutes, so these aren't a complete disaster. A bit less chewy than might be ideal, but still awfully moreish.

Middle Eastern Tiramisu

I'm not a huge tiramisu fan, but that's mostly because I am anti-coffee. La Clutterpunk, however, is an extreme devotee. We have a standing date for Sunday nights, to which Mel has recently been granted admittance, and it was Clutterpunk's birthday last Saturday, which was the excuse for my Syrian French toast. She announced that she was delegating dessert responsibility for Sunday night to my shoulders, then bounced a few ideas around about what she might like, mentioning tiramisu. I knew I had a Middle Eastern variation in my Moroccan book, and when I looked it up I realised it wasn't nearly as hard as I had expected. And, of course, that you can make half of it with chocolate rather than coffee. So that's what I did.

What makes it Middle Eastern? The creamy bit is made with marscapone. It has orange blossom water in it; it was meant to have brandy, sherry, and Marsala, but I used sherry and Grand Marnier instead. The syrup which went over the top was meant to be pistachios, but I used toasted almonds instead and I think they worked out just fine. And when I say syrup, I mean that I made a sugar syrup, added the almonds, and all of a sudden I had praline.

I'm very pleased to have finally discovered tiramisu. This may become a signature dish for me as I experiment with different alcohols, etc. One idea I had yesterday: paint the sponge biscuits with melted chocolate, wait for it to set, and then dip them in the marinade. I wonder if that would work? Anyone want to invite me over for dinner so I can try?