Hey! You! Get Off of my Raspberry Cloud

My initial intention was to link the teaser picture of the Raspberry Cloud, from my last Wordless Wednesday post, to Corningware411.  Alas, I have decided that since Culinary Alchemy has been sadly bereft of any entries for over a month, it was time to post something here.  In all honesty, you really don't have to use a CorningWare 10x14 Roasting pan to make this.  I made a double batch for my family's 4th of July celebration and decided that a 10x14 would be a better choice, but a 9x13 would have been a perfectly serviceable receptacle.

I am going to give the recipe in a single batch measurements, so the pictures will not really match as far quantities are concerned.  Thus a 9x9 pan will be the choice for the following amounts.

So what exactly is a Raspberry Cloud.....?

Well, it's a layered dessert consisting of a vanilla cookie crust (graham cracker is too intrusive) smothered with a pillowy soft meringue, which is then frozen.  This makes it kind of like a semifreddo, but just before serving you add a layer of fresh berries (though you can use frozen in a pinch) and surmount that with lemon juice laced whipped cream.  Which moves it from semifreddo to Awesome-freddo!  (I know, that is a total mistranslation, but I liked the way it sounded)

It is light, refreshing and delicious on a hot summer's day.  As luck would have it, here in the Pacific NW, raspberries are at their peak at the beginning of July, thus making this a natural fit for Independence Day celebrations.   Even if my blog post about it is a week late...   :)

Raspberry Cloud

1 1/2 cups (6 oz) (170g) Vanilla Wafer Crumbs (about 30 cookies)
1/4 cup (2 oz) (56g) unsalted Butter, melted
4 large Egg Whites
1/2 cup (3.5 oz) (100g) Granulated Sugar
16 oz (453g) (~ 1 1/3 pints) fresh Red Raspberries (though you can use frozen raspberries)
2 tsp Granulated Sugar
8 oz (236ml) Heavy Cream
1 TB Confectioners' Sugar
1 TB Lemon Juice

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Smash your cookies with a mallet or process them in the food processor (I prefer the more violent method employing a storage bag and the flat side of a meat mallet)

Place them in a bowl and add the melted butter, stirring with a fork until the crumbs are evenly coated.

Dump the mixture unceremoniously into a 9x9 baking dish or pan.

Press firmly.

Separate the eggs and save the yolks for another purpose.

Begin whisking the whites, on medium speed, until they reach soft peaks.

With the mixer still running, begin sprinkling in the 1/2 cup of Granulated Sugar a little at a time.

Continue mixing until the whites reach firm/stiff peaks.

Spoon over the cookie crust and spread it evenly.

Bake in the oven until the meringue is nice and golden brown, about 15-20 minutes.

Allow this to cool to room temperature (don't worry if it looks super puffy or uneven when you remove it from the oven, as it cools it will sink slightly) before placing in the freezer for 2 hours.

Right before you are ready to serve, place your berries in a bowl.

Sprinkle them with 2 tsp Granulated Sugar and toss, then set them aside while you prepare the whipped cream.

In a chilled stainless steel bowl, combine Heavy Cream and Confectioners' Sugar.

Whisk until stiff, then gently fold in the lemon juice. (Do NOT add the juice before whipping, or the cream will curdle)

Remove the baking dish from the freezer and scatter the Raspberries over the Meringue.

Spread the Whipped Cream evenly over the top. (don't worry if some of the berries show through, that's part of it's charm)

Garnish with more berries and some mint if desired.

Personally, I prefer to dig in immediately, while the Vanilla Wafer Crust and Meringue still retain the chill from being in the freezer.

Mangia!!
~~

Wordless Wednesday - Happy Independence Day!

~~

Old Glory In All It's, Well... Glory - Independence Day Berry Tart

I had decided, since the whole family was getting together for the 4th of July, that we were going to need a garmungous (which is bigger than humongous) dessert. That is, for the adults who weren't going to be into the whole "Deep Fried Ice Cream" thing. While I was pondering my pan sizes, something I had seen several years ago, on the net somewhere, started tickling the back of my consciousness. When the thought fully formed in my minds eye, I was quite pleased with the idea.

All I needed were some fresh Oregon berries (quite fitting), some Puff Pastry, some jelly, a lot of whipped cream and some form of cooked pudding cause I refuse to use that instant gelatin based stuff. Not because it's based on gelatin, but because it's all artificially flavored. LOL
That was when I decided on the Cardamom Pastry Creme, which is what we Americans refer to as "Pudding", not to be confused with Christmas Pudding or Yorkshire Pudding (Those will be later posts).

Pastry Creme was first, so it could chill overnight. And I wanted to assemble on the 4th so that the Puff Pastry didn't have time to become soggy.

Old Glory

1 recipe Pastry Creme
1 Pkg Puff Pastry
Flour (for rolling out the pastry)
1 "half sheet" jelly roll pan
1/2 cup Pomegranate Jelly
1/2 pint Fresh Blueberries
2 pints Fresh Raspberries
3 cups Heavy Whipping Cream
2 TB Confectioners' Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla
1 large piping bag fitted with a 17mm 52-7 tip (Kaiser)
1 small piping bag fitted with a #22 Star tip (Wilton)
A Lot of Patience

Be sure to make the Cardamom Pastry Creme the night before so it is well chilled.

Roll each of the sheets of Puff Pastry to about 10 x 14 on a lightly floured surface. (this will allow for about 2 inches of overlap in the center of the sheet pan)

Lay out the pastry in the sheet pan and dock it with a fork. (Be sure that it comes up the sides of the pan, cause it will shrink a little in the oven - Cause you rolled it out)

Bake for 15 minutes. (Like I said, it shrinks a little, but that is OK)

Warm 1/2 cup of Pomegranate jelly in the microwave for 40 seconds.

Brush the warm pastry with the liquid jelly. (This will create a barrier between the pastry and pastry creme, to prevent sogginess - and add some "zig")

Once the pastry has cooled completely, spread the pastry creme all over the crust.

Begin laying berries out in a flag design, remember 7 red stripes (the gaps will be white - there should be 6), the blueberries will be your "blue field of stars" (I made my blue field a little too small - it's bottom border should have been had the white stripe under it, not the red one)

In a medium bowl, whip the Heavy cream with the confectioners' sugar & vanilla.

Place 3/4 of the Heavy Cream in the large Piping bag and remainder in the small piping bag.

Using the large piping bag, pipe "white Stripes" into the gaps between the Raspberries.

With the small piping bag, pipe stars in the "Blue Field" - Remember, there are 50, from top to bottom with 5 rows of 6 and 4 rows of 5, alternating. Beginning and ending with 6. (This is when I figured out I had made the blue field too small)

Don't worry if you have some whipped cream left over... There is bound to be someone around who would be overjoyed to eat it.... LOL

Oh, say can you see, by the dawns early light!

Mangia!!
~~

Devil or Angel, I Can't Make Up My Mind - Angel Food Cake

I am about to expound upon one of my favorite things. Normally, I can safely say that I am not a cake person. I mean, I like to BAKE cakes, and then give them to other people, but I don't really eat them very often myself. I am really more of a pie person... I love pie.

BUT, (there is one of those big buts again) there is one cake that is near and dear to my heart. My Great grandmother baked it, my grandmother bakes it, my mom bakes it and I and my baby brother bakes it. I grew up on this cake. Sometimes it was served with Pineapple Bavarian Creme, but most of the time, it served as the base for Strawberry shortcake - though short would be a grievously inaccurate description of it's heavenly goodness.

I speak of the often misunderstood Angel Food cake. It's a family tradition that is taken so seriously that we engage in height contests. It's all in good fun, but the bragging rights are worth it. LOL

Because of the aforementioned "contest" I have spent a lot of time searching for that elusive "edge" to get that extra 1/2 inch of height that will put me on the podium. Thus I have tried every piece of angel food cake preparation equipment produced by every smarmy kitchen gadget manufacturer on the market. This is where the misunderstanding of angel food cake occurs; due to misinformation perpetrated even by TV celebrity cooks.

My first piece of worthless equipment was to buy a Non-Stick angel food cake pan, cause it would make it easier to remove the cake, right? WRONG! The problem is that most of these, though not all, do not have a removable bottom. This causes to your have to PULL the cake out of the pan, cause is does still stick a little, thus squashing your cake. The second issue is that non-stick coatings are polymers, polymers are very similar to overcooked fats, fats are BAD when it comes egg white foams... Egg whites HATE fat. When an angel food cake rises, it needs to be able to actually climb the pan, this can only happen if it can stick to the side of the pan.

My second piece of cookeware was the silicon angel food pan. Completely worthless. Uneven cooking... Terrible transfer of heat... Scorched but still raw... Nightmare to clean. I own exactly zero pieces of silicon bakeware now. It's all gone, cause none of it worked as was promised, give me good old Wilton cake pans any day.

Through all of this mess, I did discover 1 thing that did help. A copper bowl that I found at Ross for 8 bucks. Yep, only 8 bucks. And while it is pretty thin (I have a smaller but thicker one I found at the Goodwill later) it works VERY well to stabilize my egg foams. Especially after a good scrubbing with distilled vinegar and kosher salt. In fact, it worked so well, that I traveled to a different Ross store to see if I could find another one for my mom. Which I did, though it kind of defeated the purpose of using it as a secret weapon in the height war at that point. (sigh) Oh, well.

The beauty of copper is that it ionizes once exposed to an acid, such as vinegar. These ions actually stabilize the stretching proteins in the egg foam. This leads to less chance of over beating, or breaking, as well as producing a foam that has more ability to stretch. Let's face it, in an angel food cake, your only leavening is the water and air encased within a protein bubble. Proteins that do not stretch, cause broken bubbles. Fewer bubbles, means less height. Repeat after me.... "I love bubbles, bubbles are my friends" ;)

OK, so having established that non-stick sucks, silicon sucks but copper bowls are awesome, what the heck are you suppose to bake your cake in, the copper bowl? Nope, just a good old 2 piece 10 inch aluminum pan. Great-Grandma knew best.

One of the most heinous crimes against angel food cake kind that I have seen, however, is the usage of a straight edged knife to cut it, or rather to squish it. It happens more often that you would think, and it makes me cringe every time I see it. I sometimes wish there was some sort of special forces unit I could call when there is an angel food cake in distress. Always, and I cannot stress this enough, ALWAYS use a heavily serrated knife to cut an angel food cake. Use a sawing motion, like you are cutting bread, but without actually pressing down. Let the knife cut through the cake, not your arm.

OK, I am now of my angel food cake soap box. I cannot help it, I am very passionate about Angel Food cake. ;) So here is how my family and I go about making one... Though I chose to use a funky pan this time. (Yet again, a Goodwill find) It was a 10 inch square tube pan... I've never seen one before and thought it was interesting, so I had to try it. Granted it takes more batter to fill a 10 square than it does a 10 inch round. So my piddly 3 5/8ths inch height is not really reflective of what this recipe will do in the proper sized pan, but I was being lazy and didn't want to sit down and do all the conversions. Next time I use this pan, I will. But the following recipe is still in it's standard 10 inch round tube pan format.

Angel Food Cake

(from hell; LOL)

1 1/2 cup Egg Whites
1 1/2 cup Confectioners' Sugar
1 Cup Cake Flour
Pinch of Kosher Salt
1 1/2 tsp Cream of Tarter
1 tsp Vanilla
1 cup Granulated Sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Separate the eggs, while cold, into a clean glass container and let set at room temp while preparing the remaining ingredients.

Combine the Confectioners' Sugar and the Cake Flour in a sifter that has been set on a piece of waxed paper.

Sift the ingredients onto a second piece of waxed paper, then place the sifter back down on the first piece of waxed paper.

Lift the waxed paper by the edges and pour the mixture back into the sifter.

Sift again onto the second piece of waxed paper.

Lift the waxed paper and pour the mixture back into the sifter again.

Sift again onto the waxed paper.

Then pour everything back into the sifter a final time and set aside.

(The first sifting breaks up the ingredients; the second and third sifting mix the ingredients thoroughly)

If you have a copper bowl, you will need to add salt and distilled vinegar, then rub it clean with a paper towel.

Wipe out any residual vinegar with a dry paper towel.

Add the egg whites to the bowl whether copper or simply a clean glass bowl as well as a pinch of salt.

Beat on low speed until they become foamy, then sprinkle with Creme of Tarter and add the Vanilla Extract (adding it ahead adds just a little more water to the mix)

Beat the egg whites again, at medium speed, until they reach soft peaks. (then a peak still bends over)

Begin sprinkling the granulated sugar over the foam, while continuing to mix on low speed.

When your done, they won't really be "glossy" but should have a pearly sheen...

and stay in the bowl when it is tilted 90 degrees.

Grab your largest spatula (cause we are gonna fold in the flour, and the bigger the better)

Sift a little of the dry ingredients over the top of the egg white foam.

Then begin folding the ingredients together. (I always cut down in the middle, scrap along the bottom of the bowl and lift the foam over towards the center with a twist of the wrist; but folding from the side works too, it's one of those personal preference things)

Once the first addition has been mostly incorporated, sift some more of the flour mixture over the top and continue folding.

More flour mixture... More folding.

Remember, to be quick but gentle. (Sorry, I know that's not a very good explanation, but it's the best I can do until I get a video camera)
Once all of the dry ingredients have been folded in you will want to begin washing your pan.
Oh yes, I save it till last, cause you want it to be wet when you add the batter to it.
So, scrub the interior tube with soap and water (You MUST remove all oil and grease) being careful not to touch the interior side of the tube.

Then wash the outer pan, again, clean it well with soap, rinse thoroughly and do not touch the interior surface of the pan (you have oils on your skin that will contaminate the pan)

Assemble the pan while still wet, again, not touching any interior surfaces.

Spoon the batter into the wet pan.

Using a clean butter knife, cut up an down vertically through the batter to remove large air pockets.

Place in the preheated oven, reduce the temperature to 325, and bake for 45-50 minutes.

The cake will rise very high, but as the gluten in the cake begins to set, it will sink a little.

Remove from the oven and cool, upside down, to retain the height achieved in case not all of the gluten has finished setting yet (there will still be some heat carry over)

When the cake is cool, grab a serrated knife.

Cut along the edges of the pan, using vertical strokes, up and down to release the cake from the sides of the pan (don't forget to do this around the tube too)

Place a cake plate over the pan and flip the whole thing over before removing the outer pan.

Using the same serrated knife, cut the cake free from the bottom, using horizontal strokes.

The cake will release itself onto the plate.

Even though I knew it was going to be a shorter cake, I was still little disappointed. But the pan was bigger. When using a 10 inch round I get a good 4 inch high cake, sometimes 4 1/4!

To serve (It's a little too early for strawberries to have good flavor) grab some Raspberries.....

Whip some Heavy Cream with a little Confectioners' Sugar....

For fun, add a hint of St. Germaine instead of Vanilla (I love it's floral aroma with cream and fruit concoctions)

Cut a slice of cake with a serrated knife, using a gentle sawing motion...

Cover with St. Germaine Cream and Fresh Raspberries......

YUM! Sinfully Delicious!

OK, So the cake comb that I blogged about last night works like this.

Impale the cake slice with the fork.

Sort of peel the cake slice to one side to remove a slice.

This sort of "tearing" of the angel food maintains it's fluffiness a little better than actual cutting.

Mangia!!
~~