Blue Cayenne

I’ve had this recipe in my burgeoning to-do file for some time.

The original recipe is from The New York Times and the reviews are pretty strong.  A reader named  Isabel, for example, wrote that this cake may be one of the best things she’s ever eaten or baked. You can find the original recipe here.

I’m a sucker for that kind of review.  I knew I had to bake this.

In the end, I really enjoyed this  Mochi Cake. It is delicate and moist and not too sweet…and interesting. I’ve never baked a Mochi Cake before and my experience using red bean paste is pretty thin! Be forewarned, though, that this recipe makes a lot of cake. You may want to halve the recipe or invite your friends to a mochi feast. (Come to think of it, that mochi feast is a great idea!)

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Just WOW!

This is such a good cake and a relatively unique cake flavor to place on your table to entertain your guests. I have to confess, though, that I’m not having a party and this cake is quickly disappearing off my counter!

This is a subtly-sweet cake redolent in tahini (sesame paste) flavor. 

Tahini (tehania and a lot of other spellings) is a common ingredient in many Middle Eastern cuisines. It is often enjoyed as a dipping sauce (with lemon and garlic), as an ingredient in hummus, and even as a coating for soft-serve ice cream. (The ice cream application sounds great to me–and familiar. I grew up near a Frosty Serve ice cream shop here in Southern California and spent many an afternoon after school enjoying soft serve vanilla ice cream dipped in melted chocolate and nuts. Sounds similar.)

Today, with the proliferation of international markets in our communities, it is easy to find tahini. Even Trader Joe’s carries it. According to the experts, the very best tahini paste is made from Ethiopian sesame seeds where the Ethopian gout de terroir is particularly prized. In addition to the many very commercial brands available, some small producers are now in the American market. I particularly like the Soom brand. (Soom Tahini)

In some Middle Eastern cultures offering a guest some food item made with tahini is a show to welcome and respect. So, in that spirit here on Blue Cayenne, here is a really wonderful Tahini Cake recipe. This recipe is from a new cookbook, Leon Big Flavors by Rebecca Seal. The cookbook is available through your local bookstore. (Leon, by the way, is a restaurant chain that started in The UK.) The original recipe was featured on the Splendid Table site here.

The original recipe called for serving the cake unfrosted, but it seemed to me that this Tahini Cake frosting would be wonderful on this cake. I used the Tahini Cake frosting recipe from Food52; you will find it. here.

Here is the Tahini Cake recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. 

Shirley Temple, remember her?

In 1935 she made the song Animal Crackers In My Soup insanely popular, performing the song in her movie Curly Top.

Here are the lyrics if you want to sing along: Curly Top/Animal Crackers in my Soup.

Curly Top takes you on a welcome journey back into simpler times.

No wait! 1935.

We were in the middle of the Great Depression. Forget that reference to simpler times. Curly Top must have provided a little escape from the collapse of the economy. Shirley played an orphan who charms a rich benefactor. Hope and resilience!

Unlike Shirley’s soup, there are no lions and tigers in today’s great soup recipe, but there is a lot of an equally unexpected ingredient: pears.

That’s right. There are pears in this soup.

Who knew you could even do that?

The original recipe comes from a cookbook More Mandy’s. (Mandy’s is a gourmet salad restaurant in Montreal, Canada. (Yay, Canada, by the way.) The book is available from your local independent bookstore or online.

Here is the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen.