Tinned-peach and custard cake

We went to Aldi, checking for the good tofu. I spontaneously purchased a huge tin of peach halves while we were there, off of some kind of thought process like: it's winter, there aren't many good fresh fruits now... how about tinned fruit? I used to love tinned peaches as a kid, maybe sage would like them... now I realize how sweet they are, I guess that's why I liked them really, but they do have a specific, nostalgic taste. I won a tin in a tombola once.

They'd been sitting in the pantry for some time when I realized I was never really going to eat 800+ g of tinned peaches... and I felt like I'd seen a German cake recipe with tinned fruit. I came across this one and it sounded good and I had pretty much all the ingredients sooooo here we are.

For the base:
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 cup (55 g) cold butter, diced
1/2 cup milk (used oat milk)
1 egg
1 large (c. 825 g) tin peach halves, drained and sliced 1/2 in thick

For the custard:
1 cup heavy cream (used oat milk)
2 tsp flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
pinch of salt

Heat the oven to 400F / 204C. Grease and line a springform cake tin. Mix flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg together with a fork in a large bowl. Add the cold butter and rub it in until the mix resembles breadcrumbs. In a separate, small bowl, whisk together the milk and egg. Pour the milk mix over the flour mix and mix with the fork until just combined. Pour the batter into the prepared tin. Arrange the peach slices on top (I had a few left over). Bake for 15 min.

Meanwhile make the custard. Combine 1/4 cup milk with the flour, and whisk to get rid of lumps. Add the rest of the milk, sugar, egg, vanilla and salt, and whisk well to mix. Take the cake out of the oven and pour the cream mix over the top. Put the cake back in and reduce the heat to 350F / 177C. Bake 35-40 min more (nb mine took longer, and I had to add a foil hat as the peaches were catching). When the cake top is puffed, and the edges are deep gold and separating from the sides of the tin, the cake is done. Remove from the oven and let cool at least 15 min before removing from the tin and letting cool completely.

Poppy Bee Sting (Bienenstichkuchen mit Mohn)

For S's birthday this year, he requested a bienenstichkuchen (bee sting cake). We talked about it a bit, and he said it was the topping that he really likes, with honey and toasted almonds - the creamy filling not so much. I reflected, and browsed the internet a bit, and then spotted this and realized I'd found our cake - it has bienenstich topping and a mohn filling, thus combining two of S's fave cakes (the other being mohnkuchen). And we get to use honey from my bee club for the topping! I've not made many yeasted cakes before, so wasn't sure how it would turn out - also because I was translating a recipe from German, referring to another in English for tips, and buying ingredients in Danish...

Cake:
150 g whipping cream
50 g butter
400 g flour
1 pack fresh yeast (42 g) (= approx. 2 tbsp dried yeast)
50 g sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
pinch of salt
2 eggs (size M)

Topping:
150 g butter
100 g sugar
1 1/2 tsp vanilla sugar
50 g honey
50 g whipping cream
200 g flaked almonds

Filling:
74 g custard powder
40 g sugar
600 ml milk
50 g butter
250 g poppy seeds (partially ground)

Make the dough:
Heat the cream and butter for the dough together until butter is all melted. Put the flour in a mixing bowl and crumble the yeast over the top. Add the sugar, vanilla sugar, salt, eggs, and warm cream-butter mixture and mix until well combined. Knead for about 5 min, until the dough is smooth. Leave the dough covered in a warm place until it has doubled in size (about 45 min).

Make the topping (do this while the dough is rising):
Heat the butter with the sugar, vanilla sugar, honey and cream, slowly with stirring. Then boil for about 4 min with stirring, until the mixture becomes a little thick and caramel (it should become a little darker, and go from yellowish to light beige). Mix in the almonds. Allow to cool, stirring occasionally.

Assemble and bake the cake:
Heat the oven to 200C / 180C fan. Lightly grease a large rectangular baking tray (30 x 40 cm).

Sprinkle the dough with a little flour, remove it from the bowl, briefly knead on a slightly floured surface and roll/press out on the baking sheet. Spread the topping out evenly on the dough and let it rise again somewhere warm, until visibly enlarged (about 30 min). When ready, put in the oven for approx. 15 min, until golden brown on top. When ready, take out and leave to cool in the baking tray on a cooling rack, until completely cold.

Make the filling (do this while the cake is rising / baking):
Mix the custard powder with the sugar in a medium bowl. Gradually stir in approx. 12 tbsp of the milk. Bring the rest of the milk to the boil in a medium saucepan, remove from the heat and add the powder-sugar mixture, stirring well. Put the pan back on the heat and bring to the boil, and simmer for about 1 min until thickened. Add the butter and poppy seeds and stir; then leave to cool.

Fill and finish the cake:
When the cake and filling are completely cool, you can assemble the cake. Loosen the cake from the baking tray and halve it vertically. Take out one half and carefully cut in half horizontally. Spread half of the poppy seed mixture evenly over the lower part, then put the top back on. Repeat for the other half of the cake and the other half of the poppy seed mixture. Best eaten within 24 hours.


I was really pleasantly surprised by this recipe - the busy work takes a couple of hours, but the rising steps don't feel like a drag because there is always something else to do - making the caramel topping; making the custard-poppyseed filling; going to the shop again because you forgot to buy milk the first time... And it was actually really simple - apart from not managing to mix in the yeast very thoroughly and getting a slightly uneven rise, it came together incredibly well. Did I mention it is delicious? Another great example of German cakey brilliance: really sweet parts (topping) are so well balanced with not so sweet parts (filling and cake); and there's loads of texture going on (light bread-cake; crunchy caramel almonds; toothsome poppyseed custard...). It was best within about 24 hours, but perfectly edible after that - it took us 5 days, but S and I ate it all.

Stewed rhubarb with custard and crunch

I found rhubarb at the weekend. It must be Spring. Every time I buy rhubarb I consider doing something different with it, but I just love it stewed, simply, with ginger, so find it hard to stray from that. Rhubarb does need sugar - it is so tart - but it is a balancing act to sweeten it sufficiently without losing its edge. Rhubarb crumble is wonderful, but I mainly always just want to eat the rhubarb part, so rhubarb and custard wins it for me. You can't beat Bird's custard, in my eyes. Real custard just doesn't hack it. I wanted a little crunch on top. I seem to eat oats with everything. Here we go. Awfully simple, tastes of Spring - the sunshine in the rhubarb, but still the need for some underlying warmth and comfort in the ginger and custard.

1 lb rhubarb, cleaned and chopped into 1 in pieces
1/2 tsp grated fresh ginger
1-2 oz turbinado sugar

250ml Bird's custard (made with soy milk)

2 tbsp rolled oats, toasted
2 tbsp flakes almonds, toasted

Put the rhubarb, ginger and sugar in a small saucepan, cover and simmer gently until the rhubarb is just soft. Taste to check sweetness. Toast and mix the almonds and oats. Make up the custard (thickness and sweetness to taste). Put some rhubarb and custard in a bowl and sprinkle with the toasted oats+almonds.

Custard

I had three egg yolks left over from making zimtsterne, needed to use them up. I have long been of the opinion that Bird's custard beats out real custard by a mile, thought I should check this out once and for all. Used this recipe.

1 1/2 cups milk
2 tsp cornflour
1 tbsp sugar
3 egg yolks
1/2 tsp vanilla essence

Mix 2 tablespoons of the milk with the cornflour in a heavy-bottomed saucepan. When the cornflour is dissolved, slowly add the rest of the milk and sugar, and cook over moderate heat until the sauce starts to thicken and comes to a boil. Remove from heat.

In a small bowl, beat egg yolks with a fork. Take a cup of the mixture, and slowly add to the eggs, beating briskly as you pour. Stir the egg mixture back into the saucepan mixture. Bring back to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat, and add the vanilla.


Definitely far inferior to Bird's. Next time I have leftover egg yolks I shall make something else - perhaps a version of egg yolk ravioli.

Rhubarb crumble and custard

We bought a big bunch of beautiful rhubarb at the farm shop last weekend.  So many possibilities, but you can't beat rhubarb crumble / rhubarb with ginger.  I remember trying to find a crumble recipe everywhere when I first started cooking - seemed like it was something too obvious and simple for anyone to bother writing one down.  But so good though.  And, since Bird's custard is egg free I figured vegan custard shouldn't be too tough...


Rhubarb Crumble

1.5-2 lb rhubarb, trimmed and sliced into ~1in long chunks
1 tsp finely grated fresh ginger
3 oz sugar

6 oz SF flour (or plain)
3 oz fake butter
1 tsp ground ginger
2 tsp cinnamon
3 oz sugar
3 oz flaked almonds / almond meal mix

Mix the rhubarb, fresh ginger and first lot of sugar and put into ovenproof dish ~ 8inx8in.  Set aside.  Heat oven to 400F.  Rub butter into flour until like breadcrumbs, then mix in the sugar, spices and almonds.  Sprinkle the crumble over the fruit to make a thick layer with no fruit poking through.  Put in the oven for 35-40 min.  Remove and allow to cool for 5 min or so before eating.


Custard

2 cups fake milk
3 tbsp sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tbsp cornflour

Heat the milk and sugar in a small saucepan.  Add the vanilla.  Mix the cornflour in a separate bowl with a little water (1-2 tsp), then add to the pan and heat until thickened.


Custard was quite white, not yellow - adding turmeric gives a more yellow colour - but perhaps white is fine.  The rhubarb was delicious (the farm shop rules, 100%) although the crumble wasn't perfect - could have done with another 10min in the oven perhaps?