More fun with teacakes

This was a spring project that I’m just getting around to writing about. At this moment it’s HOT, HOT, HOT here, and it seems like I should be writing about summer fruits and cool/easy to make goodies. But here goes!

Have some egg whites in the fridge? Time to use them up? Let’s make some teacakes! Very similar to financier, this base recipe is from Yotam Ottolenghi’s book “Sweet” and is a good one for creating different flavors. Here’s the recipe PDF which includes citrus and chocolate cake versions.

Made with egg whites/sugar/butter/all purpose and almond flours, unlike financier there’s no need to brown the butter - you simply melt it and let it cool a bit before proceeding with the recipe. Easy peasy.

I’m not here to go through all the steps but simply to share the above versions with you to get your own creative juices flowing. This time I added 4 g (2 standard teabags worth) of ground Earl Grey tea to the melted butter, worked the zest of one orange into the sugar and added a teaspoon of coriander to the dry ingredients before proceeding with the recipe.

I baked ‘em up in my favorite square savarin style silicone molds and, once cooled, filled some of the wells with orange white chocolate ganache and some with dark, both left over from a recent class project.

Here’s a mini ganache primer for you. Remember - ganache keeps well in the fridge for some weeks.

I rewhipped some vanilla caramel Swiss meringue buttercream that I had taken out of my freezer the day before. I also made a small batch of a 3 part cream to 1 part dark chocolate ganache that, once chilled, would be whipped up for garnish. Such fun!

Once the ganache wells had set, I played some mix and match with the toppings. The dark-chocolate-welled cakes got a swirl of vanilla caramel buttercream and the white-chocolate-welled a swirl of whipped dark chocolate ganache.

I love a little crunch to my creations so topped them with Valrhona crunchy pearls that I had snagged on sale through Bake Deco (all things baking and pastry!). White on top of whipped dark and dark on top of vanilla caramel. Matches made in heaven.

Here’s a cross section for you - the white welled version smeared but the dark welled gives you a nice vision of what you’ll be biting into. They look like little google-y eyed sea creatures. See the flecks of Earl Grey?

While the teacakes appear dense, they’re quite light and oh so delicious.

I shared these treats with folks at our exercise facility - working hard does deserve a little reward now and again don’t you think? Yummy.

Now go have some fun with your own versions.

Ending on a horticulture note - after all the many days, months and years I have walked along the same path, I had never seen this one before. Growing just alongside the path, branches hanging somewhat over and immature berries scattered on the ground - hmmmmm! The berries look like a ripening blackberry sort - I went to my helpful PlantNet app and confirmed that this is Morus Nigra or black mulberry. Don’t ya just love discovering new things! Supposedly one can eat them, but I’ll leave them for the birds and other creatures who may enjoy them.

Stay cool! Until next time.