Lemon, Buttermilk and Black Pepper Cake

I love a cake that has the hint of the unusual, so when I spied a recipe by Ruby Tandoh for Lemon, Buttermilk and Black Pepper Cake, I was in.  I was curious - how would pepper taste in a sweet cake?

The base cake itself was lovely - it had a chewy caramelised outside and a soft lemony inside:

I used a brush to evenly apply the sugar syrup to each layer.

While I didn't have lemon curd to fill my cake, I did have raspberry curd - I thought the tartness of the raspberry would emulate the tartness of lemon curd quite well.  I also topped my cake with some lemon buttercream I had left over from another project:

I thought this cake was delish, but the filling and icing made it a little sweeter than I'd like.  Because the base cake is so lovely, I would make this again, but just keep the cake in one layer, brush the outside of the cake with the syrup, and either not top it or use a lemon glaze.

And as for the pepper - it really blended in with and highlighted the other flavours, with every now and again a gritty speck of pepper giving a burst of flavour unmistakably its own.

Verdict: very good.

Crossing into California - Joshua Trees, Western American Railroad Museum, Harvey House and Los Angeles

After two days in Las Vegas, we hit the road again for the last leg of our Route 66 odyssey.  By 10am, we were back onto Route 66 and had travelled across the state line into California:

where we encountered close-up the magnificent Joshua tree featured at the top of this post. 

I have a mild obsession with Joshua trees, because they have such a cool name and because U2 named an album after them.

Following a short pit stop, we drove on to the Western American Railroad Museum (WARM) in Barstow:

They opened their doors especially for us on a day when it doesn't normally open, and a few passers-by who chanced on the opening also visited the museum.

There is a significant amount of Route 66 memorabilia in the museum, and outside, there are lots of old railway engines and carriages for a touch of train spotting:
 

 

The museum owners kindly provided cordial and biscuits to quench our traveller's thirst and hunger. 

 

Next to WARM is the rather grand Barstow Harvey House, which used to be a hotel:

 

It sounded quite tough to be a "Harvey girl" - imagine not even being able to converse with patrons - and if they converse with you, wouldn't it be rude to ignore them:

Curiously, in the office window of WARM, I found an item of memorabilia from close to home:  

How and why it came to be there, I do not know, but it certainly caught my eye.

WARM also features a wonderful mural in the car park, which is worth a mention:
 

We left WARM for lunch  at a non-descript, depressing fast food complex (Panda Express was the best option) before motoring on through the hills:

and arriving in Los Angeles - I loved these freeway murals of children playing:

The traffic at the end of the working day was not so bad:

In the evening, we would officially reach the end of Route 66 in Santa Monica - but that is for another post.

Western American Railroad Museum

685 North First Street

Barstow, CA 92311

United States

Ph: +1 760 256 9276

 

Barstow Harvey House

681 North First Avenue

Barstow, CA 92311

United States

Ph: +1 760 256 8617

FFWD - Tuna confit

Things are a little fishy again this week for French Friday with Dorie, as our recipe is a Tuna Confit - meant to be served with black olive tapenade and tomato salsa.  I skipped the tapenade and salsa completely.

I was dubious about making this  - I mean fish, in oil, marinading for hours in the fridge?  My fears were foundless - the gorgeous flavours which infused into the fish from preserved lemon, shallots and sun-dried tomatoes made for a beautiful dish, even if, as my photos show, I overcooked the tuna:

I served my tuna confit on a sweet potato mash and with stir fried vegetables:

Magnifique!  To see what the other Doristas thought of this dish, visit the LYL section of the FFWD  website.

WWDH - Balsamic Chicken with Couscous

For Wednesday with Donna Hay this week, Margaret has chosen Balsamic Chicken with Garlic Couscous from Donna's Flavours book.  The recipe is also online here.

The chicken component is chicken breasts that have been marinated in balsamic vinegar, among other things, before being pan fried.  For the couscous component, I decided to make a couscous salad that I had to make for another group instead, hence it is way more colourful than the recipe version.

I really liked this - the chicken was moist, flavoursome and tender.  As for the couscous, I can't truthfully comment, as I made a different recipe.

Kayte is taking a break for a while, but you can visit Margaret, Chaya and Sarah to see what they may have thought of this dish. We would also love it if you could join us - just contact any one of us to let us know and we will add you to our mailing list.

Honey Spice Bread (Pain d’épices)

Recently, I came across a recipe for Honey Spice Bread on Lottie + Doof.  The recipe is from David Lebovitz's latest book, My Paris Kitchen.

I was intrigued by this bread because it looked so deep and dark and delicious, and because it contains no oil or butter. The only fat is from eggs.

The ingredient list is short and I had everything except anise (which I replaced with ground fennel), so I made it straight away on the weekend.  And here it is: 

Isn't lovely?  I spread a slice with butter:

and also ate it with no spreads at all, and enjoyed it both ways.  Someone at work suggested toasting it as well - a great idea.

If you like dense, spicy cakes, then this recipe is for you.

Day 2 Las Vegas - Shopping, Jersey Boys and Le Cafe Ile St Louis in Paris

I was pretty excited about day 2 in Vegas because I was finally going to hit the famed outlet malls while Tim went on the Black Canyon raft trip that I did last time.  I went to the North Mall because someone on our coach said it was better - primarily because it was newer.

It is very easy to get to the malls in Las Vegas via the pre-paid bus service.  The bus to the North Mall also goes past famous Freymont Street, where the light show happens every night.

I picked up some great bargains at the mall, which were somewhat counterbalanced by my getting caught out by a seller of unwanted and overpriced beauty products called Enrique.  It all started with being handed a free sample of some cream, and  before I even realised, I was trapped in a chair with weird creams all over my face.  I bought something expensive that I did not want and have not used (wrinkle eraser anyone?) to get away, but even then Enrique was intent on trying to sell me more.  He did not succeed.  I will put the money that I spent down to getting a facial - because I did indeed get a facial of sorts from Enrique, and what I paid for the "wrinkle eraser" is about what I would have paid at a salon for a facial.  

I also bought this much-coveted dress from Tatyana in Caesar's Palace.  Because of the specific fit of brands like Tatyana and Stop Staring, it is better to try them on first, and I don't have that luxury here, so I was wrapt when I found out that there was a Tatyana store in Las Vegas.

I picked up cut price tickets for Jersey Boys in the evening, which was showing in Paris.  We didn't have enough time for dinner before the show, so Tim and I opted for a pre-show drink at a bar in Paris:

Jersey Boys was magnificent.  I had not seen the stage show in Australia, as I didn't know much about the Four Seasons and wasn't grabbed by the concept, but boy, was I mistaken.  There are so many well-known songs by the Four Seasons, but I had not even realised that they sang them.  It was a fabulous show all round.

After the show, we went to Le Cafe in Paris for dinner, as they had a $39 show menu too.  Tim started with a Blue Moon Belgian White ale:

and for me, there was the more bog standard Millers Lite:

This is the Le Cafe  three course show menu:

It sounds OK, but sadly was not a patch on the food at Lemongrass.

Dinner started with these rather nice chewy rolls served with butter:

For starter, Tim and I both chose the French Onion Soup:

It looks disgusting, to be sure, but it tasted really good, and was my favourite course.

For main, I chose the filet mignon with creamed spinach and a baked potato:

Um, yeah, the filet mignon was like a bit of old boot leather, and the presentation was woeful, but the creamed spinach was nice.

For dessert, I chose the New York Baked Cheesecake:

It was delicious, to be sure, but the serving was huge and I only ate about half of it.  Tim chose the similarly huge but also delicious Chocolate Layer Cake:

Day two in Las vegas was a bit of a mixed bag. but overall I came away having enjoyed my experiences.

Le Cafe Ile St Louis

3655 South Las Vegas Boulevard

Paris Las Vegas Hotel and Casino

Las Vegas, NV 89109

United States

Ph: +1 702 946 7000

FFWD - Gateau Basque

 

For French Friday with Dorie this week, we used up one of our precious remaining dessert recipes, and made Gateau Basque.  This is a traditional Basque region cake made up of two pastry discs sandwiching either cherry jam or pastry cream.

I went the non-traditional route and used delicious Bon Maman raspberry jam for my filling.  I used a 9" pan, which made my gateau shorter than in the book, but I thought it was delicious anyway: 

This cake was easy and simple to make, and was so good just as it was.

To see what the other Doristas thought of this recipe, visit the LYL section of the website.