Ada's Lot (for 'The Last Warner Woman')

"I ask God for something better than Spanish Town, Jamaica, and he give me this country where I have tilled a hard ground." (p.150)

"Just as every fruit don't name mango, and just as every animal don't name dog, so too the Warner Woman's mouth is not only full of thunder and lightning." (p.116)

This dessert is my interpretation of how Ada sees her lot in life. Initially, I thought I could encapsulate different episodes of her life into layers: Growing up in the leper colony, life with the Revivalists, emigrating to England, time spent on a psychiatric ward. But I soon discovered it was impossible to mould this story told 'crossways' into something so linear. For example, I had intended the base to be the 'hard ground' of Adamine's life in the UK but the ingredients symbolising England (cocoa and tea biscuits) get mixed together with the ones representing her life in Jamaica (almonds and coconut). Since Adamine never had an easy life in either place and her time in England was always overshadowed by the beliefs and traditions she carried with her from Jamacia, I let the combination stand. The cream cheese icing in the middle was inspired by the quote, "I don't eat cheese as a rule, and I never frighten for sugar." (p.167). I chose to use both ingredients even though the character wouldn't to highlight how her wishes are blatantly ignored. The nutmeg infused mango and swirls of chocolate represent the reunion of two very different Warners at the end of the book.

How would you interpret The Last Warner Woman by Kei Miller? All cakes and comments welcome.


Ada's Lot (Nanaimo Bars with Cream Cheese & Mango)
Makes 16-20 squares

For the base:

113g (1/2 cup) butter

5 tbsp cocoa powder

50g (1/4 cup) white sugar

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1 tsp vanilla

170g (2 cups) rich tea biscuits (or arrowroot cookies), crushed

71g (1 cup) unsweetened coconut

61g (1/2 cup) flaked almonds

For the icing:

125g (4oz) cream cheese

57g (1/4 cup) butter

128g (1 cup) icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla

For decorating:

8-10 slices dried mango

1 tsp nutmeg

42g (1.5oz) baking chocolate

1 tbsp butter

Method:

Cut mango slices in half, place in a small bowl and toss in the nutmeg. Add 1 tbsp boiling water and give it a stir so all the slices get wet. Set aside.

Lightly grease a 9 x 9 inch pan. To make the base, combine butter, cocoa, sugar, slightly beaten eggs and vanilla in a double boiler and cook for 8-10min stirring occasionally. Remove from double boiler and add crushed buscuits, coconut and almonds. Stir until well combined (If it's a little dry, add 1tbsp vegetable oil) and press into the bottom of your pan. Place in fridge until cool.

Mix together cream cheese, butter, icing sugar and vanilla and spread over the cooled base. Put back in fridge for at least half an hour to set.

Cut the base into 16-20 into squares and top each one with a slice of mango. Melt butter and chocolate either in a double boiler or in the microwave and drizzle over the top in random swirls.

Black Forest Bombe (for 'The Magic Toyshop')

 

"... you're so fresh and innocent ... 

something to change and destroy." (p.152)

"The cake seemed extremely exotic and unlikely, a figment of the imagination." (p. 168)

My goal this month was to deconstruct, subvert and re-construct a Black forest Gateau into something familiar yet (hopefully) disturbing using the above quotes for inspiration. I wish I could have pulled off this cake of Gothic proportions, but I dared not attempt it.

How would you interpret The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter? All cakes and comments welcome!

 Black Forest Bombe
Serves 6-8

Ingredients: to fill a 1.5 pint pudding bowl

350g morello cherries, fresh or frozen

2tbsp sugar 

1 chocolate sponge cake or 2 large chocolate muffins 
splash of Kirsch (optional)
500ml vanilla ice cream
150g dark chocolate
ready made meringue

Method:

Place cherries and sugar in a saucepan over medium heat and warm through until plenty of cherry liquid has been drawn out. Strain cherries with a slotted spoon and set aside to cool. Bring cherry liquid to a boil and reduce to a syrup. Also set aside to cool.

Line pudding bowl with cling film leaving enough to fold together once full. Slice enough chocolate cake or muffins to line the pudding bowl, pressing overlapping slices tightly together. Drizzle in some kirsch, if using, and allow it to soak in. Melt 50g of the chocolate. Layer together: half the ice cream, half the melted chocolate, the cooled cherries, the rest of the melted chocolate and the rest of the ice cream. Pull edges of cling film into the middle and twist together. Place a plate on top and weight down with a heavy object (like a pestle and mortar) to press everything firmly together. Place in the freezer to set for a few hours or overnight.

To serve, melt the remaining 100g of chocolate and pour over the upturned cake (cling film removed, of course). Garnish with meringue and drizzle with cherry syrup.

Variations:

Serve as a Baked Alaska by coating the cake in soft meringue and toasting in the oven or with a blow torch instead of topping with melted chocolate.

For a more traditional Black Forest gateau substitute whipped cream and chocolate mousse for the ice cream and chocolate layers. (In this case, I wouldn't press down on the cake but tap the base firmly on the counter before letting it firm up in the fridge for a couple of hours). Serve garnished with more whipped cream, cherry syrup and flakes of chocolate.

 Inspired by Jamie Oliver

Recipe, Dessert , Black Forest, Cherry, Chocolate

Melanie's Worst Nightmare (Black Forest Bread Pudding)

"They ate a lot of bread pudding under Mrs Rundle's regime ... Melanie grew to fear the bread pudding. She was afraid that if she ate too much of it she would grow fat and nobody would love her and she would die a virgin ... bloated as a drowned corpse".

(The Magic Toyshop by Angela Carter, p.3)

It's such a great quote that I couldn't resist creating a bread pudding that would surely terrify both Melanie and Mrs Rundle. Sadly I missed World Nutella Day on Feb 5th but as it's still the correct month, lets call this a belated celebration of the hazelnut spread. The final recipe is still to come.


Black Forest Bread Pudding

Serves 2-4

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Ingredients:
4 slices day-old bread, any kind
Nutella
1-2 dozen cherries, fresh or frozen


For the custard
250ml double cream
250ml milk
175ml sugar
4 egg yolks
2 whole eggs
2 tbsp Kirsch or 85ml cherry pie filling (both optional) 


Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 180*. Lightly grease a small baking dish (mine is 14x19cm) and set aside.
In a saucepan combine cream and milk over medium heat and bring to a boil. In a blender pulse together sugar, egg yolks, whole eggs and cherry pie filling and/or Kirsch (if using) until smooth. When the cream and milk have come to the boil add gradually to the egg mixture pulsing in between to combine.

Make sandwiches out of the Nutella and bread then spread Nutella on the top slice. Cut into small squares and arrange in the baking dish taking care to keep the Nutella side facing up. Fill gaps with the cherries. Pour about 250-300ml of the custard over bread and leave to soak  for 20min.

Pour the rest of the custard back into the warm saucepan and cook stirring constantly with a wooden spoon or spatula until slightly shiny and thick enough to coat the back of a spoon. Remove from heat and leave to cool. 


Cover your small baking dish with tin foil and place inside a larger one (or in a roasting tin) and pour in enough boiling water to come part way up the side of the dish. Bake covered for 30min then uncovered for 5-10min until top has crisped up.

Custard modified from cookbook: The 150 Best Slow Cooker Recipes by Judith Findlayson.

Recipe, Dessert , Black Forest, Cherry, Chocolate