HCB: Sybil’s Pecan Torte with Coffee Cream
Monday, April 5, 2010
I have no idea what is going on with me, but I guess I have not been very inspired with the last couple of cakes. I’m putting all the blame on the combination of the never-ending search for a new house, the pending house packing ahead of us (which I have not even started) and the actual move out date (still to be confirmed) that has me all bend out of shape. The combination of all of this is totally affecting my baking mojo.
I think also the fact that the last couple of cakes in the HCB list have been all about nuts.
The cakes, not the people.
And I think I'm totally over nuts.
And this weeks feature nuts?
Pecans, or pi-KAN as I like to pronounced it, since it drives Tom crazy.
Remember how I mention that I like all nuts? And Pistachios were my holy grail? Yeah, well the pi-KANS are way down the tandem pole. It's not that I don’t like them, in fact the only pie that I eat is pecan pie. But, pecans with coffee in cake?
The jury was out on that one.
This cake falls under the quick and easy category – but, as we have learned, sometimes those quick and easy are the ones that take us down.
Up till know I was getting use to the new technique of mixing the dry ingredients first, then putting the butter and finishing off with the wet to bring together the batter.
But this cake batter was old school.
We separated the eggs and the yolks and the sugar got the whipping treatment first, bringing it to a silky consistency. I love this combination and some of you are going to cringe on my next side note. You can file it under "How come I never heard of this (or thought of this) until now?"
My mother, taught by her mother, use to do this (mix yolks with sugar until frosty) and then mix it in her morning/afternoon coffee, creating a combination like no other. The coffee turned into a zabaglione like smooth texture. When I asked her about the weird combination, she told me, that it was the way my nonno (grandfather) use to drink his coffee in the morning or afternoon and I guess as anything we follow our parents example. I secretly thought she was nuts. Until I crossed the Atlantic and lived in Italy and realized that Italians use this combination as a pick-me-up, a restorative for when one has a cold, or low energy, or low mood, or just because it's four in the afternoon. They called it "Zabaglione al Caffe".
I could never get on board with this particular practice for my coffee. But, I have to confess that I love the mixture on top of sandwich bread. And when I got older, and more experimental, I mixed in a couple of spoonfuls of cocoa and turn it into an eggs, sugar and chocolate mixture - clever eh?.
I know it sound totally ga-ga, but trust me on this, its divine tasting. You are welcome.
Back to the cake.
So, into this sugar/egg mixture you mix the pecans, which have been previously toasted in the oven and then pulse with some sugar and coffee powder in the food processor, until finely ground.
Then it was time to whip the egg whites until they were a frosty and glossy white cloud of meringue goodness. Fold that into the egg/pecan mixture and ta-da! – batter DONE.
The cake was ready in about 35 minutes or so. Took it out of the oven and as instructed immediately inverted into a wire rack to let it cool.
About 2 hours later (what can I say, I got side track by all the episode of LOST previously recorded in our DVR). I removed the baking pan and yikes! The cake had deflated in the middle and it was quite noticeably too. I ran to read the recipe (again) and was happy to discover that it was suppose to do that.
At this point I thought of skipping the whip cream toping all together (I had more LOST episodes to watch) and just dust it off with a bit of powdered sugar and call it a day. But, the deflated middle was driving me nuts (type A was in full force folks) everytime I pass it by on the cake stan.
So, I put my cream, coffee, sugar and beater in the refrigerator to chill. Set my gelatin up and waited the 15 minutes before whipping it up the creamy goodness.
Another 2 minutes of quick decorating time, some final swirls with the spatula and the Sybil’s Pecan Torte with Coffee Cream could be officially marked off the list!
Verdits:
Tom: “Love the nutty texture, its good. No to sweet, and love the whip cream topping”
My Neighbors’: “The whip cream topping is yummy! And the cake it’s not sweet at all. Very “rusty” taste… it’s like a coffee cake, but then not a coffee cake – does that make sense?”
Me: This was another one that I was not to “buzz” about. But, I think it’s just the fact that I don’t care muck for the pecans. Like Tom, I really like he whip cream topping, but I know this one is not going to be put in future rotations.
Next week we go back to using fruit. Bananas!
Reader Comments (9)
Hi Monica! Your post made me laugh. Sorry to hear you don't like the cake much. Great picture as always. My picture kinda suck this time, was not inspired to take pictures and have not read the camera manual :). I've never heard of that kind of coffee, so basically the egg is raw in the coffee?
Good luck on the house search! (I hate packing too).
Jenn..
Yep.. the eggs are raw, but the coffee being hot cooks them... when I was little it sounded discusting to me... but, now that I'm older, wiser and I would like to think well traveled, I love it. (who am I kidding, I wanted to be totally Italian, tried and found that my mother is ALWAYS right) you make the espresso and by the time its ready and your egg+sugar mixture whipped up, you just drop a spoonfull gallop on the hot espress and voila...cooked and yummmyness.
Sorry you weren't overly thrilled with this cake, but your photos are fabulous!
:)
ButterYum
PS - How does Tom pronounce pecan?
LOL... Tom tells me it's suppose to be said "PEE-kahn"... I keep telling him that it sounds weird when you use a long EEEE sound on it and the silent "H", because pecans does not have an "H".
This is one of those agree to disagree things between us. :)
aw, Monica, I was hoping you'd have a better cake experience this week. At least your photos continue to be gorgeous, and I'd wager you introduced to most of us Zabaglione al Caffe. So while the cake wasn't a success, this posting was!
I am amazed you can bake at all with so much going on in your life! It takes oodles of leftside brain cells to bake, I've discovered. I wonder what this cake would taste like with one of your more favorite nuts?
I threw in some muscavado sugar and spices. It played up the pecans wonderfully.
Vicki.. the baking relaxes me, Yeah, I know I have no idea how, I'm thinking is the fact that I need to concentrate in doing everything step by step... knowing that everything will be coming out at the end... and I have control over every step... with everything in my life right now, everyone else has variables that they are throwing at me which in most cases are beyond my control.
But that is going to change soon... !
Sorry to hear this cake wasn't a big hit for you. At least Tom likes it :o) I know you're not big on fruit but next week's cake is awesome!! Thanks for stopping by. I look forward to hearing about your experience with the lemon-scented coffee cake.
regardless of how one says the word, pecans are great. not only is the cake portion of this pretty outstanding, but the cream on top sounds heavenly! i'd pronounce 'pecan' however you wanted me to if it earned me a slab of cake!