I followed the same recipe as previously and which can be found at Cream Puffs in Venice. This time, I decided to try other toppings and see how they went.
Firstly, I happened to have two boxes of durian that had just been removed from the durian skin the previous night, so I had to try a durian cream mix. I just beat up thickened cream and mixed in the durian. This durian was a particularly good one that was ultra pungent and had that slight bitter flavour. I'm telling you, the cake doesn't look that good, but it tastes unbelievable, for lovers of durian that is. For those that hate durian, this cake would smell worse than a rubbish tip.
For the second of the cakes that one batch of ingredients makes, I went for a slightly safer option. I made a black forest cake. Again, it ultilised some thickened cream (cream really are the worse treated ingredients, they get beaten up all the time, boom boom, awful jokes aside, lets move on) that I whipped to stiff peaks and added some sugar to the right sweetness. Don't make it too sweet as you then add black pitted cherries that are soaked in sugar syrup, which you can buy in a can. Then you just assemble the top layer, add some more cream and decorate with shaved chocolate and some wonderfully fresh strawberries. It tastes wonderful and looks a treat as well. I think this cake would be another one that I will make for birthday cakes, it just looks so appealing. This is the swan cake while the durian one is the ugly duckling cake, although they are one and the same cake, its all in the transformation afterwards.
Ha...I don't know whether I could do durian with my chocolate ;-) My sense of smell/taste wouldn't know where to begin!
ReplyDeleteMellie, I think that chocolate and durian are a great combo. In Malaysia on holiday, I had these chocolates with durian centres and they were the best. Unfortunately I couldn't bring back 10 boxes since it was so hot they would melt once I stepped out of the air conditioned store.
ReplyDeleteBut I can see where most people would find it an attack to the senses if they aren't used to durian.
durian on black forest cake..hmm *try to imagine the combo. of the taste* I love durian, but will the durian taste be too overbearing on the cake?
ReplyDeleteIroneaters, I didn't find the durian flavour too powerful. You can definitely taste both the durian flavour and the chocolate flavour of the cake. It's just like those durian chocolates I was saying to Mellie that I had in Malaysia. Durian and chocolate are such a good combination.
ReplyDeleteOooh, durian is just heavenly! Brave move to combine it with chocolate, glad you pulled it off.
ReplyDeleteGlamourbeastie, I love durian too and have tried it in many other things. I've made durian profiteroles (this works great), durian sponge cakes, durian ice cream, durian smoothies and durian with sticky rice. I've been thinking about how to do a deep fried durian. That one is tricky since I don't know how to cover it in batter and fry it without it going all over the place. I'm also going to try a durian puff soon.
ReplyDeleteOooeeerrrk. One of my strongest memories of Malaysia is the overpowering stench of durian. No thank you!!
ReplyDeleteBut that black forest cake looks nice
Anna, I totally understand where you're coming from. For people who don't like durian, that smell is very overpowering and foul. But when you like it, that smell is wonderful.
ReplyDeleteThe black forest cake tasted great, and was very easy to put together.
Yum...yum....will start baking cakes again when I move to my new apartment because I will then have a propert kitchen.
ReplyDeleteI miss those times when I used to bake quite a lot during my uni days in Edmonton!
Happy baking! Who is the lucky girl for you Thanh?
Hi Choo, when will you move to your new apartment? Where is this apartment located? When you do start baking, remember to post the recipes so that I can try them as well.
ReplyDeleteThe lucky girl has not been found yet? Hopefully soon haha. For the mean time, I'm happy as things are.