Candlemas: Tarte au Citron (Metric Measurements)

Joyeux printemps!

Beannachtaí an Imbolc daoibh!

Happy Spring!

To celebrate the turn of the season, have a bright and zingy tarte au citron!

Across many cultures, the first days of February are celebrated as the start of Spring. In France, there is Le Chandeleur, or Candlemas in English; in Ireland and Scotland, there is Imbolc, which is a pagan spring celebration. Nowadays, February the 1st in Ireland is St Brigid's Day.

Both Candlemas and Imbolc are celebrated using the colours of red, orange, and yellow and circular shapes, as both festivals are celebrations of the sun. So, what better than this delicious French confection that is yellow, round, and features the lovely springtime flavour of lemon.

 

This took a few attempts to get right, but eventually I found that the same ratio of liquid to egg as a traditional quiche works wonders. Whatever ratio of sugar to lemon juice to cream or butter you use, you take the overall weight of the liquid, divide it in two, and that is the weight of the egg you will need.

Mine cracked ever so slightly on cooking because since my oven had a new element installed I still haven't got the hang of it. It runs a little hot now, and I've burnt my fair share of bakes since the new element!

INGREDIMENTS

For one 20 centimetre (8 inch) tarte

One deep blind-baked 20 centimetre (8 inch) pastry case

280 millilitres (10 UK fluid ounces) fresh lemon juice, about 4 big lemons

1 rounded tablespoon lemon zest, about 2 big lemons

140 grammes (5 ounces) unsalted butter

140 grammes (5 ounces) caster sugar

280 grammes (10 ounces) whole egg, about 5 large or 6 small eggs

Salt, to taste

METHOD

• Preheat the oven to 150C (300F). Put the eggs into a large mixing bowl and whisk well to break them up.
• In a saucepan, cook the lemon juice, sugar, and butter until it just comes to the boiling point.
• Using a large balloon whisk, very slowly ladle in the hot lemon mixture while whisking constantly, so the eggs don't scramble.
• Once the whole mix is incorporated, return it to the saucepan and heat very very gently until it begins to thicken slightly (about 60C, if you have a thermometer).
• Pour the custard through a sieve into the blind-baked pastry case, tapping well to release any air bubbles. Bake on the centre shelf for 10 to 15 minutes, or until the surface to dry and set, and there is a jelly-like wiggle under the surface. If you bake it for too long, the surface will crack, but it'll taste just fine.
• Allow to cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge for at least 4 hours before serving. Serve with cream or crème anglaise.

Traditional Amish Whoopie Pies: The Secret Is Revealed.....

Today's offering is these deliciously soft and squishy chocolate whoopie pies with their traditional whipped buttercream filling! And these cakes really taught me a huge lesson.

Now, I now I've made whoopie pies before, but this time it's different. Sometimes an old dog can learn new tricks, and sometimes a metric person can be surprised by American cups. For my entire cooking career, I have measured baking ingredients in mass (weight) measurements: pounds, ounces, kilos and grammes have been part of my everyday kitchen practise. In my opinion, the accuracy of measuring things in weight makes the recipes easily repeatable with the same results every time.... in theory.

I've always been put off cups because the idea of having to dirty a cup when one could just measure all the ingredients in the same bowl on a scale makes no sense to me. Also, every cup of flour -- no matter how carefully you try to measure the cup exactly the same way every time -- weighs differently. An Australian cup is different to an American cup, and what do you do if you don't have a set of cups?

For all of these reasons, I have spent my entire baking career avoiding them. However, from personal experience, translating or converting cup measurements to weight measurements can fail absolutely miserably.

When I decided to make these whoopie pies, I found a traditional Amish recipe and, of course, it was measured in cups. I made the recipe using cups, and it worked perfectly! As I was scooping the cups of ingredients I was weighing them exactly. Having noted how much each cup of each ingredient weighed, I noted it for perfectly replicable results! Or, so I thought.

When I made them again using my painstakingly measured weights, they were an absolute failure. I was so confused: surely, it should have worked perfectly? I did it again with the cups, again measuring the weights of the cups, and even though this times most of the weights were completely different it still turned out perfectly like the first time.

So my main take away is: if the recipe is designed for cups, use cups. And if the recipe is designed for grammes, use grammes.

I believe now, after this wonderfully humbling experiment, that weights are not the be all and end all, and that recipes should be made using the measurements they were designed with. I'm just glad I had a set of measuring cups!

For those who are interested in making these beauties, I used Family Favourite's recipe Traditional Amish Chocolate Whoopie Pies to make these. They are moist, soft, sweet, and deeply chocolatey. The addition of egg white in the icing makes it super light and fluffy. I heartily recommend this recipe! If you want plain vanilla cakes, I have discovered that simply replacing the cocoa powder cup for cup with flour works a charm.