Once I got a microwave oven that was capable of baking things, I started to bake things like Christmas cookies or persimmon loaf, and I gave them away to my adult classes. One of them has a wife who was trained in baking, and she wanted to bake with me. So, we got a group of ladies together and rented out a community hall kitchen. The idea was to bake together and chat in English, or Japanese. Some of the ladies want to learn or practice English and others don't, so we chat in two languages.
The group meets once a month (we didn't meet in August). The first thing we made was strawberry and cream sponge cake. I don't have pictures of that. Let's just say, I'm getting good at making Japanese style sponge cake now. Next up was cream puffs or シュークリーム (shu cream, it comes from the French word for cream puffs). We made these on February 15, just after Valentines' Day, so I presented them to my break dancer buddies as tomochoco. They approved of them :)
In July we made L'Acapulco Cointreau. This cake has chocolate sponge cake with chantilly chocolate filling. Then we topped with with mousse and finally orange jelly. This was another complicated recipe with many parts. This recipe is my favourite so far, it was so tasty! I shared the cake with a former exchange student who was visiting, as well as my break dancing buddies. It was quickly demolished.
The latest baking project was making Souffle Cheese Cake. It's essentially a baked cheese cake. Compared to recent projects, this one was quick and easy. I gave the cake to my land lady and her son. They enjoyed it. The cake was heavily lemon flavoured, but it was a good mix with the cheese.
I'm sorry the photography is bad, they might not look good, but everything tasted great!
The next time we met to bake was in March. We made gateau chocolat (ガトウショコラー). It was a chocolate sponge cake filled with chocolate ganache and covered in a fudgey icing. It was delicious. We made that on March 29.
Next, we took a break from cakes, and we made Linzer torte, which has a cake-ish bottom layer, but is filled with jam and then topped with a criss-cross of dough and almonds. I haven't made something like that before, and as you can guess, it was delicious. It was kind of Eastery and springey, so it was a good recipe for the day we met- April 19.
In June we made a tricky cake. The preparation time was very long, and there were many steps. This cake was called Jelly Cake. First we had to make a sponge cake, then we made the jelly with agar and gelatin, and then we had to decorate the cake with fruit, placed in the semi-solidified jelly and topped with more jelly. This cake took a while to solidify. It was another first for me, combining cake and jelly.
The latest baking project was making Souffle Cheese Cake. It's essentially a baked cheese cake. Compared to recent projects, this one was quick and easy. I gave the cake to my land lady and her son. They enjoyed it. The cake was heavily lemon flavoured, but it was a good mix with the cheese.
I'm sorry the photography is bad, they might not look good, but everything tasted great!
So there you have it, an account of my baking activities with my group of ladies. It's a really good opportunity to branch out and meet new people, as well as practice Japanese, and brush up on (or acquire) cooking skills. I'm not sure what's next, but I can't wait!
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