December 7th, 2014
Today I’d like to talk about At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen, a book I’ve been cooking from non-stop since getting my copy. You may be familiar with author Amy Chaplin’s work through her beautiful blog, where she shares some of the most practical and creative natural foods recipes around. As for her cookbook, I feel as if anything I say about it will be an understatement: it’s wise and useful beyond words, as well as visually stunning, with photography by Johnny Miller. The book’s vastness and wealth of fascinating recipes and tips has me reaching for it daily.
Some of the dishes I’ve made include Cherry Coconut Granola, Cauliflower and Celery Root Soup, Eggplant Curry, Almond Butter Brownies, Chocolate Hazelnut Layer Cake.
To complete my love serenade for Amy’s book, I made this decadent cake. I played with the original recipe a bit, making the ganache white, while Amy’s is chocolate. I also added chocolate into the batter, while the original recipe only calls for cacao. I also previously made the original one and loved it as well.
Amy and I share the same publisher, and the nice people at Roost Books were generous to send me an additional copy of At Home in the Whole Food Kitchen to give away. To enter, leave a comment here until December 14th, 2014. Good luck to all!
Double Chocolate Layer Cake with White Chocolate Ganache, Tart Cherries and Pomegranate
Notes: In the original version, Amy frosts the entire cake with dark chocolate ganache. She crushes 1 1/3 cups toasted hazelnuts and presses them into sides of the cake like this.
for the ganache
2 13.5 oz cans unsweetened full fat coconut milk
1/4 cup maple syrup
5 tablespoons agar flakes
pinch sea salt
3 1/2 oz white chocolate, I used this brand (you can use dark chocolate as per original version)
1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice
4 teaspoons vanilla extract
for the cake
2/3 cup toasted hazelnuts (original version calls for 2 cups)
2 cups whole spelt flour – divided
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup boiling water
1/4 cup ground flax seeds
1/2 cup melted extra virgin coconut oil, plus more for oiling the pan
1 1/2 cups maple syrup
1 teaspoon unpasteurized apple cider vinegar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped dark chocolate (my addition to original recipe)
for the filling (my simplified version)
cocoa nibs – optional
frozen or canned tart cherries – thawed/drained well
1 large pomegranate
to make the ganache
1. Whisk together coconut milk, maple syrup, agar flakes and salt in a medium pot. Bring to a boil over high heat, whisk often. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, covered, whisking every 5 minutes.
2. Remove from heat, add chocolate and let it melt for 2 minutes in the covered pot. Whisk until smooth. Pour into a shallow bowl and allow to cool until it stops steaming. Put in the refrigerator for about 2 hours, or until cold and completely hard.
3. Roughly cut ganache into 1-inch pieces and add to a food processor with orange juice and vanilla. Blend until smooth, scraping down sides as necessary. Transfer to a container and refrigerate until cake is ready for frosting.
to make the cake
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Oil cake pans and line bottom of each with a parchment paper. (I used 7 1/2-inch spring form to bake 3 layers. Original recipe calls for two 8-inch layers.)
2. Add 2/3 cup of hazelnuts and 1/4 cup of spelt flour into a food processor and grind finely. Transfer into a medium bowl and sift in remaining 1 3/4 cups spelt flour, baking powder and baking soda. Stir to combine well, set aside.
3. Whisk cocoa powder and boiling water until smooth in another medium bowl. Add ground flax seeds, coconut oil, maple syrup, vinegar, vanilla and salt, whisk until thoroughly combined.
4. Add flour mixture to liquid ingredients and whisk to make a smooth batter. Fold in chopped chocolate. Divide the batter between prepared pans and bake for 35-40 minutes until a toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.
to assemble the cake
1. Invert first layer on a cake stand or a plate. Remove parchment paper. Cover with a layer of tart cherries. Scoop 1/3 of ganache on top of cherries, even it out. sprinkle with cocoa nibs (if using) and pomegranate kernels.
2. Invert second layer on top, remove parchment paper. Repeat with cherries, ganache, cocoa nibs and pomegranate.
3. Invert third layer on top. Frost with the last 1/3 of ganache and top with pomegranate kernels. Keep in the fridge until ready to serve, try to wait at least a couple hours before cutting the cake; overnight is great too.
Tags: cake, cherry, chocolate, pomegranate, vegan
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July 30th, 2014
There are three foods from back home that I find myself missing consistently – wild mushrooms, black currants, and sour cherries. I made sure to eat good portions of each while I was visiting my mother in Russia this past May. Most people won’t eat black currants and sour cherries raw, as they are, but add the slightest touch of sweetness to them, and your heart will be stolen. Sour cherries made it into many of my meals – from morning yogurt to salads, to ice-cream. And of course there was the Sour Cherry Pie – my mom’s specialty.
When we finally arrived at my mom’s house after a very long transatlantic journey, we knew what would be waiting for us at teatime – a fragrant and pillowy pie, jeweled with sour cherries. All her grandchildren get a wild sparkle in their eye when talking about grandma’s pie – it is a family-wide obsession. Paloma, the youngest, had her initiation and was quick to join the circle of cherry pie lovers.
My mom always makes sure to preserve some sour cherries while they are in season. She pits them with a hair pin, then freezes some and cans the rest with a little sugar. That way, she always has ammunition for when company turns up.
I was curious to make a gluten-free version of the pie and began the search for ingredients. What has become second nature to me at home, turned out to be quite a challenge in Russia. Finding all kinds of gluten-free grains there is not a problem – buckwheat, millet and quinoa are widely available, but flours made of those grains are not. I freshly grind my own flours at home, but only with the help of my high-speed blender, which was absent in my mom’s kitchen. I finally used a coffee grinder and ended up with grainy, but perfectly workable flours.
I really loved the final result – the overall flavor of the pie was different from mom’s of course, but delicious in its own way.
One more thing before we get to the recipe –
Public speaking has hardly been my favorite thing, in fact I find it absolutely terrifying. During the four years of working on this blog, I ran into situations when I had to speak in front of big groups of people, during cooking classes and such. As difficult as it was to get started, I’ve noticed that when I speak about the subject that I absolutely love, my fear disappears and I actually enjoy the process. Our cookbook coming out has brought on a new wave of public events, and after a little over a month of book talks, I’ve noticed the stage fright getting lighter every time. For that, I accredit my friendly and encouraging audiences -thank you so much for coming out to support me, listen with great interest, and ask thoughtful questions.
Sour Cherry Pie
(adapted from here)
Note: Green markets and health food stores have sour cherries while they are in season, for a very short period of time. You can find frozen sour cherries in many Eastern European stores in the U.S. – our local Russian market sells them. Feel free to use regular cherries or other fruit/berries. The best ratio between the dough and cherries is to have just enough dough to barely cover each cherry. The dough will rise during baking and the balance between the juicy, tart berries and the sweet dough will be perfect.
1 cup full fat coconut milk
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 cup brown rice flour
3/4 cup millet flour
3/4 cup quinoa flour
1/4 cup almond flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup Turbinado sugar plus 1 tablespoon for sprinkling on top
zest of 2 lemons
3 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
3-5 cups or more pitted fresh or frozen and partially thawed sour cherries – the more the better (substitute with regular cherries or other fruit/berries)
1. Preheat oven to 350 F (180C). Thoroughly grease an 8-10 inch cake pan or line with parchment paper. Combine the coconut milk and lemon juice in a bowl and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, combine all the flours, baking powder and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, combine 1/2 cup sugar and lemon zest and rub together until fragrant. Add in eggs, coconut milk mixture and olive oil, and whisk to combine. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix to combine.
4. Gently fold in the cherries, reserving about 1/3 of them. Pour the batter into the cake pan, topping with the reserved cherries and sugar.
5. Bake for 50-60 minutes until golden, and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan for about 30 minutes before removing. Store refrigerated in an air-tight container for up to 3 days.
Tags: cherry, dessert, gluten free
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July 15th, 2012
This post is also available in: French
Thank you all for participating in the Wholistic giveaway. The rose mist goes to The Best Decade, please email us your address and we’ll send it your way.
Today we’ve got a guest post over at our lovely French translator’s blog, My Sweet Faery. Geraldine always finds the time in her busy schedule to translate our posts and recipes, thus making them available to more readers. We are so grateful to have such a friend and collaborator, and I think we learn from each other. Thank you for making Golubka bilingual, Geraldine!
It’s true that sometimes the best dishes are born when you don’t plan for them, but rather throw something together spontaneously, working with what’s in the fridge that day. That’s the story with these fruit samosas. I had lots of stone fruits and berries on hand, as well as a couple of young coconuts that were awaiting their turn.
Head over to My Sweet Faery for the rest of the story and recipe in English and French.
Tags: berries, breakfast, cherry, coconut, dessert, peach, raw, recipe, vegan
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