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MAJA BLANCA CAKE

Maja Blanca Cake Tart Good morning everyone( or evening depending under what palm tree you are reading this post) and Happy Birthday! Who's birthday? Depends on specific cases ( Happy Bday Ate A and Gabrielle (counting that you'll be a Feb. baby, people born this month are the best!), but mostly generic we should celebrate the best day of all, Women's Day, on March 1st! Why the best? Because it's well known they always bring the best ( or worst ) in us ( but for this specific occasion we shall assume it's the best! ), and as such I have researched deep inside my endless bucket of inspiration for an appropriate gift. Not having found one and considering that flowers are overrated, I shall give you the best gift of all: the gift of knowledge, as I shall bake the best cake ever, using an old filipino recipe and my best unique ideas for an astonishing end result that I shall eat all alone while you cheer Sarap, Sarap ! Yes, as you already figured it out from t

CHEESE SOUFFLE FILIPINO

CHEESE SOUFFLE

Hello hello everyone, or as the french say HohohoHooo, fromage! Yes, I have visited Paris last week and after being charmed by the culture, art and long lines in front of Nike shoes store, I have decided to take the cooking more seriously and try a french delicacy , of course using a filipino recipe. As such, today we shall prepare Souffle au Fromage, HohoHoHOO! Of course, this decision has a background story as we ( R included) crossed the city in search of genuine souffle for hours, and when we finally reached the Souffle Restaurant they would only take reservations. That being said I left the privilege of tasting the heaven to R, while I returned to Canada and decided to improve on the original recipe ( which is probably old and outdated ). Good! So here we are with joy and confidence! If you believe in yourself, you can move mountains(of souffle ).

-We shall start as usual by having a screwdriver handy.  Then we separate the whites from the yellows (yolks! I'm talking about eggs not laundry, but since here, if separation is not obvious it means we need a different bleach brand ).Just to make sure, now we talk again about eggs, don't use bleach! 
Anyway, just take some butter and some all purpose flour,
Mix it with milk and yolks and salt,
Add some pepper and now halt!
When the mixture is all done, it is time to have some fun!
And by fun I mean we need to beat up some egg whites using unconventional methods. As R recommended,  we need a good whisk and wrist circular pendulum motion, at a 10X fast forward speed. I tried, but after some intense physical action I decided to also give a try to my other idea, minimalist fusion cuisine : using the smoothie maker, we beat up the egg whites and mix them well with creme tartar! This should (supposingly) make it expand and rise to heaven where it will get infused with the rich ultimate flavors. Or, if you have a more down to earth approach, get flavors by chopping some mushrooms, green onion and parsley, everything combined with FROMAGE ( ohohohHOOOOO! ) 
Now, dump the thing on top of the other thing and grab your screwdriver ( yes, we'll use it, finally) and remove the pot handles. Why? Because is time to bake ! So wear your baker hat and put the pot into the oven at a generous 350 degrees for an hour or so ( look maa, no handles! ).  
Right, now R bet (with lot of confidence I might say which makes me reevaluate my cooking native aptitudes) that the thing won't rise. I hate to have her be right in this matter but unfortunately she is, maybe because i misread the instructions and used 2 spoons of baking powder instead of 1/4 teaspoon, so after 40 minutes my souffle is far from any vague resemblance to its french cousin ( hohohoHOOOO! ). Edit: Also it proved to be utterly sour and visually repulsing, that is why i did a second batch in order to post a viable picture ( and also have something edible for tonight's dinner)  
Et voila ! 
Just kidding, we failed once more, the image is what the french pretty cousin looks like.Our souffle est mort, vive le souffle ! You win again Le Souffle restaurant ! But you only won a battle, not the war. I shall return, and then my souffle will rise ( and fall) as the Roman Empire, hohohoHOOO! I do acknowledge though the fact that it's not easy to bake this and reservations are in order.
Post baking edit: Also Good luck not choking on the missing piece of bamboo from the mixing spoon.  Not Sarap! :(



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