DB Fresh Frasier (or rather Framboises)

Jana of Cherry Tea Cakes was our July Daring Bakers’ host and she challenges us to make Fresh Frasiers inspired by recipes written by Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson in the beautiful cookbook Tartine.

Daring Baker time!  This month's creation was chiffon cake filled with fresh fruit and pastry cream, a Fresh Frasier.  I chose to use fresh raspberries, made the gluten-free chiffon cake from Penny's birthday, used coconut milk for the pastry cream (alas no stabilized whipped cream for us) and sweetened it all with maple sugar. I overcooked the pastry cream a bit and I think I'm getting to a point where even maple sugar is too much for me.  I'd rather just have the berries plain or the berries with a splash of coconut milk and skip the cake.  But the cake was put to use and served some kind friends that put up with my experimental desserts.  Penny loved hers but Alex balked at the coconut milk cream.  He's my picky one.  Thanks for the challenge Jana!

Links:
-For the full original recipe visit our host Jana at Cherry Tea Cakes or see the pdf recipe.
-I made this gluten-free chiffon cake but this time used maple sugar.  I made the pastry cream from Jana's recipe but replaced the whole milk with full fat coconut milk and left out the whipped cream.
-Her recipes are based on those of Elisabeth M. Prueitt and Chad Robertson from the cookbook Tartine.
-Other participants for this challenge are listed in the Daring Baker Blogroll.

Penny had no patience for my picture taking.

Her new hobby is flower picking.  This week Queen Anne's Lace is the favorite.

Patio "Soup"

My cooking in the past weeks has been all about the grill and the new vegetables coming to market.  Can we all give patty pan squash a standing ovation-- it is just too awesome!  I miss it so much the rest of the year.  In my kitchen I'm making old standards and nothing really new.  The kids are busy outside inventing though.  Penny and Alex were having fun the other day making "soup" out of anything edible that they could find growing near our patio: currants, catnip, grape leaves, black raspberries, and serviceberries were in this batch that I caught them making. 

More "soup" making

Flamey gets a petunia hat

John's new water pumping windmill

We visited downstate last weekend.  Alex played Battleship with Grandpa.

Climbed in some trees

And amused Great-grandma Helen

Currants, tomatoes and finally real summer weather

We're busy, busy, busy enjoying summer.  This past week has been full of beach, a double set of houseguests, gardening, a parade, fireworks and just general playing outside.  Most of the garden harvest so far has been herbs with just a couple quarts of strawberries before the ants started getting them.  No matter, we gorged ourselves on the ones from the farm market.  Now raspberries (black and red) and currants are ripe.  The currants, only just ripe, are tremendously tart but Penny loves them anyway.  She was stuffing her face with them this afternoon and it made me think of this picture of Alex from 2003. 

Alex, 15 months-old picking cherry tomatoes

From today
Penny, 15 months-old picking red currants

And a slideshow of some other recent photos

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR