Heavenly Cake - Almond Shamah Chiffon

ב’’ה

Mis en place:

"The Ez Man" was with me for moral support.

I used pre ground almonds and toasted them. I did not see the point in grinding them.

I tried to take the advice of fellow 'Heavenly Cake Baker' ButterYum and fold the parchment into eights before cutting. I was rewarded with this nice snow-flake:

The second time around I got it right though, as Shayna (who was supposed to be sleeping!) demonstrates.

I do not know why I did not just mix this by hand since the almonds were already ground...

The infamous "soft-peak"

Stiff peaks. Reminds me of the time when I was in a cave in the California Redwoods and the tour guide said, "when trying to remember which are stalactites and which are stalagmites just remember: when the mites go up the tites (tights) go down..."

Mix mix...

After first iteration...

I forgot to leave the wax paper on but the only reason I can think of doing that is for extra support. Luckily, the cakes were fairly sturdy.

I do not know why the instructions say to wait until there is a rolling boil with the sugar syrup. The sugar seemed melted and incorporated well before that. I also could not bring myself to dilute the sugar syrup by adding more water, even though there was still less than a cup. There seemed to be plenty anyways, although I did use it all up.

I could only find preserves. So I warmed it up to make it more liquid-y.

Then pushed through a sieve to get out the pits. I did not measure but it looks like it measured just about right.

Again, I used Rich's whip to keep the cake parve...

I think I should have pressed down in the middle to even out the cream. I dunno, 3/4 of the cream in the middle, as indicated, seems like a bit much... :/

...and Voila! The cake itself was really delicious! Especially with the syrup. I could have eaten it on its on without the whip cream. The whip cream was unique in its own right and the flavors of it and the cake seemed to juxtapose each other nicely, as did the walnuts of the last (apple upside down) cake. I would say, again, that the whip cream was a bit intense for my taste (next time I would use less preserves as there was more than enough whipped cream) and the tartness of the preserves could have used a bit of sugar to offset it.

I have a little quandary as to what kind of pan to use for the next cake, as I will have to make it dairy. The suggested pans will not fit in my toaster. If only the two half's of the Nordik-wear pan were not connected, oh well. I have amongst my dairy-only utensils: a 6 cup pound cake pan, a nine inch round or mini-cupcakes (each cupcake holds about 1/2 cup, and I suppose I would have to fill it only 3/4 quarters full or something, not sure.)