Tags
brunch ideas, entertaining ideas, george watts sunshine cake, george watts tea shop, mother's day brunch ideas, quinoa dates goat cheese, smoked salmon crepes with creme fraiche
Summer is finally here and it is hard to believe that we had snow covering the ground just two weeks ago. I officially kicked off summer with a Mother’s Day brunch for this past Sunday for my friend Annemarie. When she was younger, Annemarie used to visit Watts Tea Shop in Milwaukee with her nana for tea and loved their world famous Sunshine Cake and Mixed Olive-Nut Spread Sandwiches. So I decided to recreate that at home and prepared a menu fit for a tea time brunch. Here is what we had:
Mixed Olive-Nut Spread Sandwiches
Chicken Salad Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon Crepes with Creme Fraiche and Chives
Quinoa and Date Salad with Goat Cheese
Vegetable Quiche
Fresh Fruit
Trader Joe’s Flourless Chocolate Torte (as a back up to the Sunshine Cake – I was convinced I couldn’t make it)
Watts Tea Shop Sunshine Cake
Prosecco Mimosas
George Watts’ Breakfast Tea
Coffee
Excuse the cellphone and point-and-shoot photos — my camera’s battery is dead and the charger is nowhere to be found.
the spread
sunshine cake with french custard filling and boiled frosting
smoked salmon crepes with creme fraiche and chives – i have finally found that 2 is the magic number of minutes that you should cook each side of the crepe for. i used a timer, they turned out perfect.
chicken salad sandwiches and mixed olive-nut sandwiches
It was an easy spread to put together, besides the Sunshine cake, and I prepared most things the night before. I am not a big baker but I had a lot of advice from my talented cousin, encouragement from Marie of Celebration Generation, and Chef Jeff at the Watts Tea Shop ran me through the making the cake and gave me some amazing tips. He even gave me his cellphone number in case I had a cake crisis and needed help! I am eternally grateful. I will be posting the recipe at the end of this post, but here are some tips:
1. For the boiled frosting, add sugar to the pasteurized egg-whites before you start beating them.
2. The recipe calls for an ungreased pan but I greased mine well. If you don’t have a tube pan, you can also use 9 inch round pans and just layer them.
3. For the boiled frosting, when you add the sugar syrup to it, don’t add it to the middle of the mixing bowl — drizzle it through the corners of the bowl.
4. Freeze your cake overnight before spreading the filling and frosting it. This will make sure you have have a moist cake that won’t crumble.
5. Follow the instructions. Follow the recipe. Do use a candy thermometer (unless you are an expert).
6. Yes, the frosting is basically like foam — that’s how it is supposed to be.
I was extremely nervous and intimidated but I admit making the cake was actually a lot of fun. My final presentation wasn’t perfect (as I said, I am not big into baking and hardly make cakes or frost them) but I was very happy with the results.
left to right: my adorable little measuring cups my sister-in-law gifted me that made baking so much more fun; preparing the batter; the batter post folding; one of the cake layers that i froze
I am realizing more and more that I love entertaining. That makes me even more excited for the summer with all its bounties. Even though the farmers market is yet to fill up with fresh vegetables and fruit, I am just happy I can open the windows, crank up the radio, and feel the lovely summer breeze.
Here are the recipes for two of my favourite items from Sunday’s menu — one extremely simple, and the other not so much. I am a huge fan of this quinoa salad — my friend Kristine made it for me in college and it has never failed me:
Quinoa and Date Salad with Goat Cheese
Ingredients
Mejdool Dates – 1 lbs, pitted and chopped
Quinoa – 3 cups cooked (I used white, you can use any kind you want)
Goat Cheese – 4 oz, crumbled
Directions
1. In a medium bowl, add dates to the quinoa and toss well.
2. Top with crumbled goat cheese.
This salad is good whether served at room temperature or chilled.
Watts Tea Shop Sunshine Cake
(recipe from their website)
Makes: 8 to 10 servings
Ingredients
9 eggs, separated
¼ cup water
1 cup sugar (divided)
1 cup cake flour (sifted three times)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
¼ teaspoon salt
Grated rind of 2 large oranges for garnish
For French custard filling:
4 egg yolks, beaten
¾ cup sifted powdered sugar
¾ cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
For boiled frosting:
1 1/3 cups sugar
½ cup water
Pinch of salt
3 egg whites (from pasteurized eggs)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preparation:
To make cake, in large bowl, combine egg yolks, water and ½ cup of the sugar and beat until light and fluffy. Add flour gradually, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In large metal bowl, whip egg whites with cream of tartar and salt until whites are stiff. Add remaining ½ cup sugar and beat just until peaks begin to form. Fold into batter.
Pour batter into ungreased 10-inch tube pan. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes or until light brown. When done, remove from oven and cool completely on a wire rack.
Meanwhile, prepare French custard filling and boiled frosting.
To assemble, carefully cut cooled cake into three layers. Fill between layers with French custard, then frost top and side with boiled frosting. Grate orange rind over top of cake.
French custard filling:
In top of double boiler, combine egg yolks, powdered sugar and milk. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture thickens and coats back of spoon. This should take 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from heat and cool to room temperature. Add vanilla.
In medium bowl, cream butter thoroughly. Slowly add cooled custard mixture to butter, beating well.
Boiled frosting:
Combine sugar and water in saucepan and boil just until syrup spins a thread (220 degrees on a candy thermometer).
Add salt to egg whites in a bowl. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. (It will take longer to whip the whites of pasteurized eggs than those of regular eggs.)
Very slowly drizzle hot sugar syrup into beaten egg whites with electric mixer going at medium speed. Beat constantly until frosting stands in stiff peaks and is of spreading consistency. Add vanilla and beat well.
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