Apple Cake with Brown Sugar and Treacle Icing

There is an expected amount of causality in cooking as in life.  Want a nice body? Diet and exercise (or if you’ve got a wad of spare cash, lipo and pain).  Want to get ahead in the world? Work your butt off.

So it follows, want to make superlative baked goods?  You need a certain amount of skill (acquired over time) and some expensive kit comes in handy (Hello? Making marshmallows without a stand mixer? Much much harder.).   So when I come across a recipe that is easy and fast to make, I am skeptical to the extreme.  Regardless of my doubts, out comes a fluffy moist cake, not too sweet, enhanced by a spectacular icing that takes the cake from healthy tasting (think oven baked apples) to one of those cakes where you scrape maniacaly at any streaks of icing left on the plate.Frankly, it makes everything feel a little topsy turvy, like finding a €10 note on an empty street, making a show of bending down to pick it up.  Pivoting on your planted feet this way and that, note held up high (as proof that you attempted to look for the person to whom it might belong) before shrugging your shoulders and tucking it into your pocket.  You still feel a little guilty though, don’t you? That this good luck was bestowed on you while some poor sod is looking for his tenner (Unless it’s my husband.  Walk behind him. He loses money every time he reaches into his pocket.  Shall I describe him to you?)

Asia Mekong, Asia Laden, Mitte

I remember reading a funny piece in The Guardian about a stay at home dad who used to shop like a pensioner; meaning he would only buy one or two things on one shopping trip so he had something to do, “an outing” if you will, later in the day. It strikes me that he wasn’t being funny. I do the same thing now. I will organize a whole day around getting one ingredient.

As yesterday was a glorious day, even by spring standards, I decided to walk to Hackesher Markt to visit my favourite Asia Laden, Asia Mekong.  I am reading Kitchen Chinese: A Novel about Food, Family, and Finding Yourself, which is a cute book that seems to have the same protagonist as the one in The Devil Wears Prada but in China, eating Chinese food.  Then I opened this month’s Delicious magazine and saw a recipe for Chinese crispy duck with pancakes presented by Fuchsia Dunlop (whom I love because of her great book Shark’s Fins and Sichuan Pepper but also because I like saying her name out loud).  That and the fact that I am in a city surrounded by tons of Asian restaurants that turn out less than mediocre food means I am always craving something “Asian”.  I resolved on the spot to make Fuchsia’s recipe (wow, I even like writing her name!).

A little on Asia Laden’s.  They are not just for shrimp paste and noodles but also for more basic things like soft brown sugar.  I spent about two weeks when I first moved here buying “brauner Zucker” only to get home and find they contained a caramel coloured granulated sugar.  It took about five packets before someone finally clued me in, soft brown sugar? Asia Laden.  You won’t find it anywhere else (except for the food halls of KaDeWe or Galeria but expect to pay a lot more).  They also have Indian spices and other “ethnic’ ingredients; for example I bought some Gram flour yesterday (to make some quick pita bread).  You can pick up a bamboo steamer for 3.50.  Or some Banana Sauce (had to look this one up myself, it’s a ketchup like sauce made from bananas).

Spiced Plum Streusel Cake with Toffee Glaze – David Lebovitz

One of the blogs I visit frequently is David Lebovitz’s Paris based site.  I went to University in Paris and I still find it to be the most charming city in Europe.  Yes, it’s true, Parisians work in mysterious ways and it can take you a lifetime to finally get clued up on all the intricate do’s and don’ts (I gave up after 4 years) but the wealth of culture to be found is incredible.   Since I have no plans to move back to the Paris in this lifetime, it’s nice to be able to live vicariously through David.

I like that his site gives me access to a professional chef’s experience, recipes, tips and adventures.  There are so many great food blogs out there.  The overwhelming majority of which are run by enthusiastic amateurs and a lot of them are really charming but really,  who wants to learn from a novice?  David Lebovitz worked at Chez Panisse for 13 years!  He is someone I want to learn from.