Baking Class - Introduction to Star Anise

This is a little bit of an odd Top Ten list, but I thought I'd take you through my baking cupboard (yes, I have an entire cupboard dedicated solely to baking supplies...um, and another cupboard...and a 4-tier rolling rack...but I digress). Since a Top Ten list would make this blog post too long, I'm splitting the posts up into several individual posts, showcasing one spice at a time.

Next up: STAR ANISE!

 

Star anise is a lovely, fragrant, exotic little spice that is definitely named appropriately, with its star shape and licorice flavour that is similar to, but stronger and slightly more bitter than regular anise seed. 

Star anise is the seed pod of a small evergreen tree (Illicium Verum), grown in southwestern China and Japan. It is dark, rusty brown in colour, and stands about one inch high with seven to eight segments. 

Like regular anise, star anise gets its distinctive licorice taste from a chemical compound called anethol; however the two are not related botanically, as star anise is a member of the Magnolia family.

Star anise is utilized for both culinary and medicinal purposes. In culinary applications, you can find it in exotic spice blends such as masala chai tea and Chinese Five Spice, and in dishes like Vietnamese Pho and numerous Indian curries and stews.

In traditional Chinese medicine, star anise is often prescribed to cure colicky babies and is often used as a digestive aid for adults as well. More recently, the compounds found in star anise have been extracted to form the base of the antiviral Tamiflu drug which fights avian influenza. Go Team Spice!

Star anise is usually available in Asian supermarkets, or in bulk food stores which sell spices (such as Bulk Barn here in Ontario). Look for whole, unbroken pods; stored properly in a sealed container in a cool, dry place, this spice should last for several months. Discard the pods once their aroma fades.  

According to Food.com, star anise pairs well with: duck, eggs, fish, leeks, pastry, pears, pork, poultry, pumpkin, and shrimp. While I've not personally used this spice in non-baking recipes, I do know that a popular and delicious fancy-company-dessert recipe involves poaching pears in liquid that contains star anise pods. Yum.

But, since I like to bake more than I like to poach, and it's my blog (heheh), here is a great recipe from Epicurious Magazine (June 1999) for a fragrant, rich spice cake that will definitely showcase the flavourful complexities of star anise!

Star Anise and Coriander Spice Cake

Original recipe source: Epicurious Magazine June 1999

Yield: Serves 10 to 12

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons coriander seeds
• 5 points of star anise
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup uncooked farina such as Cream of Wheat*
• 1 large egg
• 2 large yolks
• 2/3 cup whole milk

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. and butter and flour an 8- by 2-inch round cake pan.
2. Into a bowl sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. 
3. In an electric coffee/ spice grinder finely grind coriander seeds and star anise. 
4. In a large bowl with an electric mixer beat together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour mixture, ground spices, and remaining ingredients and beat on low speed until combined. Increase speed to high and beat batter 3 minutes. 
5. Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven until cake pulls away slightly from side of pan, about 50 minutes. 
6. Cool cake in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and remove pan. Invert another rack onto cake and turn cake right side up. Cool cake completely. 
7. Serve with vanilla ice cream and fresh strawberries macerated in Cointreau and a spoon of brown sugar.

*Farina is a very finely ground wheat that only utilizes the endosperm and the germ of the wheat kernel. It may be possible to substitute the farina with an equal quantity of almond meal, as there is plenty of wheat flour in the recipe already; however I have not personally tried this substitution so I'm unsure as to whether it will promote a successful product...therefore CAVEAT EMPTOR.

If/when I have the opportunity to try this substitution, I will update this post with my findings and new pictures!

Commission Tales: The Cutest Little Hallowe'en Cake

This past weekend was my beloved little nephew's first birthday party, and I was asked to bring the cake and some decorated sugar cookies.  I'm so there!  I also was tasked with making a little smash cake for him so that he could enjoy his first taste of cake too.  Done and done!

As he was born the day before Hallowe'en, his first party was going to be Hallowe'en related.  We'll see about future Hally-related parties once he reaches the Age of Reason...but in the meantime, his Mummy gets her way! (heehee...)

My sister and I used Pinterest to inspire us for what kind of cake would be the most awesome for the party; we must have looked through a thousand pictures between the two of us. We chose elements from a few of those cakes we loved the best, and with a few parameters (non-scary, at least one layer to be chocolate, and for about 25 people), I went to work! 

My friend, Erinith, made all of the teeny little punkins (her first time working with fondant!), and I think she did a fantastic job. Once they had a day to dry out a bit, I dusted them all lightly with Super PEarl luster dust and some holographic white disco dust, and they absolutely sparkled! There must have been about 50 or so of these little guys...and I used every single one of them in the final design (except the one that accidentally hit the floor; no "floor punkins" were utilized in this cake design).

While Erinith was working on the punkins, I was busy working on the other 2-D and 3-D elements of the
cake. There were the fondant bats, which I made a quick template from some cardboard (I strongly recommend using strong cardstock instead of corrugated cardboard like I did; I had forgotten that I gave away all my cardstock to our Beaver colony for crating purposes and had to make do with what I had on hand). Luckily, I wanted them a little rough-looking, so it didn't matter that there were some corrugation lines on them when I was done. I set them to dry in such a way that they would curl a bit at the edges, so they would look like they were flying away from the cake once they were glued in place.

Another 2-D effect was the "BOO!" I wanted to make for the side of the cake.  I found a font I liked online, downloaded it, then blew it up to the size I figured would work best on the cake.  I printed it off, cut it out with an exacto knife, then cut it out of the black rolled fondant, and cut out a larger size from the white rolled fondant.  I attached them to one another with some piping jelly, and let it dry before attaching.

I also was inspired by a spooky house I saw on another Hallowe'en cake, and found a similar line drawing online that I could use to emulate it. I followed the same process as with the black layer of the "BOO!", but then I left it to dry on a piece of paper which I then taped to the outside of a round cake tin, in order to allow it to dry in a curve that

would fit the contours of the finished cake. I also knew that it was so fragile, I could carefully remove any parts of the design I didn't want (or wouldn't fit) by using the exacto knife. I also cut out a thin circle of yellow and let dry for a spooky moon, and some windows and a door for the haunted house.


The best little thing I made for my nephew's cake, hands down, is a tiny little fondant mummy, wearing a cute little blue bowtie!  I saw the most adorable little gumpaste mummy on a different cake, and thought I'd take the inspiration and make one for the top of the cake.
This mummy is held up by a toothpick through the top to the bottom of the body, with another toothpick through the arms for stability.  I don't normally use non-food items on a cake, but I knew that fondant is so heavy and soft, and I found that my gumpaste had dried out to my chagrin, so I really wanted this little guy to work out!

SO, without further ado, here is the Halloween cake in all its gory glory! I left a space on the top in case there was a birthday candle or something that the parents wanted to add to the cake.