Jack Layton's Gumdrop Cake

“My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world.” 

                                                                                           –Jack Layton

Gumdrop Cake is not really the kind of thing I would normally bake. But I did it for Jack.

Food is my favorite way to remember loved ones who have passed on. I feel closest to my mom when I'm making her recipes and eating the foods she used to make (you’ll be seeing a lot of her recipes on this blog). This morning, I wanted to make a recipe in honor of Jack Layton who passed away yesterday. It turns out Gumdrop Cake is one of his all-time favorites. His grandmother used to make it as a special treat when he and his siblings would visit.

Like so many Canadians, I am deeply saddened and still reeling from the news of Jack’s passing. For the past 3 years, I've had the pleasure of living in his Toronto riding. It's been so amazing to have an MP that I can admire, respect, be inspired by, and who would so promptly respond to letters and let you know that your concerns had been heard. The news also weighs down on me because it was almost 2 years ago that I lost my mom to cancer. She was about the same age, a bit younger than Jack. Both were too young to die. Cancer has become such an epidemic. One of the reasons I chose to work in the environmental sector is because I believe, like my mom did, that the health of our planet is directly related to our own health and well-being. And if we want to win the fight against cancer as a society (and also get to eat delicious and uncontaminated foods) we need to fight against pollution first and foremost. This film really gets to the core of the cancer issue for me personally, so I thought I’d share the trailer here, even though it’s not directly food related.

But back to Gumdrop Cake. And Jack. What a politician, and what a man. It is such a huge loss for Canada, at a time when we badly need his leadership. But as he so eloquently says in his last letter, the future must be faced with love, hope, and optimism. To cheer you up a bit after that trailer, and get you warmed up for the cake recipe below, here’s an excerpt from This Hour Has 22 Minutes “Baking with Jack Layton”. Rest in peace Jack, and may there be an infinite supply of your grandmother’s gumdrop cake in heaven.

Jack Layton’s Gumdrop Cake (taken from the Globe and Mail)

3/4 lb gumdrops (omit black ones)

1 cup raisins

1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup butter

1 cup sugar

5 ml vanilla

1 egg

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup hot water

2 cups flour

1/2 teaspoon each salt, baking soda and nutmeg

Cut gumdrops if large. In a shallow bowl, dredge gumdrops, raisins and nuts in 1/2 cup flour. Set aside. In a large bowl, cream butter, sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add egg and beat well. Add applesauce and hot water and mix well. In a medium bowl, mix together 2 cups flour, salt, baking soda and nutmeg and add to sugar mixture. Fold in gumdrop mixture.

Pour into a well-greased tube pan or 9-by-5-inch pan lined with wax paper and well greased. Bake in a 275 F oven for 45 minutes. Increase temperature to 300 F and bake for 75 minutes. Let sit for several hours or overnight before cutting.


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Man. I could have done some fun stop motion animations with those gumdrops, but no time for that this morning, off to work! Just a quick photo of the cake before it gets gobbled by my co-workers. (Looks quite Christmassy doesn't it?!)

Buckwheat Ravioli

I’ve been dreaming of having a farm and growing my own food for as long as I can remember. Somehow I’ve ended up living and working in downtown Toronto, but the dream is alive and kicking. It’s not so much that I’m ignoring it, as nursing it quietly, until its time comes. Part of keeping the dream alive was taking a week off work back in May to volunteer at Everdale Farm and learn a few things from the fine and knowledgeable folks there. Everdale is a non-profit teaching farm that has trained many new farmers. It’s certified organic and a tremendously inspiring place to be. Despite a rainy week, I got my hands in the dirt, did a lot of mulching and weeding, cooked some lunches for the staff and interns, and got to take a permaculture workshop. The instructor, Jessica Roder of Wild Craft Permaculture started off the course with this video which is an awe-inspiring example of sustainable living architecture.

This weekend I got to work at Everdale’s stand at the Brick Works Farmers' Market. It was so great to see my old friends from back in May and see their bountiful harvest. 

Selling freshly picked veggies brimming with life is something that just makes you feel good. Like really really good. The whole stand smelled like earth and a medley of fresh greens and herbs. And the basil, oh the basil. I was basically on a basil high the whole morning and couldn’t stop thinking of all the things I was going to make with my veggies when I got home. The thing that needed immediate attention though was a bag of beet greens. A lot of customers had been asking me all morning for their beet tops to be removed. And I’m the kind of person who buys beets more for the greens than the root so... I couldn’t let them go to waste and I came home with a bag full of discarded greens. Dear rejected greens, you are welcome in my kitchen, and I will eat you up in a flash. Usually I just steam them with butter and garlic but I decided to try a beet green ravioli... and for the simple reason that buckwheat and I seem to be having a lifelong love affair (this is something I will come back to in another post), I decided to make the pasta dough with my favorite grain (which is not really a grain!). But you can also use wheat flour or do a half and half mix for a less intense buckwheat experience. (I know everyone is not as fanatic about buckwheat as I am ;-)

Buckwheat Ravioli from Kitchen Vignettes on Vimeo.

BUCKWHEAT RAVIOLI

La Pasta

2 cups buckwheat flour 

2 eggs

1 tbsp olive oil & salt to taste

water as needed

Filling

1 to 2 pound of beet greens, steamed & chopped 

About 1 cup ricotta cheese (I found buffalo ricotta which was lovely)

1/3 cup grated parmesan

1/3 cup walnuts

1 egg

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

½ tsp. nutmeg

1 tsp. salt & pepper (to taste)

Butter

¼ cup butter

Fresh sage leaves (I used thyme because that’s what I had in the garden, but sage would be ideal)

Chopped garlic

Mix the dough ingredients together and add small amounts of water until you get a smooth but not sticky dough. Knead and shape into a ball. Let it sit while you work on the filling. Make sure that all the water is fully squeezed out from the steamed beet greens. Mix all filling ingredients. Roll out the dough, cut into circles or squares, add a teaspoon or so of filling and moisten the edges with water so you can press the edges shut. Bring water to a boil and cook the pasta for around 5 to 7 minutes. Melt the butter with the sage and garlic, let it brown a little, and drizzle over the ravioli. Top it all with grated beet or parmesan. 

Pâtisserie Rhubarbe

One thing that makes me really, really happy is when my friends become pastry chefs. 

When I lived in Paris 6 years ago, my apartment was directly above a pâtisserie, which meant ungodly smells would waft in through my bedroom window at all hours of day and night. And in the morning I could essentially roll out of bed, down the stairs, and before my eyes were even fully open, have a chocolatine in my hands. Why I ever left that place, I still wonder. Anyway, just before I left Paris, I met a fabulous girl named Kat. We recently reconnected on facebook and it turns out she ended up going to pastry school in Paris! And that she now works at a gorgeous little pastry shop in Montreal called Pâtisserie Rhubarbe. So since Sunday was my grandmother’s birthday and I was in Montreal for the occasion, it was a perfect time to visit Kat AND get a cake for my mami.

It was so nice to be in Montreal. My dear lovely aunt Marie Anne who works at La Maison du Roti prepared the most exquisite birthday brunch with wild boar & fig pâté, pâté en croute with rabbit and hazelnuts, and a heart throb of a cheese called Le Secret des Lys (The Secret of the Lilies), from Bourgogne. After we ate, my aunt and I talked about food and cats for about 4 hours straight. That's my idea of a perfect afternoon.

As for dessert, well, as you might imagine it is quite difficult to choose only one cake at Pâtisserie Rhubarbe… Plus I was feeling slightly intoxicated and distracted by the sight of all the OTHER pastries (!) In the end I went for the gateau choco-citron (and a necessary box of macarons). The cake was composed of 3 layers of pure bliss: a brownie-like bottom layer, a lemon-curd middle layer, and a velvet smooth chocolate mousse as a top blanket. I have never experienced a lemon & chocolate combination like this before, and let me tell you that I almost shed a tear when I ate the last bite. I would like to crawl inside that cake and live there, forever and ever... but more importantly, my grandmother loved it too! Bonne fête mami! Merci Patisserie Rhubarbe!

Pâtisserie Rhubarbe from Kitchen Vignettes on Vimeo.

While I don't have a recipe for you today, this lemon chocolate combo thing is really something that deserves further exploration... here are some recipes from 2 of my favorite blogs that would be well-worth trying: Foodiva's Lavender-Honey-Cardamom-Lemon Dark Chocolate Tart and Cannelle et Vanille's Chocolate and Meyer Lemon Love. Ooh la la!