improvements on the past

when i worked at the french laundry we did a dish where a chocolate genoise was soaked in a sweet red wine syrup and glazed with a thinned down raspberry jam. the flavors were great but i never quite liked the technique of soaking the cakes by dropping the cut pieces in the bowl of red wine. they never seemed to soak enough or they would just turn to mush from too much absorbtion. after making the "tres leches" cake i thought how much could i expand on the "drunken" cake technique. so here is a basic chocolate sponge cake soaked with a spiced red wine. red wine, sherry vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, clove, star anise, orange peel, vanilla. in the end it looks dry but when you bite into it there is an internal sauce that fills your palate. nice.

tres leches

inspired by a slice of a friends birthday cake, i wanted to do my own version of tres leches. i tried to think of an easier, more efficient way to soak the cake than the traditional method. compressing it with the milks made for a more effective outcome. very little mess, no waste, in only a few minutes i had a sponge cake soaked with creamy goodness. the finished dish has strawberries, basil ice cream, basil seeds, pistachio croquant, strawberry gel, and of course some milk soaked cake. a nice way to start of spring-summer. i have been getting some great Chandler strawberries from the market.

just give it time

i love the technique of compression. i really don't understand how anyone who puts a raw piece of fruit or vegetable on a plate doesn't put it in the cryovac machine first. there are always exceptions depending on what fruit or vegetable and if you have the machine at all. but the difference in the outlook and texture are amazing. i wanted a dish with bananas, chocolate, and peanut butter. something mostly everyone finds pleasing...even elvis. giving the compressed bananas some time...about 3 hours gives them such a vibrant glow. for the pick up they are warmed in syrup. chocolate cremeux, peanut butter ice cream, peanut butter feuillatine, peanut nougatine, candied meyer lemon peel, and chocolate sauce round the dish off. but it started with a compressed banana and some time.