Paris, oh Paris!

Today's our fourth day here and my, how time flies! The weekend breezed by in a flash; D and I did some touristy stuffs in the city, took a short trip to Versailles to visit the magnificent Chateau,  moved into the apartment, my home for the next several months and by the time this entry is posted, I've had a great dinner at a neighborhood bistro nearby, took a short stroll back to the apartment and happily digging into my baked-from-scratch-with-all-French-ingredients

 cake that I had baked earlier this evening!

I'm going to enjoy my nightcap - an espresso and this crumb cake that's a spin-off from an absolutely wonderful cardamom coffee cake that I made last week but didn't have time to post.

Since my last trip to Stockholm, I've fallen in love with cardamom desserts. It's been a while since I baked any cardamom desserts and Dorie's version with coffee simply brings me back to the reason why I love the cardamom and sweets combo. I loved her version and the cardamom coffee cake, as simple as it was to make, was one of the most distinctively sophisticated coffee cake that I've come across. D brought the cake to his office and a colleague pulled him aside after he has tasted it and said, if we were ever going IPO (typical Silicon Valley talk), give him a heads-up as he would like to invest in the business!
Since we've just moved into the place at noon and I only have very basic ingredients, I made the cake sans the coffee, cardamom and orange peel (Dorie's original recipe as follows) and substituted with whatever was in our new pantry - bananas, creme fraiche and cinnamon! I didn't bring my US measuring cups with me, so had to do some maths to convert the recipe. I think there's an error in my conversion for butter but D said it's great. You can never have enough butter, especially French butter, so they say.

CARDAMOM CRUMB CAKE
DORIE GREENSPAN, Baking – From my home to yours
MAKES 8 SERVINGS

FOR THE CRUMBS
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup coarsely chopped walnuts
1/3 cup sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
1/2 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces, at room temperature

FOR THE CAKE
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-1/4 teaspoons ground cardamom
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2/3 cup sugar
2 tablespoons finely grated orange zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
2 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk )
1/2 cup strong coffee, cooled
1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.  Butter an 8-inch square baking pan, dust the inside with flour and tap out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.

MAKING THE CRUMBS: Put all the ingredients except the butter in a bowl and toss them together with a spatula just to blend. Add the butter and, using your fingers or the spatula, mix everything together until you’ve got crumbs of different sizes. It’s nice to have a few big pieces, so don’t overdo it. Set the crumbs aside. (The crumbs can be made up to 3 days ahead, covered and refrigerated.)

MAKING THE CAKE: Whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, cardamom, and espresso powder in a large bowl. Turn the dry ingredients out onto a sheet of wax paper, and put the sugar and zest in the bowl. Rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of orange strong (don’t miss this step – it really makes a difference!), then return the dry ingredients to the bowl and whisk to blend.

Put the remaining ingredients in another bowl and whisk them to blend. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and stir – don’t beat- to mix. Stir only until you have an evenly moistened batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and top with a thick, even layer of the crumbs. Pat the crumbs eyer so gently into the batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the cake has risen (it will crown) , the crumbs are golden and a thin knife inserted into the center comes out clean.

SERVING: Cut the cake into squares and serve warm or room temperature.

STORING: This cake is best served the day it is made; however, it can be wrapped airtight and frozen for up to 2 months.  Once defrosted, it benefits from a quick warm-up in a 350-degree oven.

I'm completely, totally overwhelmed, but in a completely, totally good way. I'm living the life of my dreams in Paris and just can't wait to start pastry school! Summer in Paris is going to be so wonderful! Please click on the photo below to view beautiful shots that were taken over the weekend.