GLUTEN FREE AND DAIRY FREE PEAR CAKE

PEAR + ALMOND + WALNUT

How I adore these small pears! I've been telling everybody that now you can get Finnish pears - go and get them before they ran out or the season is over. 

  

I decided to bake a pear cake with same recipe I made a plum cake. I got the recipe from Nigel Slater's beautiful cooking book The Kitchen Diaries. It is my absolutely fave book as I told you in previous blog post where I told you about pork ribs we made with my husband from this very same book.

Gluten free and dairy free baking has been very challenging for me. It is always hard to get very good and moist result...until I found oat flour from grocery shop. It's only what it is called - oat. Nothing else added.

PEAR CAKE RECIPE BY KREETTA (changing/using recipe from Nigel Slater's plum cake/The Kitchen Diaries book)

6-7 small pears

butter 150g

indian sugar 150g

eggs 3

oat flour 75g (gluten free)

baking powder 1 1/2 teaspoons

ground almond 100g

shelled walnuts 50g

You need a 20cm cake tin, about 6cm deep. Bake in 180 'C degrees about 35-45min.

Chop the walnuts and almonds. Beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. Cut the pears at least in three but if you make them smaller they get more soft and that I recommend. Mine were too big so they could have been more softer...but in photograph they look very nice ;) Whip eggs lightly and add to the mixture. Mix flour+baking powder and add them gently into the mixture. Fold almonds and walnuts into the mixture. 

Scrape the mixture into the cake tin. Place the pear pieces on the cake mixture. They will sink so it might not be so precise how you do it. Bake the cake. It's quite big so it's for 10-12 people.

When you are photographing food, it is good to know when it should be done. This time it was the right moment to photograph the cake before it went to oven. After that it changed color to brown - even though it's it ok and pretty - I think I like the green pears more.

This cake is tasty and moist. You can serve it with vanilla ice cream or without. I think you can also serve it people without saying it's gluten and dairy free. One cake for all. Of course if there are people with peanut allergy or they are vegan - then you have to change the plan. My piece of cake is on my favorite plate by Arabia. Of course it's vintage and the design is called Maisema (Landscape).

Have a great and creative weekend!

xoxo
Kreetta

PORK + STAR ANISE + HONEY

RIBS BY NIGEL SLATER

My husband and I love to cook food but we seldom follow certain recipe literally. This time he did. I took photos and ate with big appetite of course (lucky me,haha)

Few years ago we found Nigel Slater's very nice coffee table cookin book called The Kitchen Diaries from one cosy coffee bar and restaurant in Copenhagen. The book is a year in Nigel's kitchen. He makes seasonal food and have to say he did it long before it came a hit. I remember when I saw the book I was amazed. Somehow it went straigt to my brains and I had to buy it. It's not the fancy one but there is beautiful and strong feeling through the book - thanks for the photographer Jonathan Lovekin. We found the book when we were coming back from our Interrail trip. We travelled by train from Finland to Croatia, Dubrovnik to final destination Kolocep Island. We stopped in Berlin, Zagreb, Split, Prag and Copenhagen if I remember right. It took three weeks. It was a wonderful journey - slow travelling with seasonal food.

Back to the ribs though...

This is simple recipe and I prefere that. 

PORK RIBS WITH HONEY AND ANISE BY NIGEL SLATER/ THE KITCHEN DIARIES

thickish honey 6 tablespoons

oyster sauce 3 heaped tablespoons

garlic 4 cloves

dried chilli flakes 1 teaspoon

whole star anise 4

salt flakes 1/4 teaspoon

black peppercorns 1/4 teaspoon

meaty pork ribs 1.5 kg

Make the marinade. Toss the ribs in the marinade. Let them rest for an hour or so. It won't hurt if they stay there overnight. 

Roast the ribs at 180 C for an hour and fifteen minutes. Turn them in the sauce from time to time. Ok, here comes important one: keep an eye on them that they don't burn. We burnt them a bit but the taste was still very good. They are ready when the meat is tender. 

Serve with rice. Enough for 2-3 people.

 

Today I'm going to make a version of Nigel's plum cake I tried from this book about two weeks ago. Plums have already gone but yesterday I found Finnish pears in grocery shop so I will use them. I like to save some of them for winter. Have to find a good recipe for that.

Have a relaxing Sunday my friend!

xo
Kreetta

STYLING YOUR HOME WITH A FROZEN TREE

ART ON THE WALL

Autumn has arrived. When the weather turns a bit colder we stay more inside at our homes. We light up candels and spend cosy evenings in our living rooms. Then we look at our home with a bit different eye too. Maybe we want to change things, buy new things or change the order of furnitures. 

I use to have a very minimalistic decoration at my home but after I spent few months in Copenhagen my style changed. I fell in love with Danish style. Cosy and eclectic. You could see a person's history at his or her home and I think that was very interesting and I was very drawn to it. I'm sure if you are very minimalistic and you visit my home - you'd be overwhelmed, haha.

But this photo isn't from our home. It's from our friend's home. They moved to a new house and they have been decorating it very stylishly. As you can see they also like vintage style but modern too. I was very happy when I was asked to make a photo for them. This photo on the wall is taken few years ago during the very cold winter in Helsinki. It was a weird weather on that day. Actually the weather lasted few days. It was cold, crispy and thick frost on everywhere. Like a macig winterworld. How lucky I was because during that time I had a photoshoooting with meteorologist. Funny coincidence. We were photographing near the sea in one park. There I saw these beautiful trees. They were so perfect and simple. They bring to my mind a bit of Japanese wood drawing. I think after that winter we have had the same kind of weather only once or twice so this pic is quite special. Like my friends too.

xoxo

Kreetta

HOW TO STYLE A PHOTOGRAPH?

TOP 5 IN FINDING YOUR ARTISTIC VOICE

This time I go with a very important matter in photography. Style. How can we create our own? How can we find our own voice?

I've been thinking this a lot after having a food photography workshop last weekend. It was a great fun but same time it was very obvious that we all see things very differently. Achieving the goal you need the creative process and that might not be easy to teach. Nowadays I think creative process is a very personal and you need to work it from your own perspective and experience. You also have to be ready to work - pure work - with the different kind of things like colors, textures, angles, techniques, compositions, shapes, materials, light - the list is quite long and for me it was quite hard because I did not like tabletop photographing at all. No, I did not.

I liked to photograph people. But years went by and I started this gretchen gretchen blog 2012. This was a free space to make whatever I wanted. I could build my pics of things I liked. My vintage treasures. I think that was the key holder for me. Freedom to work when I wanted and style with things I liked. I started to enjoy playing with things in photos. But I have worked a lot and I still need a constant work to develop my skills. 

When we are talking about style - we also talk about a matter of taste. How can you teach a good taste? What is the good taste? We also have to remember that our mind doesn't stop. Everything developes and by the time we recognize that something has happened we have taken many steps to different directions and finally we have chosen the one that really makes us happy and content. You could call that your style. 100% proud of your work even though it's not perfect. So I could say that you can't teach a style to anyone without help of the person's perspective and experience. You can teach how you do it but really finding a style and the voice of your own you need to process on your own - learning by doing, researching and finding your creativity and artistic voice.

Style and your voice is very fundamental but there are plenty more to learn same time like composition, lightning, colors, shapes...but don't worry, if you just start working - you will get closer everytime. And yes, you are creative. You just have to wake up the process.

Here are my Top 5 how to begin.

LOOK OTHER PEOPLE'S WORK

Pinterest, books, magazines etc. Look totally different kind of things. If you are interested about photographing food, please go and see fine art from beginning of 1800's or else. Everything is connected.

WORK 

There is not easy way. Trying, working, trying, working. Learning by doing. I know it sounds flat but can't help it.

CREATIVE ENVIRONMENT

Make your workspace very comfortable and bring there things you like and you get inspired by.

RELAX

Let things happen. Don't force it. You won't get great work done everytime. It doesn't matter. More important thing is that you work.

MUSIC

For me music is very important when I'm creating things. Make different kind of creative music lists. Let it flow. 

Most of all - have fun!

xoxo

Kreetta

ps. If you want to see what we did last weekend in food photography workshop, you will find them in Instagram #10ruoka #työhuoneovi10

LOCAL MILK'S FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP IN VENICE PART III

STYLING 

 

Sometimes it's easy - usually not. Styling a pic, I mean. You really need to work with it and  that's not even enough. You really have to find a good light and think how to crop the frame. Will you go closer or stay a bit further. Can you take a pic straight from the above or can you have nice perspective by photographing it from side with chosen angle. What kind of props and colors you choose. The question list is a long one. 

But it looks so easy when they do it. Beth Kirby from Local Milk and Ginny Branch. I guess there isn't easy way out - I mean if you want to be good at styling you have to work with it. Hours. 

This is my last post of Local Milk's food photography workshop in Venice. Venice is magical place and I love it. The place where we had the workshop was also unbelievable palazzo. Huge windows, antique furniture, walls with reliefs - felt almost I was dreaming. Winter in Venice is also quite adorable. But of course if acqua alta - high water - comes then it's not nice at all.

INSTAGRAM FOOD PHOTOGRAPHY WORKSHOP BY PHONE

THAT'S DELICIOUS!

First time ever I will be teaching with talented cook Meri-Tuuli Lindström a food photography workshop by phone. Yes, you heard right - we are photographing food by phone. 

This workshop is part of Helsinki Design Week 2015. It will happen on Saturday 12.9. On the same day we have open studios and exhibition in our workspace Työhuone ovi 10. You can find us from HDW programme here.

This year's Helsinki Design Week theme is Time Machine. In our food photography workshop we are going back in history for quite a few decades to 1950's and 1920's. We annouced the workshop some days ago and it's already full. We decided to have 10 people in maximum.

But if you think it would be nice experience, please write me an e-mail to kreetta.jarvenpaa@gmail.com and let's see if we have a chance to arrange another one in near future. You can find my Instagram feed here.


Have a lovely weekend!

xoxo
Kreetta

SWEET PERFECT BLUEBERRY

GLUTEN AND DAIRY FREE BLUEBERRY CAKE

In my dreams we live in such climate that there are fresh berries and fruits all year round. Well we don't. But at least we have few weeks berry season and for example we can go to forest and pick some blueberries. This year there are a lot of them. They are very healthy and the taste is perfect. We want to save a lot of blueberries in freezer to enjoy their taste during  dark winter mornings.

This cake is totally gluten and dairy free. The izing on the cake is made of coconut cream and icing sugar. I wrote recipes for you but if you have read any of my recipes, you know I make things a bit more about than exact. Of course baking is much more precise combared to cooking.


SPONGE CAKE BASE

3 eggs
1 dl sugar (plentiful) 
1 dl potato starch
almost 1 tsp baking powder

Whip the eggs and sugar until the dough is fluffy and light. Add carefully dry ingredients. Bake in oven in 225 C degreees about 12-18 min. You can use baking sheet paper that it is very easy to remove the ready cake base from the baking dish.

MERINGUE

2 egg white
1 dl sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp plain vinegar
1 tsp potato starch

Whip egg whites and sugar until they are stiff and glossy. Mix other ingredients carefully. Spread meringue dough on the baking sheet paper in shape you want. Bake in 120-100 C degrees about 1 hour. Baking time depends on how thick the meringue is. I had very thin so the time was about 1 hour. If you want to leave your meringue soft inside it means less baking time. Why I use potato starch and vinegar is because the meringue will not be too hard and it will split nicely with spoon.

SUGAR IZING

Ingredients are coconut cream and izing sugar. It depends on how much you need it but I begun with 1/2 dl coconut cream and started adding the izing sugar until the mix was nicely firm.

SOYA CREAM

I used almost ready soya cream from the shop. It takes only few minutes to whip the cream. I added some sugar and vanilla extract to achieve nicer taste.

BUILDING A CAKE

I moist the cake base with water. Cake will be too sweet if you use juice etc. But maybe a drop or two of rosewater won't do any harm. 

I used soya cream and fresh blueberries inside the cake. I decorated the cake with coconut izing sugar mix. If you want to have really sweet cake you can use the mix more inside the cake. I put the meringue top on the cake. Finally I decorated the cake with fresh blueberries and lemon balm leaves. I put the cake to fridge expecially because of the sugar izing. Give a bit time to the cake that it will have more balanced taste. 

I already miss the summer and all the fresh fruits, vegetables, berries you can have then. That's why I've been planning to make some preservation in old-fashioned way. I'll get back to it later this autumn.

xoxo

Kreetta