MORE CAKE

We have been talking about 'Les tourments d'armour de Guadeloupe' in French class which is a cake which would be similar in appearance to a bakewell tart. It hails from the islands of Saintes off the coast of Guadeloupe where it is prepared by the ladies left behind by their fishermen husbands, a sweet treat awaiting their return, so the story goes.

Great debate has been had (not in fluent french, malheureusement) about the filling 'confiture de noix de coco' i.e. coconut jam, something no one has seen during visits to France, but then we weren't actually looking!



La Recette
ready made shortcrust or puff pastry

- pour 'la creme'
25cl milk
25g flour
50g sugar
1 egg
2 soup spoons of rum
1 teasp. cinnamon
half teasp. nutmeg
zest of a lime
5 soup spoons of the mysterious coconut jam

In a bowl mix together the egg and sugar, add the flour and mix in. Bring the milk to the boil and stir it into the mixture, put this back into the pan and stir over a gentile heat, when it has thickened take it off the heat and add the spices, rum, zest and the confiture de coco.
Line a pie dish with the pastry, prick the surface and leave to rest.

- pour la genoise (sponge)
125g flour
125g sugar
4 eggs
1 teasp. vanilla essence

Beat the eggs, add the sugar so you have a mixture 'mousseux' then mix in the flour and finally the essence.

Pour the cream over the tart base, top with the sponge and bake for 20 minutes at 180 degrees.

Sounds nice but I can not guarantee the outcome as no one has attempted to make it due to the shortage of coconut jam in these parts. I have maintained all along that it must translate to the blocks of cream of coconut you use in thai cookery, but today I have discovered I am wrong, having done some googling. 

Recipe for confiture de noix de coco -
Take the flesh from the inside of 1 coconut and grate it.
Heat 50cl. of water, bring to the boil and add the coconut flesh, 200g sugar, a vanilla pod, the zest of a lime, and pinches of cinnamon and nutmeg, mix together and cook for 30 minutes stirring frequently. Leave to cool and then use.

Now my only doubts now are the fact that we have doubled up on the spices and zest, very zesty!
So if anyone would care to be a guinea pig and give this a go please report back, I might try it at the weekend, coconut supplies permitting.