[Ninja Baker] Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Other Classics

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Mar 4, 2011, 12:05:21 PM3/4/11

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“I’m just crazy about Tiffany’s!” exclaims Holly Golightly.

Who isn’t? Or should I say which female in her right mind doesn’t covet those darling little

4-carat rocks?

If you are blessed by youth but unfortunate to have missed a few film classics, the above quote is from Breakfast at Tiffany’s starring Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly. In the movie, she played the flibbertigibbet, the party girl, who wouldn’t commit to love. Until her upstairs neighbor and angel portrayed by George Peppard changes her mind. (Yes, the same George P. who ran around with Mr. T and his golden necklaces in The A-Team TV show.)

George Axelrod transformed Truman Capote’s novella into a screenplay with plenty of fashion and fun. But a je ne sais pas poignancy is imbued into the film, too. Accented by songs like Henry Mancini’s Moon River.

Two drifters off to see the world;

There's such a lot of world to see.

We're after the same rainbow's end ... Waitin' 'round the bend ...

My huckleberry friend, Moon River, ... and me...

Whether you are in the mood for contemplation or downing a few distilled spirits like many of the movie’s characters, you’ll hit all the right notes with Prosecco Pound Cake. (Thanks to Sandra Lee – the tall hostess with the mostest on the Food Network.)

The cake with a citrus lilt has a lighter consistency than the Sara Lee variety. The recipe recommends pouring prosecco into the batter. What a great idea, right? Alas, the alcohol taste is nonexistent! However, the icing gives a subtle hint of bubbly.

For more giggles:

Try the Ninja Baker's super-duper easy Daiquiri Strawberry and Cream Cupcakes.

Ingredients:

1 box of Betty Crocker’s angel food mix

Refrigerated liquid daiquri mix

Intstructions:

Prepare the cake as directed on the box. Substitute the cold daiquiri cocktail mix for the water.

Raise the oven temp to 375 degrees and bake for approximately 17 minutes.

Use your nose and eyes to make sure the delicate cakes don’t burn.

No worries if the typical angel food cracks do not appear. Use the toothpick method to test doneness.

I favor a simple whipped topping, as the cupcakes are strawberry sweet. The powdered kind you beat up with milk and vanilla is great. The creamy stuff in a can or any one of the Cool Whip products works, too.

***

You have ten seconds. I Could Have Danced all Night and Wouldn’t It Be Loverly are from which film? Frederick Lowe and Alan Jay Lerner wrote the lyrics. Time’s up! Did you guess My Fair Lady? Congratulations.

Remember Eliza Doolittle (yes, Audrey Hepburn) in Convent Garden dreaming about “Lots of chocolates for me to eat…” (Much crooning too about wishing for lots of coal makn’ lots of heat.” A wish reiterated in the new millennium by Brits today. Last December, Londoners experienced their coldest spell since the recording of UK weather.)

Hershey's Cocoa box-back provided the cake recipe.
The Ghiradelli Chocolate gave me the frosting.
For the Cordon Bleu Chocolat Creme filling, contact the Ninja Baker.

Audrey Hepburn loved chocolate, too. Allegedly she quipped, "Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me."

To alleviate your Convent Garden cravings, try a Ninja Baker variation of Chef Keiko Oiwa’s scone recipe. Chef Oiwa is a Cordon Bleu graduate and co-owner of Café Hiro. (A Southern California fave for many Japanese transplants.) She spent six years in - Shakespeare territory - the Cotswolds.

David,my husband, can only compare my scones with the Starbucks variety. He likes mine better because of the softer texture. And because I made them

My friend, Masuno-san, on the other hand, is a connoisseur of sorts. As a student he spent time with a family in the Cotswolds. He swears my scones have an “English taste.”

Here is Chef Keiko Oiwa’s scone recipe:

I add mini chocolate chips to vary the presentation.

But the plain scones stand alone.

Ingredients:

All-purpose flour　1 ½ cups

(The unbleached kind works wonders.)

Baking powder 1 1/2 tsps

Sugar 55 g

(Superfine sugar is often used in the UK.)

Egg 1

Milk 55g

Butter 90g

Mini chocolate chips (Suggest somewhere between ¼ cup to the whole bag. Tee hee!)

1. In a bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and sugar. Cut the butter in with knives (or a pastry cutter.) At the end, smush all the ingredients with your fingers to ensure little pea-size or smaller balls.

2. Add half of the egg. (Chopsticks are marvelous tools for splitting eggs.) Next, add milk to the mixture. Gently stir in the chocolate chips. Keep mixing until almost a whole cohesive lump.

3. On a floured board, roll out the mixture to about a 3 centimeter thickness. Cut out circles with a 1 to 1 ½ inch biscuit cutter. (The bottom of a tomato paste is a fine substitute. Make sure it’s clean though. Or else you may be making your own veggie scone variation.)

***

Sabrina another Audrey Hepburn classic is colorized now. I saw the original 1954 version some years ago. (How’s that for vague terminology?) So enthralled with the story, I barely noticed that all the images were in black-and-white. (And as much as I admire Julia Ormond’s acting, the modern remake didn’t hold a candle to the older cousin.)

The chauffeur’s daughter, Sabrina, captures the hearts of both billionaire type brothers. Humphrey Bogart and William Holden played the leading men. The George Clooney and Brad Pitt of the era. (I cringe to make the comparison but the younger generation needs to know about America’s legends!)

Morals and teenage-crush mania mix well with humour in the movie. (Thanks to the direction of the legendary Billy Wilder. Another American icon who cast actresses like Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe in his films.) At one point, the brothers send Sabrina to Paris.

Treasured moments include cooking school scenes:

The Professor explains, “Today we will learn the correct way how to crack an egg. Voilà! An egg. Now, an egg is not a stone; it is not made of wood, it is a living thing. It has a heart. So when we crack it, we must not torment it. We must be merciful and execute it quickly, like with the guillotine.”

In yet another scene:

Sabrina looks at her soufflé. “I don't know what happened.”

Her instructor replies, “I will tell you what happened: you forgot to turn on the oven. “

Maybe juvenile to some, classic pour moi!

Most cannot quibble that financiers are classics. (Not the guys on Wall Street. Although some of those guys are classic you-know-whats.) The French cake is a staple in Paris patisseries. Apparently, a recipe was created so bankers could stroll the Champs Elysées without spilling a crumb.

Imitating Sabrina I went to the Cordon Bleu in Paris and learned how to make the cake. (One big difference: Nobody with deep pockets financed my trip.) I did alter the recipe. Believe me, I don’t think I know better than mon professeur. But, I do presume something may have been lost in translation or my note taking. At le Cordon Bleu, they don’t hand out recipes. Only lists of ingredients and measurements.

Alors, Financiers.

Financiers (with Matcha Option)

Ingredients:

150 grams sugar

100 grams ground almonds

18 grams flour plus 2 more generous tablespoons

4 to 5 grams matcha for matcha financiers

100 grams butter

140 grams egg whites

1. Melt butter

2. Whip egg whites

(Pinch of salt in the first minute,;

¾ tsp cream of tartar after the whites are slightly foamy)

3. When soft peaks appear, mix in sugar and almonds

4. Whip in butter

5. Stir/whip in flour

Pipe into butter sprayed metal molds or plastic molds

¾ three-fourths full.

Bake at 180 C or 356 degrees F until golden brown.

8 to 10 minutes were suggested by the school.

But I found mine needed 17 minutes for my half-cupcake sized tins.

(Avoid over baking and mind cakes and time.)

One final financiers note: The original recipe (in my oven) produced a slightly gooey marzipan taste. My revised version (above) still says almond but allows a slightly drier cake. If you care for the marzipanny experience, omit the extra 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour.

Last Sabrina quote:

Her father reminds her, “He's still David Larrabee, and you're still the chauffeur's daughter. And you're still reaching for the moon.”

Sabrina reaches for the stars; learns self-respect and walks away with the love of her life by film’s end.

Wishing you full-moon passion to manifest your pocketful of dreams.

The Ninja Baker