Almond with Pears Cake and Camping!

Over the last week, we were out of Toronto camping with some friends. We camped a couple of nights in Algonquin Provincial Park, drove to Ottawa where we continued to camp and experienced a white water rafting adventure. The trip ended in Montreal (more camping). By the end of the week, I guess you could say I was all 'camped out'. It would be the first of many more camping trips this summer. I must say I enjoyed it a lot more than I expected to.


Prior to going away, we stocked up on a lot of food, and returned with only a few left overs. One item - some canned pears. With this, I decided to bake an Almond cake with caramelized pears.

At our campsite in Ottawa, the grounds were full of pine cones which we had to try and clear off before setting up our tent. You wouldn't want to be sleeping on top of a bed of pine cones! I thought it would be a neat idea to collect a bag of pine cones to take home. I don't know why - perhaps they might come in good use some time. Decorative purposes I guess.

 

This recipe was adapted from two different cake recipes...

Almond Cake with Caramelized Pears

Caramelized Pears

• 3-4 firm pears, such as Comice (I just used canned pears)
• 80g butter
• 100g brown sugar

Almond Cake

• 300g butter, softened
• 250g castor sugar
• 4 eggs
• 150g standard flour
• 150g almond meal
• pinch of cinnamon
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• Milk chocolate chips (optional)
• Almond slices (optional)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 170C
2. Line a 20cm springfoam cake pan with non-stick baking paper.
3. Peel, core and quarter the pears. Melt 80g butter in a small frying pan on high heat. Add brown sugar, mix well. Add in pears, stir them around and let them sit for 8-10mins or until they soften. They should be somewhat firm but not hard. Remove from heat and set aside.
4. In a large bowl, beat the butter and castor sugar together until fluffy.
5. Gradually mix eggs into the butter mixture one egg at a time
6. Gradually beat in flour and almond meal. Add in cinnamon and vanilla essence. Incorporate mixture well until you get a thick batter.
7. Pour cake mixture into cake tin and flatten with a spatula.
8. If using chocolate chips and almond slices, sprinkle over surface of cake mixture.
9. Line the top of the cake with pear slices, pushing each one into the cake mixture a little as you go.
10. Bake in oven on middle rack for 55-60minutes or until the topping is a golden colour and a skewer comes out clean from the centre of the cake.
11. Remove from oven and let the cake sit for 10mins before you remove it from the cake tin.

We had a lot of fun with food during our camping trip. Eating outdoors, the warm weather, making a fire...here ill share a few photos from our camping experience:

Its not camping without s'mores! The combination of graham crackers, toasted marshmallows and a slab of chocolate.

Grilled chicken, asparagus and corn. Yummo!

Grilled steak with Maple Syrup beans! 

I cannot wait to do it all again soon. 

Chef Rob Feenie at work

Exactly one month ago today, I was asked to photograph Iron Chef Champion, Rob Feenie, at Truffles in the Four Seasons Hotel, on behalf of CityBites Magazine. 


This was the Salut Food + Wine Festival's Grand Finale Dinner, hosted by Visa Infinite. The event started off with a champagne reception for those limited ticket holders, which was followed by an elegant multi-course menu prepared by Chef Feenie, working along side Thomas Bellec - the Executive Chef of The Four Seasons. 


I admit that I was pretty nervous going into this as I had never covered a celebrity chef at work before, let alone ANY chef. I did not know what to expect, and plus it was my first time covering an event as a professional photographer.

Each course on the menu was paired and accompanied with exceptional wines. On the menu that evening:

Soup of BBQ duck broth, with a BC spot prawn and dungenous crab ravioli

White wine, poached miyagi oysters, lemon butter, beluga caviar and tapioca

Lobster carpaccio

Beet jelly, olive oil sorbet

Citrus cured steelhead

Cooked sous vide, curry lentils

Fraser valley duck and chicken presse, foie gras boudin 

parsnip puree and caramelized onion foam

Fine Canadian cheese: Albert's Leap, Louis d'Or, Avorlea Clothbound Cheddar

Citrus terrine with lemongrass and vanilla

Strawberries and Cream

Strawberry ice with white chocolate cremeaux and coconut salad

Freshly baked chocolate chip cookies

The most challenging shots for me were during the champagne reception, where I was trying to get shots of guests being natural, and at the same time tackling the challenges of using the speedlite for the first time in a professional setting. 

There's Stella Yu (Food Junkie Chronicles) -top right and bottom right, a wonderful person and fantastic Toronto food blogger (@foodieyu). 

I had a seat reserved for dinner, and I had the chance to try out Chef's Feenie's amazing duck broth....

...however, I only experienced a few more items off the menu as I was eager to get into the kitchen while the main courses were being served. This is where all the action took place anyway, never mind not having any of the citrus cured steelhead or Fraser valley duck and chicken presse... I had to get those shots!

It was tough positioning myself in the kitchen as I needed to get my shots while also trying to keep out of the way of the kitchen staff. 

The chefs worked hard, passing each dish down the 'assembly line' as each person was responsible for plating a particular component. They were plated as quickly as they left the kitchen. 

After the two main courses went out, there was a period in the kitchen where nothing was happening so I made my way back into the dining room and made it in time for the cheese and desserts! 

All in all, a fantastic dinner event, and such a privilege to meet Chef Feenie and Chef Bellec.