Water And Its Magical Properties
The 24th of March was World Water Day. I realized that I didn’t write about water as an ingredient in my recipe, even though I promised I would write about all the ingredients that I use in my cake recipe.
Water is an expression of life, being essential for everything that exists on this planet. It gives life, energizes nature, our bodies and spirits. As if by magic, water shapes us and energizes our body functions, in my cake recipe water gives shape and has different qualities.
Water has a real contribution in bringing all the ingredients together in perfect harmony. It blends the ingredients together in a natural process, by swirling and aerating the chocolate.
Moving to Montreal meant that I had to adapt the recipe to new environmental conditions. I had to get a better understanding of my new environment. You can’t control everything, but you can always act in different ways taking into account the factors and context you face. Until you find the balance and the right proportion it is a long and frustrating process. Butter, for example, can contain water, would you believe it? Butter with a high content of water can affect the consistency and density of the cream.
Even if water is the purest and most subtle substance, it is pretentious and needs attention and moderation.
Where does water come from?
Water seems to be infinite, but it isn’t. It surrounds us, falling from the sky or coming from the deepest mountains, from oceans and large coastlines, from endlessly flowing rivers and from the quiet lakes. From nature’s transformation. It comes from the deepest reaches of the earth. Where you can also find deep wishes and fears.
Water is a spectacular substance used in a purified state. Its power of harmonizing gives life and form of expression. I like to believe that water is an artist that makes magic.
The blend of ingredients energizes your senses and makes your taste buds dance with pleasure and delight.
Let me drive you through a journey of taste and sensations.
Using water in all its states
Water takes on many forms. It can be in a solid, liquid or gas state. Think about the meanings of all of these states and how they can all work together in a magical and transformative way. Through the complexity of the hand-made process, to the dissection of the facts and truths, to the acceptance of reality that sometimes is like a fourth dimension that makes you see outside the box.
Solid through its density
Cooling the cream is always a challenge, especially when you bake a large quantity of cakes. Last year when I was back in Romania for the winter Holidays, I baked for my friends in Bucharest for 10 days. It was a challenge, after that experience I realized that I need a professional mixer in my kitchen, and I bought one immediately after returning to Montreal.
This offered me the possibility to bake more than one cake at the same time.
But sometimes I dream of a big room full of ice, where I can just drop the cream and cool it in seconds as if by magic. Once upon a time I saw a refrigerated pantry in a friend’s kitchen. It was like seeing a dream in front of my eyes. I felt fortunate that I could see it before my eyes, it was easier to imagine.
The cake can be frozen. If you want to keep the cake for a longer time, and you can resist the temptation of eating it all, or if you want to send it across longer distances, it is recommended that it be frozen. Some dear friends of mine from Romania kept a cake in the freezer for one year eating it slice by slice for the entire year. The conclusion was that the cream was fresh enough, but the sponge cake wasn’t as moist it was on the first day - after a year.
Humidity and very cold temperatures are to be avoided, but the jars full of magic can be kept at room temperature for not more than 48 hours. If they are left out longer, the product should still be good, but there may be changes in texture.
Due to the airtight glass container, the jar full of magic has a longer shelf-life, up to 3 weeks, if it is kept in the refrigerator at a temperature between 0 and 4 C.
The jars can also be frozen for longer storage; after defrosting, in order to maintain the same creamy texture, the cake should be eaten within 5 days.
The cakes are recommended to be eaten when the cream is melting, but still in a cold state.
Liquid - Sometimes I have the impression that time liquefies
Water is essential for our existence, for our health. We can’t live without it, it gives us and everything around us life.
As in nature, water also has a purifying quality in my recipe, but too much water can be harmful because it accelerates bacterial growth.
Water harmonizes ingredients and brings form and smoothness to the chocolate cake, it also intensifies the flavour.
Each ingredient I use has to be in perfect harmony and proportions with the other ingredients in my cake recipe.
“Ultimately, water will do its job to energize you and give you life then quietly take its leave; it will move mountains particle by particle with a subtle hand; it will paint the world with beauty then return to its fold and rejoice; it will travel through the universe and transform worlds; it will transcend time and space to share and teach. Water is magic.” - Nina Munteanu
With a touch to the mouth, the texture and the decadent taste of the cake electrifies all senses.
We use water to hydrate and balance our body but also in our cooking and baking recipes. Water purifies and homogenizes ingredients together and also changes their shape.
There are a few methods of purifying water. The most common and handy is to boil the water or to use a water filter.
Ignorance is not healthy, it can bring evaporation.
Steaming is an old method of cooking that dates back 5000 years. Steaming is considered a healthy cooking technique that can be used for many kinds of food. I love to use it for broccoli and asparagus.
Water dissolves and gives shape and smoothness airing the consistency. Royally creamy, with the flagrance of the pure cocoa balanced by the tenderness of the sponge cake. Heavenly!
The fog envelops the fragrance of the pure cocoa fruit harmonizing with the sweetness and richness of the other ingredients. The whole process of hand making this magical cake is a learning process, a process of relief, creation and enlightenment, a process of elevation of taste. We should always be aware of sharing our knowledge with others in the most beautiful way we can.
“Water vapor is one state of the water cycle within the hydrosphere. Water vapor can be produced from the evaporation of liquid water or from the sublimation of ice. Under normal atmospheric conditions, water vapor is continuously generated by evaporation and removed by condensation.”
A delicate blend of carefully selected ingredients, pure cocoa, European style butter, sugar, eggs, water, a little bit of flour that also gives form to the cake, and of course, a lot of love.
The fluidity and density of blending dark and fragrant cocoa with European style butter that brings consistency and texture is a process where when you bake you start understanding that you have to be friends with water in any form it may appear. Humidity and steam are also forms of water and you have to take into account all of these factors to get the density and texture you want for the cream.
In the end I believe that water is magical from any perspective you look at it. I feel lucky that here in Canada water is free everywhere you go, even in the restaurants. It makes you feel that it truly is a human right.
We are water. Water is the most important nutrient for the body’s functions. In the same magnificent way that water is a required ingredient in my recipe. It dissolves and shapes the cake. It took me a while until I got to the right proportion of all the ingredients, especially when I moved to Montreal and I had to re-adapt to the local ingredients. But water, in any state can be a blessing, or it can be a disaster. Even the humidity in the air can change the texture.
I love water, I love swimming in the ocean, I enjoy seaside sunsets, … and I love cakes. I am actually passionate about a magical chocolate cake that I first ate when I was 7 years old and since then I have never tasted a better one.
I have been baking this cake for more than 15 years and since then I continue to learn about baking it and the phenomena of baking, and I can tell you that it is a real journey full of adventure.
Learning how to take notes, how to analyse results and how to do things that can lead to a better result. I am doing my best and I am learning step by step how to find more creative ways to spread magic with Weiner’s Chocolate. It is still a process of introspection and of developing the easiest way for Montreal’s chocolate lovers to buy Weiner’s chocolate cake.
Electrify your senses, pure chocolate cream, homemade using a secret recipe, baked with love and handcrafted with care.
The cake can be found in a variety of sizes, ready to satisfy your needs and to bring joy to your special moment or celebration. The truth is that each day can be a real celebration!
The jars full of magic filled with royally irresistible chocolate cake, homemade using a secret recipe, baked with love by Adina Weiner can be found at L’Or en Grain in Plateau Mont-Royal.
