At the risk of exposing just how nerdy and obsessed I am, I’ll share with you that I am a big fan of the Flour Hour Podcast– a podcast dedicated completely to baking. It could just be because I can listen for hours to people talk about baking. It could be that they have featured some of my favorite people in baking (I’m looking at you, Rose Levy Beranbaum). But really, I think what keeps me coming back for more is the excellent way they show the people behind the craft. Amanda and Jeremiah have a unique way of showing deep admiration for their guests, but not at the expense of connecting with them as PEOPLE. And I bet that’s refreshing to anyone with a modicum of celebrity– having someone to talk to them for who they are, and not talk past their humanity to fixate on their acclaim. An example of how they do this is the never failing and familiar Flour Hour question.

“If you could bake for anyone dead or alive, who would you bake for and what would you make for them?”

This is where I really come to know the bakers they feature. Because when you study about great people, you don’t just get to know more about the person themselves, but you get to know more people… their inner circle, in other words, the people that made them who they are/were. You can come to know a lot about a person by seeing who caught their attention, who did they learn from, who did they shed tears for.

Well.. while, I don’t ever expect (fingers crossed) to be featured on the Flour Hour podcast, I took it as a personal mission today to answer the famous Flour Hour question anyway. As someone that spends more time looking out than looking in, this is good for me. It gives me reason to introspect, and in an attempt to teach others about myself, I’ll learn about myself too. So without any further ado, I’d like to introduce you the person I would bake for if I could bake for anyone dead or alive:

C.S. Lewis. Author of the Chronicles of Narnia, philosopher/observer extraordinaire, and the man who first taught me how to connect thoughts, emotions, and faith. In his own challenges with grief and loss, Lewis taught me it’s ok to believe yet doubt– to know, yet still listen to what your heart has to say. Above all, I choose C.S. Lewis because his writings helped me to think, believe, and feel, and because of him I know that the balance between the three is indeed attainable. And for C.S. Lewis, I would bake a White Chocolate Passionfruit Genoise.

C.S. Lewis considered Perelandra (the second book of his acclaimed Space Trilogy) his best work, and I’m inclined to agree. Beneath its surface, Perelandra is more than just speculative theology cloaked in a voyage to the planet Venus. Perelandra is a cosmic drama, and one that we are all a part of in our struggle between good, evil, and their respective definitions. And more so for me, it was a necessary distraction. I started reading Perelandra when I journeyed through a bout of deep depression several years ago. I had just returned home from a mission to Peru, and Ransom’s mission to an extraterrestrial tropical paradise fit me like glove. The jungles of Peru may as well have been an extra terrestrial experience, and like Ransom, I felt like I was supposed to empty out the ocean with a spoon.

Perelandra served as a means of escape to brighter more colorful world when the real world seemed so dark and gray; and vicariously I lived out the expectations of my own (arguably failed) mission through Ransom’s. It can be done. Next time I’ll try harder. I’ll do more. I will at least stay longer. 5 AM mornings with a glimmering view of Venus, the Morning Star on the eastern horizon would remind me of this as I would look towards Venus and assuredly whisper to myself “Perelandra.”

Back to the bake. Lewis describes en encounter Ransom has with a new type of fruit on Perelandra with sensations inexplicable with earthly terms.

“Now he had come to a part of the wood where great globes of yellow fruit hung from the trees--clustered as toy-balloons are clustered on the back of the balloon-man and about the same size. He picked one of them and turned it over and over. The rind was smooth and firm and seemed impossible to tear open. Then by accident one of his fingers punctured it and went through into coldness. After a moment's hesitation he put the little aperture to his lips. He had meant to extract the smallest, experimental sip, but the first taste put his caution all to flight. It was, of course, a taste, just as his thirst and hunger had been thirst and hunger. But then it was so different from every other taste that it seemed mere pedantry to call it a taste at all. It was like the discovery of a totally new genus of pleasures, something unheard of among men, out of all reckoning, beyond all covenant. For one draught of this on earth wars would be fought and nations betrayed. It could not be classified. He could never tell us, when he came back to the world of men, whether it was sharp or sweet, savoury or voluptuous, creamy or piercing. "Not like that" was all he could ever say to such inquiries. As he let the empty gourd fall from his hand and was about to pluck a second one, it came into his head that he was now neither hungry nor thirsty. And yet to repeat a pleasure so intense and almost so spiritual seemed an obvious thing to do. His reason, or what we commonly take to be reason in our own world, was all in favour of tasting this miracle again; the child-like innocence of fruit, the labours he had undergone, the uncertainty of the future, all seemed to commend the action. Yet something seemed opposed to this "reason." It is difficult to suppose that this opposition came from desire, for what desire would turn from so much deliciousness? But for whatever cause, it appeared to him better not to taste again. Perhaps the experience had been so complete that repetition would be a vulgarity--like asking to hear the same symphony twice in a day.”

So what was this mysterious deletable fruit Lewis describes? I’m sure he meant it to remain a mystery, yet something defined by the readers themselves. The Peruvian in me defines it as a larger, and more liquid Maracuyá (Peruvian passionfruit); and if you feel this is a blunt reduction of the culinary symphony Lewis describes, then I am inclined to believe you’ve never had Maracuyá in all its glory. And in this lucid dream mine in which Lewis is resurrected from the dead and invited to have a slice of cake with me, Lewis emphatically agrees with me that this is exactly what he imagined the Venusian fruit tasted like in his imagination. In this dream, Lewis and I play a wonderful game of philosophy and food tug of war… the kind of food and conversation that you can’t decide which is better… the lively animated discussion that opens up your mind and heart; or the delectable delicacy on your plate that opens up your senses and grounds you back to this planet that demands that you live in it. My hope would be that I wouldn’t even have to tell him that this White Chocolate Passion Fruit Genoise is inspired by Perelandra: Voyage to Venus. He would look at it, taste it, and he would already know.

My mission was to make a cake that looked like Venus, and a cake that reminds the baker of tropical worlds beyond our own. The Peruvian correlation was just the icing on the cake (pun intended). The journey through a network of memories associated with intercultural ministry, missions, depression, failure, and fictional masterpieces is, of course, optional.

P.S. I promise my next entry will be shorter. Pinky promise.

tldr – recipe here

White Chocolate Passionfruit Genoise

ingredients

Passion Fruit Curd
74g egg yolks (best you can find, the more orange yolk the better.)
135g fine granulated sugar
135g passion fruit juice/puree
57g softened unsalted butter
pinch of salt

Genoise
74-80g egg yolks
120g egg whites
57g softened unsalted butter
2 tsp tahitian vanilla bean paste
100g fine granulated sugar
50g fine bleached cake flour (I use Swan’s Down)
50g Rapunzel brand non-gmo corn starch (note: I recommend this specific brand of corn starch because of some issues reported with various brands of GMO corn starch and even some “non-GMO” cornstarch. This is the only brand that has worked for me, and using a brand that is GMO (in spite of what the label says) will cause this cake to not rise. If you cannot find Rapunzel brand, replace with an equal amount of potato starch or more cake flour)

Genoise Rum Soak
56g fine granulated sugar
120g water
28g Dark Jamaican Rum

White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
227g high fat unsalted european style butter (I prefer Plugra or President)
100g fine granulated sugar
75g egg whites
1 tsp Tahitian vanilla bean paste
85g pure white chocolate (preferred is Green & Black brand, but Valrhona and Guittard are great options as well)
pinch of fine sea salt

Venus Mirror Glaze
300g fine granulated sugar)
200g sweetened condensed milk
150g water
19g gelatin + 120g water to bloom
350g pure white chocolate
pink, yellow, orange gel food coloring

special equipment
1 half sheet baking sheets, lined with parchment paper, half size cooling rack over it
#9” (23cm) by 2” (5cm) round cake pan
Immersion blender
Stand Mixer
medium sauce pan
large balloon whisk. This is the one I use.

method:

Prepare passionfruit curd (could be done several days in advance)
1. combine yolks, salt, and sugar in a medium sauce pan and mix with a whisk until well combined.
2. beat in butter and mix until well combined.
3. mix in passionfruit juice and set over a stove on low heat.
4. stirring constantly, mix until thick and reaches a temperature of 190. Consistency will be pourable, yet thick.
5. strain into a container, cover with plastic wrap, set aside to cool, and refrigerate once completely cool.
Prepare Genoise:
1. Preheat oven to 350º F (175ºC) if your oven has a convection feature, do not use it and ensure it is turned off. Grease and flour the pan and line the cake pan with a round sheet of parchment paper.
2. on low heat, melt butter until completely liquid. increase heat to medium and heat past the bubbling stage until butter is golden brown and fragrant. Strain using a fine mesh strainer lined with cheesecloth. The point here is to not have any brown butter solids. combine with vanilla and set aside somewhere warm.
3. combine sugar and eggs in the bowl of a stand mixer, and gently mix over a saucepan of simmering water until sugar is dissolved and mixture is warm to the touch. Be careful to not over heat mixture and curdling.
4. Place mixer bowl back on stand mixer, and starting at lowest speed gradually increase speed to highest setting. Beat at highest setting for a total of 5 minutes. Mixture will be tippled in volume.
5. Meanwhile sift flour/cornstarch at least two times, set aside.
6. Remove from mixer, and separate approximately a cup of the beaten eggs and beat with browned butter and vanilla until fully incorporated. Set aside
7. Sift half the flour mixture over beaten eggs and gently fold with a large whisk (it’s my experience that a rubber spatula deflates the beaten eggs more than a whisk. Here is the one I use for folding. Fold until most of the flour has disappeared into the batter
8. sift remaining flour and fold.
9. pour butter/egg mixture into the batter and gently fold until just incorporated.
10. pour completed batter into the cake pan at once and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until sides of the cake just begin to come away from the sides of the pan. The cake will rise above the pan slightly, and then sink slightly before it’s done. Finished height will be 1 3/4” high.
11. Unmold immediately and set aside to cool.
Make rum soak
1. combine sugar and water in a heat proof glass measuring cup and stir well to combine
  1. heat in a microwave until mixture just comes to a slight boil and all sugar is dissolved
  2. set aside to cool, once cool, add rum and stir to combine. cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Make White Chocolate Swiss Meringue Buttercream
1. Combine egg whites and sugar in a bowl of a stand mixer. heat over a water bath until mixture is warm to the touch and all sugar is dissolved.
2. Fix bowl on to stand mixer and beat with whisk attachment until completely cool.
3. In a separate bowl, beat butter until increased in volume and pale in color, medium speed about 5 minutes.
4. combine two mixtures and beat until combined.
5. Melt white chocolate and slowly drizzle into mixture along with vanilla with the mixer running until fully combined.
Make Mirror Glaze
1. Bloom gelatin with smaller portion of water and set aside for 5 minutes
2. heat sweetened condensed milk, sugar, and water in a saucepan over medium heat until it just comes to a simmer
3. stir in gelatin until it’s completely dissolved.
4. Pour hot milk mixture over white chocolate and allow to rest for 5 minutes.
5. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth.
6. Pass through a sieve to remove any bubbles
7. pour unit a tall wide container and drip a few drops of each food coloring and lightly stir (but do not combine)
Assemble Cake
1. Cut cooled genoise cake in half horizontally making two layers.
2. Place bottom layer on a 9” cake board, and with a brush, apply half of the rum soak.
3. Pipe a ring of buttercream around the edge of the bottom layer creating a dam
4. fill with about 3/4 of the passionfruit curd (save the rest for snacking)
5. Top with top layer and brush evenly with the remaining portion of roam soak.
6. Even coat the top and sides of the cake until smooth
7. place in a freezer for 10 minutes
8. Once mirror glaze has cooled to about 91º F or 33ºC, place cake on a cooling rack set over a rimmed baking sheet. pour glaze on the center of the cake until it covers the whole cake and flows down the sides.
9. Place in the refrigerator until glaze is set.
Summon C.S. Lewis from the dead and enjoy a generous slice with him over milk and tea.