Photo by Yuki Sugiura
Alexina Anatole’s first book was Bitter and it seems entirely understandable to me that she’s followed that up by focussing on a taste at the other end of the spectrum, Sweet. As someone with a decidedly savoury tooth and an eagerly pronounced leaning towards the bitter, who only later in life learnt to love baking, I welcome this approach. Anatole draws our attention at the beginning of each of her recipes here with a list of “balancing elements”, revealing an essential rule of the dessert course. Unless you’re a simple sugar fiend – as I’ve written in my books – it's not enough that a cake or a pudding be sweet: sugar needs to highlight flavour, not drown it out, which relies on counterpoint to maintain equilibrium. Accordingly, her Black Sugar Crème Caramel, for example, has balancing notes in the sugar that are “subtly sour, subtly salty” and bitterness in the caramel and, for the Carrot Halwa Cake, the sweetness is matched by the bitter notes of cardamom and turmeric, heat from ginger, and sourness and tang from cream cheese. These factors may represent universal rules, but having them spelled out helps reinforce them in our kitchens at home.
I certainly gravitated towards recipes that emphasise bitterness or sourness as well as sweetness: Salted Molasses Fudge; Cardamom Brioche; Matcha Tiramisu; Coconut Cream Pie with Passionfruit; Milky Bar Basque Cheesecake; White Chocolate and Miso Sesame Cookies; Salted Buttermilk Pudding with Roasted Pears; and Brown Butter and Brown Sugar Brownies. And I must mention a couple of examples from the final, thought-provoking chapter, Sweetness in a Savoury World, namely Rosemary Milk Buns and Prune and Thyme Sausage Rolls. The recipe I’m sharing with you today has its sweetness balanced by the sour tang of Greek yogurt, bitter notes from olive oil, and the tartness provided by lemon juice and blood oranges. And since these latter are gloriously in season right now, this Simple Citrus, Olive Oil and Vanilla Loaf seemed the perfect choice.
Sweet: The Secret to the Best Desserts by Alexina Anatole, published by Square Peg.
Photos by Yuki Sugiura.
