Thee Playlist

Recipe double header, one free and one paid.

Update to recipe formatting, Yay! I’ve started to turn convert my recipes into PDF’s so they’re easy to print and or have on hand. We’re still learning honey. Thank you for being here, I’m excited to share this weeks post. If you need absolutely anything, I’m just a message away.

What does this playlist say about me?

I’ve written about so many exposing and vulnerable things. By far, the idea I’m sharing my most listened to playlist scares me. I cannot comprehend why this specific playlist feels revealing, but it does. When you see these songs, you’ll understand that I either have very niche taste, or no taste at all. Every song can be traced to a fashion reference, typically runway music. When I make a playlist there are some rules I like to follow.

• The songs cannot be in a specific order, the whole playlist should be playable on shuffle.

• Tonality is crucial, but vibe is king.

• The desire to hit skip should be reduced by the refinement in the selection.

• No songs over 7-8 minutes, lets keep it moving.

• A great playlist is somewhere between 3-6 hours in length.

• The name of the playlist should and shouldn’t make any sense.

• When adding songs, play the first 30 seconds and the middle 30 seconds and if it isn’t a resounding yes, don’t add it to the list.

• Don’t overthink it, justify later on.

“Out 4 Lunch” Playlist -

This first grouping has music from Raf Simon’s tenure at Calvin Klein. He is friends with Richie Hawtin whose alter-ego is Plastikman. You’ll see this DJ represented many times here. The beats are simple and peak when you need them to. The slow build makes you feel like you earned the climax.

Fly Girlz perform easy raps with clunky undertones. It sounds as if they’ve improvised the whole song on the first take. “Born 2 B Fly” is so different from tracks that are produced within an inch of their life. Andy Stott’s music sounds as if it was made in a drippy basement with one florescent bulb near rupture, it’s haunting yet romantic.

I have listened to “Pinnacles” by Four Tet more times than I’d like to admit. It combines an upbeat tempo with rainforest noises and a striking piano keys. Princess Nokia’s “Tomboy” is an anthem of gender proclamation. It’s the perfect song if you want to give yourself a boost of confidence.

A lot of these tracks are coincidentally featured on Prada runways or campaigns. “Dissolution 99” by Mike Parker builds ever-so-carefully giving a techno thumping cathartic release 2/3 trough the song. “Want” by Shanti Celeste is a banger for working out if I’ve ever heard one.

I love the progression in this section here. “Attitude” is an upbeat pop/electronic track, then the BPM is lowered with “Xtal,” and pumping it up at the end with the Japanese DJ Shinichiro Yokota. This is why vibe matching for track selection is more important than genre.

These songs have been featured on the runways of Calvin Klein, Versace, Marc Jacobs and Alexander Wang. “Stinging Nettles” was a song I heard at Opening Ceremony fifteen years ago, RIP. Yes, I use Shazam and still do.

Potentially, this is the most chaotic part of the playlist. Starting with a distinct rave-like track into a positive upbeat tune followed by lower BPM romantic song is cause for confusion. It picks back up with “White Noise” and then closes out bringing the heart rate down with a stoner tune sampling Lil Wayne’s - “Lollipop.” In my opinion, just banger after banger. I’ve always been hyped on my own sauce though.

Halley’s Birthday Cake

Halley is my neighbor, my friend, my culinary confidant. She has incredible taste, endorses walking and possesses a remarkable palate. Following the formula from my previous cake, Matcha Raspberry Cream Cake, I did some swaps and went for the classic “berries n’ cream” profile. A rule I insist upon for a recipe is that everything has to support each other. The chiffon needed something interesting and complimentary. I went with Royal Milk Tea from a can. The floral hints and milky astringency situated themselves harmoniously with the blackberry compote, greek yogurt mousse and the salty vanilla bean buttercream.

Halley is a generous host, if you ever receive the invitation to visit, run. Mirroring her generosity, I’m giving y’all her birthday cake recipe on the house!

Halley’s Birthday Cake

684KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download

Makes one 8” layer cake

Blackberry Compote Ingredients:

500 g blackberries, washed

70 g granulated sugar

25 g lemon juice

1 tsp coriander, finely ground

pinch kosher salt

Greek Yogurt Mousse:

3 large egg yolks

40 g granulated sugar

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

225 g Greek yogurt, full fat

250 g heavy cream, cold

Royal Milk Tea Chiffon:

110 g all purpose flour

1/2 tsp kosher salt

2 tsp baking powder

3 large eggs, divided

200 g granulated sugar, divided

60 g Royal Milk Tea (Sangaria brand)

60 g neutral oil, i.e. sunflower, grapeseed, etc.

1 tsp vanilla extract

Royal Milk Tea Cake Soak:

Remaining can of Royal Milk Tea (Sangaria brand)

Salty Swiss Vanilla Buttercream:

4 large egg whites, room temperature

200 g granulated sugar

50 g confectioners sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

300 g salted butter, room temperature, cut into small cubes

1 tsp kosher salt

Garnish:

A small assortment of 12-15 beautifully plump blackberries

Blackberry Compote Method:

In a medium sauce pot add all ingredients and cook for 30 minutes over medium heat. Stir every 2 minutes to ensure no seeds are burning to the bottom of the pan. Scrape down the sides every time the mixture is stirred. Remove from the heat when the mixture has become noticeably thicker in consistency. Place compote into a small bowl. Lay a piece of plastic wrap over the surface of the compote and chill in the refrigerator until use.

Greek Yogurt Mousse Method:

Fill a medium sauce pot with two inches of water. Place the pot over medium heat. In a large bowl combine egg yolks, sugar, kosher salt and vanilla extract. Whisk continuously over the sauce pot. Make sure the bowl never touches the water below. Keep whisking to capture air and help dissolve the sugar. Once the mixture is distinctly warm/hot to the touch, remove from the double boiler and continue whisking until room temperature. Ribbons will form as the mixture cools down. Whisk in the Greek yogurt until evenly combined.

In a separate large bowl add heavy cream, whisk the cream till soft peaks. Using a spatula, scrape the Greek yogurt mixture over the heavy cream. Whisk the two creams together until homogeneous. Place in a container to chill in the fridge until use.

Royal Milk Tea Chiffon Method:

*Do not grease the half sheet tray, it will prevent the chiffon cake from rising properly.

Preheat the oven to 350ºF with a rack positioned in the center.

Line a half sheet baking tray with parchment fitted to the bottom.

In a medium bowl whisk together all purpose flour, salt and baking powder and set aside.

Add to a large bowl the egg yolks, 150 grams of sugar, royal milk tea, neutral oil and vanilla extract. Whisk the wet ingredients together until smooth and the sugar has dissolved.

Evenly disperse the dry ingredients over the wet and whisk in, mindful to not over mix. There should be no large clumps of flour.

In a clean large bowl add egg whites and whisk vigorously sprinkling in the remaining 50 grams of sugar. Whisk until soft/firm peaks. Somewhere in between would be ideal. The whites should be glossy and hold their shape.

Fold the whites into the batter in three additions. The first is the sacrifice, meaning you’ll lose a lot of air but it’s about lightening the mixture at first. The second and third addition of the egg whites should be folded in a robust manner. Be mindful when folding the chiffon cake to not knock out so much air and pull from the bottom of the bowl. After all the egg whites have been added, if the mixture is slightly streaky, it’s okay. When the mixture gets poured out into the half sheet tray, it will technically continually mix when it's spread.

As mentioned, pour the chiffon onto the line half sheet baking tray. Spread the cake evenly using an offset spatula. Place the half sheet tray in the center rack of the oven and back for 15-20 minutes. This depends on the strength of your oven. Check after fifteen minutes. The chiffon will feel tacky to the touch, but not stick to your hands. The cake should spring back when you press it with your finger. Remove from the oven and allow the cake to cool for fifteen minutes.

Using a paring knife cut along the perimeter of the half sheet baking tray to loosen the cake from the pan. Line a cutting board, or counter with another sheet of parchment paper inverting the cake onto the other sheet of parchment. Be quick and deliberate with the cake, it’s delicate. Once the cake is inverted, slowly peel away the parchment attached to the cake.

Using an 8” round cake pan and a paring knife. Cut out circles of cake using the bottom of the cake pan for reference. Start at the top left hand corner of the half sheet tray, then the bottom right. In between you’ll be able to cut half moons for the middle layer of the cake. Leave the cake sponge side up for the build. The other side has a skin that doesn’t take well to the soak. These should fit perfectly. See picture below for reference.

a map of getting three layers of cake out of a half sheet tray.

Assembly:

Using the same 8” cake pan, wet your hands with water and moisten the inside of the cake pan. Line the cake pan with two criss-crossing sheets of plastic wrap with six inches of overhang. The water will help prevent sticking.

Place one whole round at the bottom of the lined cake pan. Dab the Royal Milk Tea over the cake. Beware of over saturation. It’s a few mindful dabs to moisten the cake slightly. Spread half of the blackberry compote over the moistened cake in an even layer using an offset spatula. Add one half of the Greek yogurt mousse over the compote spreading it evenly with a clean offset spatula. Over the top of the mousse add the half moon layers and repeat with soak, compote, mousse and the last layer of cake dabbing with the soak. Take the plastic wrap overhang and pull it toward the top of the cake with gentle even pressure locking in the cake.

Freeze the layer cake for at least two hours before icing.

Salty Swiss Vanilla Buttercream Method:

Fill a medium sauce pot with two inches of water. Place the pot over medium heat. In a heatproof bowl add egg whites with granulated sugar and whisk until the mixture is hot to the touch around 110ºF. Continue whisking off the heat building air into the meringue.

Add in confectioners sugar stabilizing the meringue slightly. Keep whisking for 8-10 minutes until the bowl is cool to the touch and the meringue is room temperature, it will appear glossy.

Add the scraped vanilla bean with salted butter in small additions to the meringue. Allow the previous addition to be fully incorporated before adding the next. Keep whipping the butter into the meringue until the last addition followed by the kosher salt. If the buttercream looks like it’s going to break, keep whipping, it will come back together.

*If it looks split, warm the bowl with your hands to increase the temperature to bring it back, flick in a few drops of cold water as well.

*If the buttercream isn’t holding shape and appears too loose, place the bowl over an ice bath for 30 seconds a time, whipping in between to lower the temperature to help trap air.

*Keep the buttercream room temperature if icing soon. If icing the following day, keep in the refrigerator, then temper, then rewhip the buttercream until fluffy and voluminous.

finishing the cake:

Warm your hand with hot water helping loosen the frozen cake from the pan. Invert the cake onto its final resting plate or platter. Remove all plastic wrap. Add a third of the buttercream to the top of the cake, spreading it around evenly over the surface. The second third of the buttercream should be applied to the sides of the cake evenly and swiftly. Use the remaining buttercream with a piping bag to make a design of your choice. Ex: a fun rim, a squiggly design, dots, a show stopping border, etc. Place the gorgeous plump blackberries in an abstract pattern over the surface of the cake as a finishing touch.

notes:

• the cake freezes really well, up to one week.

• the cake needs to be chilled properly before serving.

• temper the cake from frozen at least 2-3 hours before serving.

• remove the frozen cake and place in the refrigerator overnight before serving the next day.

• use a hot clean knife to get the prettiest cake slices.

• avoid refreezing the cake, best to just refrigerate it after the initial freeze.

---

Breakfast Succotash

I grew up eating succotash during the mid-late summer. Corn, tomatoes, squash in abundance get tossed right in and stewed down and transformed into garden mush. I love mush. I love melting down vegetables, breaking their cellular walls and compounding them into flavorful (adult) baby food. My friend Alana and I made succotash once when she was teaching yoga and helping run a goat sanctuary. She pickled these stunning heirloom peppers and chopped them up, folding them into the succotash. Honey, it was a game changer. Why is it called breakfast succotash? This beautiful mush is THEE best way to start the day.