Asian pear baumkuchen. It felt sacrilegious to cook Asian pear. Growing up, it was a revered fruit that we gifted or were gifted during lunar new year, and enjoyed raw (after mom peeled, cored, and delicately arranged it on a plate). But my friend Vu Ho challenged me, so BOOM! Inspired by my sweetheart’s preference for all things nature and natural wood, I prepared a base of vegan baumkuchen (it took 3 tries to successfully make this using Just Egg), a German style of spit cake that resembles the cross section of a tree trunk. My home kitchen is not equipt to cook with a spit over an open flame, so thin layers were cooked separately, then wrapped around a rolling pin. Asian pear was prepped 2 ways: cooked into chunky jam for the filling, and dehydrated (following the instructions of Home Chef Seattle ) and dusted with matcha to form a delicate pear blossom. This dish was time consuming, but delicious. Many thanks to my sweetheart for some of the behind the scenes shots, and to Vu for choosing the star ingredient.
Cut the Asian pear in half, crosswise (perpendicular to the stem), and then using a mandoline make at least 5 clean slices from the center (I made 8 just to be safe), Using Home Chef Seattle's method: Sandwich the fruit slices between 2 sheets of parchment paper on a baking sheet, weigh them down with a second baking sheet, and bake at 200˚F for 15 minutes. Then, remove the baking sheets from the oven and lower the temperature to 175˚F. Remove the top baking sheet and uncover the fruit, and return the baking sheet to the over to dehydrate uncovered for another hour or 2. The fruit should be dry to the touch, and slightly flexible. These will be the pear blossom petals, Cut up the rest of the Asian pear into 1/2" diced cubes, and cook it in on medium low heat in a small saucepan with 1 tsp of lemon and 1/3 cup of sugar until it thickens down into a chunky jam. As the pears soften and cook down, a flavorful syrup will form around the fruit. Reserve a few tablespoons of this syrup to drizzle on top of the cake, In a small bowl, whisk to combine the Just Egg, vanilla extract, agave syrup, milk, and margarine, In a medium bowl, sift together the flour and baking powder, Heat a griddle or large flat bottom skillet on medium heat and lightly grease, Take out a rolling pin, and cover the body with foil. We will be wrapping the cooked griddled layers around the rolling pin to form the shape, Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, whisking to combine, and immediately pour about 1/3 cup of the cake batter onto your cooking surface in a thin layer. Feel free to use an offset spatula to smooth it out, Let the mixture griddle until the bottom turns golden, then gently flip, When the cake is cooked through on the other side, immediately remove it from the heat, and carefully wrap it around your foil covered rolling pin, Repeat until all of your batter is used up, Allow the cake layers to cool completely before gently sliding the rolling pin out, then gently twist the foil to remove it from the center of the cake. Trim the ends, and generously fill the center of the cake with the Asian pear jam. This will act as the "glue" for the pear blossom petals, Take a small brush, dip it in the matcha tea powder and brush half of each dehydrated pear slice to give it a tint of light green, Using your fingers, pinch the green half of each petal in half (we only need 5), and using the blunt end of the brush, press that down into the center of the pear jam. After all 5 petals are in place, you are done! Drizzle with the reserved pear syrup before serving.Asian Pear Baumkuchen
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