Discover the tonka beans and a mouth-watering trio of cakes!

By Mayssam Samaha

Photo Credit: Mayssam Samaha

Let me just start by saying that I am very proud to be one of the first contributors to this amazing new blog! I would also like to say that this is my very first post ever! It may be good practice if I ever decide to start my own blog So here we go…. When Clarah announced this tweet-up potluck, I knew exactly what my contribution was going to be. Well, maybe not exactly but I had a very good idea. I knew that it would be a dessert (not a surprising revelation if you know me just a bit) and I knew that it absolutely had to include:

Photo Credit: Mayssam Samaha

Cannelle et Vanille’s pistachio and candied kumquats financiers which have become one of my favorite desserts since I made them for the first time a few months ago. These little moist cakes combine 2 of my favourite ingredients – pistachios and kumquats – and I absolutely had to share them with the 15 or so gourmandes at this tweet-up who I was sure would really appreciate them. I hesitated a bit as to what else I was going to make but then decided that since I was making tiny financiers, I might as well just go ahead and make a trio of small cakes.

Photo Credit: Mayssam Samaha

This tweet-up was the perfect occasion for me to try the Tonka bean, white chocolate and apricot cakes that I had been dying to make. You see I was in NY a few weeks ago where I met Stéphane from zencancook.com and he told me about these amazing Tonka beans that are apparently illegal in the states. What could be more intriguing than a mysterious, illegal and – from what I was reading – absolutely magical bean? I went on a quest for this Tonka bean upon my return to Montreal and realized that it was rather easy to find in this lovely city of ours (yay for Montreal!). One whiff of these babies had me convinced that the little cakes I was about to make would be out of this world, and indeed they were! These unassuming looking little cakes are now among my favourite sweet bites. I made another batch of them the very next day for a friend’s birthday where they were also a smashing success. If you haven’t tasted Tonka beans yet, you absolutely must. They are a delicious mix of vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg and will make your whole house (and car and spice cabinet and anything they come in contact with) smell wonderful.

Photo Credit: Mayssam Samaha

To round off my trio of small cakes, I absolutely had to make something chocolaty. After all, I did have a chocoholic reputation to keep! What better choice then than Thomas Keller’s chocolate bouchons? I had made his brownies before and the recipe for these bouchons is very similar, which means that I shouldn’t have been surprised (and a bit disappointed) that the bouchons were actually just like his brownies only shaped differently. Now don’t get me wrong, if you are looking for very rich, dense and decadent brownies, the kind that can only be eaten in small doses, the kind that call for 3 sticks of butter and a whole cup of cocoa, then this recipe is definitely for you! It’s just that when I looked at their picture in the Bouchon book. I expected them to taste differently. I must say though that I don’t think anyone at the tweet-up (or the birthday party the next day) was the least bit disappointed by these brownies. Although I will venture and say that the Tonka bean cakes were the most talked about and perhaps the most appreciated of the 3 mini cakes because of their uniqueness. After all, nothing gets 15 foodies more excited than discovering an ingredient they’ve never had before, especially one that tastes so good!

Sources and Credits

Photo credits: Mayssam Samaha (on Twitter)
Recipe for Pistachio and candied kumquats financiers from Cannelle et Vanille
Recipe for Tonka bean, white chocolate and apricot cakes from Zencancook.com
Recipe for Thomas Keller’s chocolate bouchons from Thomas Keller cookbook “Bouchon” available at Amazon.com
Find more information about Tonka Beans on Wikipedia
Philippe de Vienne Épices de Cru sells Tonka beans. You can buy them in some Montreal specialty stores, like Olive & Épices at Jean-Talon’s Market. It retails for about $1 per Tonka Bean, but it will last you a long time.
You can also order Tonka Beans online from Philippe de Vienne Épices de cru’s Online store