Having a go at making Caneles

I tried a new recipe - it's one of those ones described as "tricky", "temperamental", and even "fraught". Sounds like my kind of snack!

The cake of the moment is the Canele - here's the wikipedia entry, and here's a lovely blog post by a super enthusiastic cook called Pim.

I'll post the rest of this blog entry in the form of questions and answers.

Q. Weren't you mad keen on making Macarons?

A. Yup, still am, just taking side trip to another tasty French treat.

Q. How did you hear about Caneles?

A. Ate some at the Harvest Picnic, and they were good! But instead of ordering more from THOSE expert cooks, I'm afraid I decided to go off and find out how to do them myself.

Q. What are they, then?

A. Sort of a cross between a cake and a custard. If it was polite to pick up creme brulee and eat it in your fingers. Like that.

Q. Yours doesn't look much like the official one.

A. That's not a question. But no, I didn't have the right mould. I used a mini kugelhupf mould. Thankyou for noticing. The next ones will look more official, because now I DO have the right mould.

Q. Are they hard to make?

A. Nup. Easy to burn though. Ask me again on about Sunday.