Of all the hobbies filling Jessica McGovern’s time — acting, singing, dancing, playing piano and kung fu — she chose in her new TV series to focus on the one that would cause her dad the most duress: baking desserts.
“I am helplessly addicted to sugar. My poor dad is a dentist, so he’d kill me, but I’m giving business to dentists!” she says with a laugh.
McGovern runs the baking school Lincoln Apartment Bakery in Montreal and just released the Lincoln Apartment Bakery Cookbook, a compilation of foolproof recipes with insider tips and shortcuts. She also hosts the retro-tastic baking show Flour Power, airing Fridays on Gusto.
Dolled up in 1950s-inspired garb and picture-perfect pincurls, McGovern favours recipes that could give you cavities by association: Think blueberry-cream cheese strudel, carrot cake with caramel drip, raspberry-chocolate ganache torte, s’mores bars and chocolate-chip cookies, among others. The inspirations for her confections are global.
“I’ve worked in Ghana, China, Argentina, France, Scotland, and now I’m pretty settled in Canada. I’m always looking for new flavours, always trying to pick up classes from local teachers, wherever I am,” she says.
“One of my most popular classes in my school in Montreal is Japanese cheesecake. I discovered that one a few years ago in a basement in a train station in Osaka, and I just couldn’t believe I’d never come across it before.”
Growing up in Ireland, McGovern started helping her mom in the kitchen when she was around six, perfecting things like brown bread and scones. One perennial family favourite? Victorian sponge cake.
“It’s a really simple cake, and I still make it at least once a week in some form,” she says.
“It’s like four ingredients and you can dress it up any way you want — in our house it was often jam, cream and strawberries. We’d sandwich two layers of cake together with lots of whipped cream.”
Keeping with the whimsical retro theme (“baking is fun and playful,” she explains), McGovern shared two recipes that would look right at home on the snazziest of formica-and-chrome kitchen tables.
Lavender Angel Food Cake [Gusto/Bell]
Ease of preparation: Medium
Yield: 1 (10-inch) cake
“The secret to angel food cake is that the egg whites are all whipped up so you get the air in there, which is what makes it so heavenly. For this one, we put lavender into the merengue frosting, which is a nice twist and gives such a lovely aroma and flavour.”
Ingredients:
Cake
- 12 egg whites, room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoon (7.5 ml) cream of tartar
- ½ teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 cup (240 ml) caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) dried lavender buds
- 1 cup (240 ml) cake flour
- 1 cup (240 ml) icing sugar
Frosting
- 2 egg whites
- 1 cup (240 ml) caster sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) cream of tartar
- ½ cup (120 ml) water
- 6 drops (6 ml) red food colouring
- 8 drops (8 ml) blue food colouring
- Lavender buds, for decorating
Method:
Preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Add egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt to a bowl. Beat until soft peaks form. Gradually add caster sugar. Add vanilla.
Use a spice grinder to crush lavender buds and add to mixture. Beat until stiff peaks form. Mix flour and icing sugar into a bowl.
Sift 1/3 of the flour mixture into the egg white mixture and fold in gently. Repeat for next 1/3. Repeat for last 1/3.
Scoop into an ungreased angel food cake tin. Run a knife blade around the pan in a wiggly line — this will get rid of air bubbles.
Bake for 35-40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Place inverted with the open centre of the pan balanced on the neck of a wine bottle to cool for at least 30 minutes. Run a knife around the perimeter of the cake pan to release the cake. Place onto a serving platter.
To make the frosting, add egg whites, caster sugar, cream of tartar, and water to a double boiler. Heat until sugar dissolves. Remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Add red and blue food colouring. Whip until stiff peaks form.
Spread on the angel food cake. Top with lavender buds.
Orange-Vanilla Baked Alaska. []
Ease of preparation: Hard
Yield: 1 (8-inch) cake
“Baked Alaska is such a fun dessert, but it can be a little intimidating. There’s nothing to be afraid of if the inside, which is frozen, is covered properly with the merengue. You can really crisp up the outside and make it hot and crunchy and delicious while still keeping the inside frozen. I find that really magical and so impressive for anyone you serve it to.”
Ingredients:
Frozen mousse
- 8 egg yolks (reserve egg whites for meringue)
- 1 cup (240 ml) sugar
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla
- ¼ cup (60 ml) orange juice
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) orange liqueur
- 2 cups (480 ml) heavy cream, cold
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) orange zest
Chiffon cake
- 3 eggs, separated
- 6 tablespoons (90 ml) milk
- 2 tablespoons (30 ml) vegetable oil
- ½ vanilla bean, seeds only
- 1 cup (240 ml) cake flour, sifted
- ½ cup (120 ml) sugar, divided
- ¾ teaspoon (4 ml) baking powder
- 1/8 teaspoon (0.5 ml) salt
Swiss meringue
- 8 egg whites
- 1 cup (240 ml) sugar
- ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) salt
- ¼ teaspoon (1 ml) cream of tartar
- 1 teaspoon (5 ml) orange zest
- 2 ounces (60 g) orange liqueur, for browning
Method:
To make the frozen mousse, add egg yolks and sugar to a bowl and whisk. Add cornstarch, vanilla, orange juice, and orange liqueur and whisk to incorporate. Put bowl in a bain marie and cook until temperature reaches 180 F (80 C).
Remove from heat and beat until mixture has cooled. Put over top of bowl of ice to cool.
Beat cream and orange zest until stiff peaks form. Gently fold cream into orange mixture, add a bit at a time. Pour into an 8-inch (20 cm) glass bowl lined with plastic wrap. Cover and freeze.
To make the cake, preheat oven to 350 F (180 C). Whisk together egg yolks, milk, vegetable oil, and vanilla seeds. In a separate bowl, sift cake flour, ¼ cup (60 ml) sugar, baking powder, and salt. Pour flour mixture into egg yolk mixture and stir to combine.
Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar slowly, and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into egg yolk mixture. Pour into an 8-inch (20 cm) pan lined with parchment paper.
Bake 25-30 minutes until toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean. Let cool.
Fit into bowl with mousse, cutting away excess over the top of the bowl, and let freeze 4 hours or more.
To make the meringue, whisk together egg whites, sugar, and salt in a bain marie. Whisk until temperature reaches 150 F (65 C). Take off the heat, add cream of tartar and orange zest and beat until egg whites are thick and glossy.
Release mousse-cake from bowl. Spread meringue over cake. Use a confectionary torch to brown the meringue.
Measure 2 ounces (56 g) of orange liqueur. Place in a small saucepan and heat over medium heat until it starts to simmer. Using a long-handled match, light liqueur on fire. Pour over Baked Alaska. Let flame die out — this should take a few seconds.
Jessica McGovern hosts Flour Power [Gusto/Bell]
• Make sure your cake rises to the occasion: “Do not open the oven when you’re baking — that’s going to lead to everything collapsing on you. You’ve gotta have patience and keep the oven closed right until the end.”
• Keep your cheesecake from cracking: “A water bath is useful for things like cheesecakes, soufflés and crème brûlées. Put the tin into a bigger tin halfway full of water and let it cook in the oven while sitting in the water. That will really let things cook and rise much more gently.”
• Stop your pie dough from shrinking: “Make the dough, chill it, take it out and roll it out into your pie plate and chill it again. That chilling really helps everything stay the perfect shape and size when you put it in the oven.”
