Caseating Mycobaketerium

A bacterium assembled from:

• Fimbriae – Crystallised Orange Peel
• Surface Antigen – Orange Macarons
• Intramembranous domains – Hazelnut Marzipan
• Waxy Cell Wall – Chocolate Cointreau Glaze
• Protoplasm – Double Helix Sponge Roll
• Cytosol – Lemon Syrup
• Caseating Centre – Lemon Mascarpone

Fimbriae

• 1 Orange
• Castor Sugar
• Water

Peel the orange with a potato peeler. Slice the peel into 2mm strips of a fimbrious length - 2-4cm. Dissolve a wee bit of sugar in a saucepan. There should be just enough syrup coat all the peel, but very little runny at the bottom of the pot. Add the peel and continue to heat for a few minutes until the peel is throughly syruped and becoming slightly drier. Turn off the heat and scoop the peel into a bowl with enough sugar to stick to all the syrupy peel. Store in excess sugar until you are ready to create your bacterium.

Surface Antigen

• 1 C Icing Sugar
• 70 g Ground Almonds
• 5 Tbsp Sugar
• 2 Egg Whites
• Zest of 1 orange

Combine the almond and icing sugar. In another bowl beat the egg whites to stiff peaks. Add the white sugar and beat some more. Mix in the almond mixture and the orange zest. Do not worry about over-mixing, make sure it is all combined. The paste should be a sticky-honey texture. Pipe tiny spots onto baking paper. Bake at 180 degrees Celsius for 12 minutes or until the tops are just beginning to brown. The macarons should be hard on top but still squidge slightly when pushed with a finger. Wait for them to cool before taking off the baking paper.

Intramembranous domains

• 80 g Hazelnuts
• Icing Sugar
• Egg White

Roast the hazelnuts at 180 degrees until they are all slightly browned. Rub the skins off with your hands as much as possible. Grind to a paste with a mortar and pestle. Add some icing sugar and a bit (less than an egg's worth) of egg white to make the hazelnut butter more sticky.

Waxy Cell Wall

• 200 g Dark Chocolate
• 100 g Unsalted Butter
• 3 Tbsp Cointreau

Melt the chocolate and butter at low heat in the microwave, mixing occasionally so none of the chocolate overcooks. Add the cointreau. Add a wee bit more if you want the glaze more fluid for application. If the glaze becomes too thick as you are applying it reheat in the microwave.

Protoplasm

• 3/4 C Flour
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder

Cytosol

• Juice of Two Lemons
• 1/2 C Sugar

Heat together until completely dissolved. Boil gently to thicken slightly, further heat alters the taste of the lemon.

Caseating Centre

• 250 g Marscapone
• 2 Tbsp Cocoa
• Zest of Two Lemons
• 4 Eggs
• 6 Tbsp Sugar
• 25 g Butter Melted
• 1/4 C Ground Roasted Hazelnut
• Zest of one Orange
• Milk
• 1/4 C Icing Sugar

Prepare the dry ingredients in two bowls. Sift 1/4 C of the flour, the cocoa, the hazelnut, and half the BP into one. The remaining flour and BP into the other. In a third bowl whip the eggs and sugar until very thick and creamy. Stir in the melted butter. Pour half the wet into each bowl of dry ingredients. Mix the orange zest into its bowl. Fold each bowl until all combined. You may need to add a little milk to make both mixtures the same consistency. They should form a reasonable soft cake mixture.

Put each mixture in a separate piping bag. I use plastic zip-lock bags and cut a 5mm triangle off one corner. Pipe one colour in diagonal stripes into a large baking-papered oven tray. Pipe the second colour between the first. Do this quickly before they spread and overlap. Bake at 200 degrees until just browning, about 10 minutes. When cooked, immediately turn out onto a clean tea-towel and roll up into a log. Do this while the cake is hot or it will split. To fill, unroll partially and dribble the lemon syrup into the roll. Spoon the mascarpone mixture into the centre.

For the lemon mascarpone, mix the mascarpone with 1/4 C icing sugar. Just mix.