Travel Cake, Gateaux de Voyage

Luren
5 min readMay 27, 2020

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What are they and what makes them a rich part of our pastry history?

Recall a time where travel was a luxury or more of a need rather than leisure, and a time much before refrigeration. Our culture of food is much like many others, are shaped by needs and the technology that supports them, thus how that technology have evolved.

It was then, somewhere in the 17th century that travel cake have sprout its roots, where the more privileged crave for something that can ease their discomfort during their prolonged periods of traveling. At that time where traveling were mainly by horse carriages, it could be weeks even in between cities of a nation itself. In that manner, Gateaux de Voyage was created. A dessert, or concept of a cake that can withstand many days (8 to 30 days) without refrigeration, and not ruined by the jolts of traveling too. The soft texture of the cake, without cream or fresh fruits is an easy great tasting food to have on the go, often eaten right off the hand.

To date, the list of travel cakes have grown immensely. There are more famous ones are like pound cake, fruit cakes, kouign amann, financiers and the list goes on. With the evolved taste and methods, even the local cake shop have compound an array of these cakes in many forms, all lined up behind the glass counter. They make great snacks, and even better gifts when we travel overseas, delivering a slice of locality to our friends. It is always a great joy for me when i travel to pick up a few of the local specialities, marveling at how cultures and ingredients shape the same recipe very differently.

Not to mentioned, without the use of refrigeration, and sourcing for more local ingredients. It does reduce the carbon footprint by a shade. Sustainability is a real issue now, and it involves more than the efforts of the environmentalist and governments alone. On the lighter side, it is a relieve to hear more of my fellow pastry brethren taking more direct steps in helping.

Atelier LESS is the brain child of two pastry chefs, Gabriele Riva and Kanako Sakakura. They work with the underlying principals of using seasonal local produces, reducing all waste to a minimal, sustainability practices, emphasis on organic food and avoiding processed or artificial flavours or colouring.

https://www.google.com/url?sa=i&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.sogoodmagazine.com%2Fpastry-blog%2Fpastry-chef-articles%2Fgabriele-riva-less-more-approach-pastry-making-restraint-honesty%2F&psig=AOvVaw05lCNy0RTQJQG83iAVN4gw&ust=1589180017490000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0CAMQjB1qFwoTCOi2maXbqOkCFQAAAAAdAAAAABAU

Gabriele Riva: “Less is more speaks of our philosophical approach to pastry making in terms of restraint and honesty”

The approach of using locally growth produces, reducing processed additives is set in a holistically sustainable direction. I be honest that the colourful ranges of pastries still do get me, but this honest food concept is a tender spot. It is relatable, like the food we will serve in our own homes, or the ones that our grandmothers place on the dining table everyday. So for folks that live in Tokyo, it is a real treat just by the corner. Atelier LESS, is located just off of the JR train line in a residential and commercial area of Meguro-ku Tokyo.

The defining feature to a travel cake, other than those mentioned above is the taste. Due to the ingredients makeup to make it travel friendly, it is different from some of the traditional sponge. Its is like comparing a chocolate sponge cake with a flourless chocolate cake, in terms of the texture and taste. The travel cake is significantly more dense, in a good way, and much more flavourful. After all, it is something good enough to eat on its own! The use of egg coupled with brown sugar or alternatively more aromatic sugar, use of dried fruits or nuts, the inclusion of syrup to moist and add taste, and the lengthened baking time to cook and release the flavours. All this slight differences add to the eventual product to be a more wholesome profile.

As such, i include a moist orange cake recipe that i rather enjoy.

Moist orange cake, at 140g batter per pc

Egg 500g

White sugar 450g

Orange juice 60g

Orange zest 7 large pc

Lemon zest 3 large pc

Lemon juice 15g

Honey 125g

Flour 610g

Baking powder 16g

Cream 300g

Melted butter 325g

The steps are easy too, just mix the items together first within each grouping. Then from top down, incorporate each groups well without any lumps.

I baked them in smaller 11cm by 7cm paper muffin cups, this takes about 40mins at 170 degrees Celsius. Larger moulds are better for moisture retention, but i prefer a more ideal gift size for my friends.

Also for this recipe, you can make a simple orange syrup with simmering some orange juice, half the amount of sugar as juice and a dash of Cointreau to add last. Just brush the cakes coming out hot from the oven with the syrup, and it can significantly boost the flavour.

My take on these types of cakes is simple, firstly it is easy to make and even easier to eat, without needing anything else to with. So you can do that or use it in place of the traditional sponge for a mousse cake or layer cake. In that the “traditional” style of a build-up mousse cake can be more diverse and flavourful, adding difference texture to the build itself.

Photo by lindsay Cotter on Unsplash

It can be modified to suit personal taste, or to showcase the local produces and culture. For example swapping the white sugar used with brown sugar, or even a portion of it with palm sugar allowing it more personality. Add in your favourite fruits, fresh, preserved or canned. Caramelised the bananas before adding it in with small chunks of Okinawa brown sugar. The personalisation of the recipes can be fun and creative.

Well, that is my very personal take on a slice of our pastry cultural history!

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Luren
Luren

Written by Luren

I'm Junjie doing pastry in SG. Rethinking connections of food to people, how pastry transmute mundane ingredients to totally different textures and sensations.

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