Amandina & Savarine

Getting closer on the amandina - the cream is perfect, the rum syrup and glaze are just what we want.  The cake though ...

First attempt at savarine - A's mom's favorite pastry.  The taste is good, bu again, that cake just isn't right.  They're not the right size either - I used regular cupcake/muffin tins, which are too small.  I need to find a savarine mold that is not aluminum or that flexible plasticy stuff - I won't use either of those.  Wonder what my odds are of finding stainless steel ones?

Even though the savarine isn't really even close, I am pretty proud of myself for making it.  Why? Because I made it on Sunday morning with a recipe that was entirely in Romanian.  Why is this a big deal? Because as of Thursday morning, I knew 4 words in Romanian - salad, fruit, of. and yes.  With all the recipes I've been googling and blogs I have been finding, I've been learning as I go along.  I ran down to the computer once before I started to check 2-3 things on google translate that were in the instructions, but didn't write anything in English on the recipe.  As I was making it, A walked in and said "I thought you were going to translate this."  I said I had, mostly myself, and I didn't need to write it down because I could read enough of it myself that I didn't need to :)   Having spoken/read Italian fairly well from middle school through college is totally paying off now!