Cooking With the Kiné

One of my neighbours is a kiné. That's short for kinésithérapeute or physiotherapist. We have come to a friendly arrangement that involves him giving me the occasional physio session for my knee, in return for me teaching him to bake.

Chopping hazelnuts to top the cakes with.

Our first session of baking was making chocolate cakes. This was a decision based on what he had in the house in terms of ingredients. He kind of sprung it on me,  but the cakes turned out fine using what we had on hand. The black silicone cannelé mould that we used to make cupcake sized cakes was found by him at a recyling centre.

Creaming the butter and sugar.

Sifting the dry ingredients, flour and cocoa, into the batter.

Apparently he's keen to learn how to make short pastry and a layer cake, but they may require a bit more planning.

Hamming it up.

Baking and physiotherapy are conducted in English, as Raphaël has a Masters in English, but lacks people to keep up his language skills with. 

The finished cakes being plated.

Raphaël took some of the cakes to work the next day to share with his colleagues, and gave me some.

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