Wild game is not just savory dishes! I’m about to show you how that beautiful wild game fat can be used in pastries!

Do you have those family recipes that you just love? And for some reason it tastes better when its made by a particular family member, even though you you followed the recipe to a tee. Heck my mom can make ma a sandwich and it tastes better when she makes it! Well I have a true love for my mother-in-laws Persimmon Steam Cake. It has every holiday flavor you dream of, Brandy, Persimmon, Cinnamon and raisins. I have loved this cake she makes from the first moment I tasted it! The totally awesome thing is too, is that its published in a Japanese Cookbook that she helped to write as well.

Tis the season for all the holiday baking, and I just had to share this recipe with ya’ll! So here is the original recipe.

In true Bri fashion I had to put my twist on this cake. So here is how I changed it a bit.

I substituted 1/4 cup of melted butter for melted duck fat, I added Cardamom and Nutmeg, and used have dried cranberries and currants. And I added a glaze which consists of Maple Syrup and Cream Cheese.

Essentially I put my wild game take on one of my favorite recipes and my goodness I say both are true winners in my book. This is a beautiful recipe if you are just starting out incorporating wild game fats into you baked goods. Don’t worry about it tasting gamey it won’t taste like your eating duck. Actually cooking or baking with duck fat is super healthy fo you. The lack of processing that duck fat undergoes. While most cooking fats and oils are treated with chemicals, as well as bleached, deodorized and refined, duck fat is simply rendered, or gently “melted” away from the flesh. This creates a healthy cooking fat in its purest form.

So here is my version of my Mother-in-laws Persimmon Steamed Cake

Duck Fat Persimmon Cake

Ingredients:

• 1/4 Cup Butter, Melted

• 1/4 Cup Duck Fat, Melted

• 1 Cup Sugar

• 1 Cup Flour

• 1/2 tsp Salt

• 1 tsp. Cinnamon

• 1 tsp. Cardamon

• 1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

• 1 Cup Persimmon Pulp

• 2 tsp Baking Soda

• 2 tsp Warm Water

• 3 Tbs Brandy

• 1 tsp Vanilla Bean Paste

• 2 Eggs

• 1/4 Cup Walnuts, Chopped

• 1/2 Cup Dried Cranberries

• 1/2 Cup Dried Currants

Directions:

Pre-heat Oven to 350F

In a large bowl add the sugar, melted butter and duck fat. The fold in the flour, salt, cinnamon and persimmon pulp. Dissolve the baking soda in warm water and add the the batter. Then fold in the brandy, vanilla and eggs. Mix till combined. The add the walnuts, cranberries and currants.

Pour the batter into a buttered pudding mild with lid. Steam in oven to 1 hour at 350F. Using a cake tester after an hour to make sure the cake is cooked through.

Once the cake had finished baking and has cooled, place it a plate on the top and reverse the cake onto the plate. When the cake is completely cooled glaze with Maple Cream Cheese Galze.

Maple Cream Cheese Glaze

Ingredients:

• 1/2 Cup Cream Cheese, room temperature

• 1 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar

• 4 Tbs Maple Syrup

Directions:

In a bowl combine all the ingredients and whisk everything together. Whisk till the glaze is runny yet not too runny. Add more maple syrup if the glaze is too thick. You want a happy medium between runny and thick.