The adventure: Annddd the wheels have officially fallen off the train. The pick a recipe and go from there system has gone kerflooey. So a friend took me to an international market when I was in St Louis for work and things got ugly. I'm completely smitten with unusual noodles, quirky foods, and funky fruit, so when I say things got ugly... things got really ugly. Purple noodles, green noodles, udon noodles, rice noodles, Russian honey, a dragonfruit, a dozen rambutan all came home with me along with other fun things. And here I am, looking at the fuzziness of the rambutan wondering what to do with them.  

Pre-adventure Jitters: So I do some digging. All I can find for suggestions are smoothies and fruit salad. I think you all know by now, I'm not a smoothie kind of girl, and fruit salad has zero adventure. If I'm trying a freaky fruit, I want to put some effort into the dish. So I pivot. Rambutan are similar to lychees and after hours of searching, I finally find a recipe for a lychee butter cake that can be morphed into what I need. Sooo...armed with the recipe from recipes.net and an excitement at finally trying this adorable little fruit, the adventure begins.

The Adventure: Step one...peel and cut the rambutan. That shouldn't be too hard, right? Wellll...these are evidently the fruits of satan. It does. Not. Go. Well. I had to google it before starting. The directions warned that the outer layer was leather like. They weren't kidding! I slice across the first one and try to peel it open...nothing. I try to find my slit to cut a second time annnndd I can't even find my slit. I slice it again. Still didn't cut through. They said to be gentle, but gentle is getting me nowhere fast, so I put some serious heft behind the next attempt. Success! I get the outer shell peeled off, and am left with something similar to a large peeled grape in texture and slime factor. I wipe the knife off, cause those little spiney bits get stuck everywhere, and try to cut the fruit off the inside seed. If they're "free stone", this won't be too bad, from what I've read. If they aren't, I'm screwed. I cut down the long side and the seed pops out. YEESSSS! There's a thin skin that's left on the fruit, but I'll take it. We're gonna call that fiber. It takes a full 90 minutes to cut my rambutan, and my fingers are sore from grasping the spiny bits, but I'm done and ready to start making my cake!.  

Everything goes together without issue...for the most part The recipe calls for juice. I'm not even looking for rambutan juice. That's gonna be on a shelf next to unicorn farts somewhere in fantasy land. So I fake it. I grab a potato masher, smash my rambutan until I get some juice, and call it a day. Mhm...I'm the dictionary definition of a "casual chef". I pour my batter in the pan, give it some good thwacks on the counter to shake out the air bubbles, and shove that bad boy into the oven.. 

The cake is beautiful. For the first time in my life, it's a perfectly flat top. The cake is slightly golden with that little bit of crust on the edges...my favorite part. It smells amazing, sweet and fruity. I cut myself a wedge and dust the top with powdered sugar. The first bite goes into my mouth annndddd it's underwhelming. I mean, it's fine. I won't be tossing it in the trash or anything, but I wanted rambutan music in my mouth. There was no music. No choir of angels singing at my masterpiece. It just tasted like a sweet butter cake with grape chunks. It's all good. I've now tried a rambutan, but it's a one and done. On to the next adventure!

The Recipe - Rambutan Butter Cake

Ingredients

• 1 cup flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup rambutan juice
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/2 cup rambutan fruit, chopped

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease and flour a 9 inch round cake pan.
• In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour and baking powder. Set aside.
• In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
• Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until well combined. Stir in the juice.
• Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, alternating with the milk. Mix until just combined.
• Gently fold in the chopped rambutan
• Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
• Bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Remove from the oven and let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.