I’m suffering from a bit of burnout, but luckily, I have incredibly large amounts of rosemary to help me deal with it. Anyone have suggestions for what to do with mass amounts of rosemary? I suppose I can dry some if I can manage to not grow mold on it in the process.
This cake…. well, it’s fabulous. Really fabulous. Light, fluffy, sweet but not cloying, moist– and *impossible* to screw up. It even acts as a natural air freshener. Y’know how I know that?
Well, to begin with, I had never even heard of banana cake. Banana bread, yes, banana cake, no. But when I ordered extra bananas for banana bread (has anyone else noticed that Safeway delivery never gives you what you ask for? ahem…), the boy requested banana cake. Banana crunch, cake, actually, to mock his favorite banana crunch cake from Entenmann’s. I looked for an “official” mockup recipe, but couldn’t find one… so I figured I’d wing it.
I started out with a basic buttermilk banana cake recipe… and proceeded to destroy it. I ran out of granulated sugar, so I subbed in brown sugar. I accidentally added an extra cup of flour, so I tossed in 2/3 cup more buttermilk. I used up some leftover egg yolks not realizing that I’d need more whites later, and didn’t feel like wasting more eggs… so I threw in some butterscotch schnapps, baking soda, and baking powder. And then we decided to go out to dinner, so I tossed the batter in the fridge for an hour and a half before making the topping and baking it. Yet it came out perfectly. The cake part, that is. The topping melted and caramelized, not turning into a crunch, so if that’s a problem for you, pick another topping recipe (or use cream cheese frosting.) If it’s not, use this one, and optionally put on walnut bits or banana slices as well.
Preheat oven to 350F, and butter/ oil 2 9″ round baking pans.
Cake:
1 stick (1/2 c) butter
3/4 c granulated sugar
3/4 c brown sugar
2 egg yolks
1 C buttermilk (can sub in 1 C milk with a squeeze of lemon juice or vinegar)
2 T baking soda
1 T baking power
3 c flour
1 t vanilla extract (better to leave it out than to use artificial)
1/2 oz butterscotch schnapps
3 large bananas, mashed
Optional: 1 cup broken up walnuts or almonds, 1 t cinnamon, 1/4 t cloves and/or nutmeg
Topping:
1 c brown sugar
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter
1 oz butterscotch schnapps
Optional: up to 2 c rolled oats, chocolate chips, nuts, etc
Optional: Banana slices
Instructions:
Beat butter and sugars in the bowl until fluffy. Add egg yolks, one at a time. Dissolve baking soda and baking powder in buttermilk and add to bowl gradually. Add flour one cup at a time, stirring constantly. Mash vanilla and schnapps into bananas, then mix into the cake batter. Add nut pieces and spices if desired and divide the batter equally between the two pans.
In a new bowl, dump in all topping ingredients except for banana slices and mix together until it forms small, discrete chunks. I think that the ideal way to do this is with your hands, but if you’re squeamish, a fork or a mixer will do. It just won’t chunk as nicely. Distribute banana slices evenly on top of the batter in the pans if desired. Then, sprinkle topping chunks on top of batter as evenly as possible.
Bake the cakes at 350 for approximately 40 minutes (took closer to 30 in my oven), or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean and dry– this will be approximately 15 minutes after the smell starts to lure your family, neighbors, and stray dogs into your kitchen. Ideally, serve with milk.
Also known as the blog post in which our heroine spends a long time baking a cake that she doesn’t like in the end. Sigh. Last month’s Daring Bakers challenge, which I missed the deadline on while I was in Sudan, didn’t seem hard to me. And, indeed, while it involved an obscene amount of dishes, it wasn’t particularly hard. It even gave me a chance to break out my brand new cake layer-er. Unfortunately, in the end, it wasn’t just my cake-decorating skills that were lacking. Something must have gone wrong (could it be the two days in the refrigerator?) The cake was heavy, kind of mushy, and overwhelmingly lemony. The raspberry was not enough of a contrast, in color or in flavor– maybe I should have used more? And while Melissa’s birthday party went swimmingly, I wished that the cake had been a giant, fluffy dream of a cake rather than dense lemon bar. The buttercream method, however, is something that I may use again. It was too heavy in texture for my taste, but frosted beautifully and smoothly and keeps its shape nicely at room temperature, making it easier and better to work with than my tastier butter-only version. Hmm. DB seems to be teaching me a lot about meringue!
Dorie Greenspan’s Perfect Party Cake
For the Cake
2 1/4 cups cake flour (updated 25 March)
1 tablespoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
1 ¼ cups whole milk or buttermilk (I prefer buttermilk with the lemon)
4 large egg whites
1 ½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest
1 stick (8 tablespoons or 4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ teaspoon pure lemon extract
For the Buttercream
1 cup sugar
4 large egg whites
3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup fresh lemon juice (from 2 large lemons)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
For Finishing
2/3 cup seedless raspberry preserves stirred vigorously or warmed gently until spreadable
About 1 ½ cups sweetened shredded coconut
Getting Ready
Centre a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 9 x 2 inch round cake pans and line the bottom of each pan with a round of buttered parchment or wax paper. Put the pans on a baking sheet.
To Make the Cake
Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt.
Whisk together the milk and egg whites in a medium bowl.
Put the sugar and lemon zest in a mixer bowl or another large bowl and rub them together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and fragrant.
Add the butter and working with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat at medium speed for a full 3 minutes, until the butter and sugar are very light.
Beat in the extract, then add one third of the flour mixture, still beating on medium speed.
Beat in half of the milk-egg mixture, then beat in half of the remaining dry ingredients until incorporated.
Add the rest of the milk and eggs beating until the batter is homogeneous, then add the last of the dry ingredients.
Finally, give the batter a good 2- minute beating to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed and well aerated.
Divide the batter between the two pans and smooth the tops with a rubber spatula.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until the cakes are well risen and springy to the touch – a thin knife inserted into the centers should come out clean
Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes, unfold them and peel off the paper liners.
Invert and cool to room temperature, right side up (the cooled cake layers can be wrapped airtight and stored at room temperature overnight or frozen for up to two months).
To Make the Buttercream
Put the sugar and egg whites in a mixer bowl or another large heatproof bowl, fit the bowl over a plan of simmering water and whisk constantly, keeping the mixture over the heat, until it feels hot to the touch, about 3 minutes.
The sugar should be dissolved, and the mixture will look like shiny marshmallow cream.
Remove the bowl from the heat.
Working with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer, beat the meringue on medium speed until it is cool, about 5 minutes.
Switch to the paddle attachment if you have one, and add the butter a stick at a time, beating until smooth.
Once all the butter is in, beat in the buttercream on medium-high speed until it is thick and very smooth, 6-10 minutes.
During this time the buttercream may curdle or separate – just keep beating and it will come together again.
On medium speed, gradually beat in the lemon juice, waiting until each addition is absorbed before adding more, and then the vanilla.
You should have a shiny smooth, velvety, pristine white buttercream. Press a piece of plastic against the surface of the buttercream and set aside briefly.
To Assemble the Cake
Using a sharp serrated knife and a gentle sawing motion, slice each layer horizontally in half.
Put one layer cut side up on a cardboard cake round or a cake plate protected by strips of wax or parchment paper.
Spread it with one third of the preserves.
Cover the jam evenly with about one quarter of the buttercream.
Top with another layer, spread with preserves and buttercream and then do the same with a third layer (you’ll have used all the jam and have buttercream leftover).
Place the last layer cut side down on top of the cake and use the remaining buttercream to frost the sides and top.
Press the coconut into the frosting, patting it gently all over the sides and top.
Serving
The cake is ready to serve as soon as it is assembled, but I think it’s best to let it sit and set for a couple of hours in a cool room – not the refrigerator. Whether you wait or slice and enjoy it immediately, the cake should be served at room temperature; it loses all its subtlety when it’s cold. Depending on your audience you can serve the cake with just about anything from milk to sweet or bubbly wine.
Storing
The cake is best the day it is made, but you can refrigerate it, well covered, for up to two days. Bring it to room temperature before serving. If you want to freeze the cake, slide it into the freezer to set, then wrap it really well – it will keep for up to 2 months in the freezer; defrost it, still wrapped overnight in the refrigerator.
Playing Around
Since lemon is such a friendly flavour, feel free to make changes in the preserves: other red preserves – cherry or strawberry – look especially nice, but you can even use plum or blueberry jam.
Fresh Berry Cake
If you will be serving the cake the day it is made, cover each layer of buttercream with fresh berries – use whole raspberries, sliced or halved strawberries or whole blackberries, and match the preserves to the fruit. You can replace the coconut on top of the cake with a crown of berries, or use both coconut and berries. You can also replace the buttercream between the layers with fairly firmly whipped sweetened cream and then either frost the cake with buttercream (the contrast between the lighter whipped cream and the firmer buttercream is nice) or finish it with more whipped cream. If you use whipped cream, you’ll have to store the cake the in the refrigerator – let it sit for about 20 minutes at room temperature before serving.
I have returned safely (dare I say triumphantly?) from South Sudan, and I have to say that one of the things I’m most excited to get back to is regular vegetable intake. You see, in Sudan (and most of east Africa), it is quite common for anything that grows to be fertilized with, uh, human waste. And that makes it not so much edible for those of us with delicate western stomachs unless they’re either peeled thoroughly or cooked to death. Even then, you have to be careful. So it was with great joy that I came back to cooking with this veggie-full meal.
This, in case you can’t tell, is spring’s first snow peas (yay!) steamed and tossed with butter, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Oh, and on the side roasted onions stuffed with mashed potatoes (potato, un-chick’n stock, cream, stone-ground mustard, parmesan cheese, salt, pepper) and caramelized onions. I happened to hollow out the onion first and cook the insides separately, but the least labor intensive (but more time-consuming) way to do it is to bake large sweet onions whole (preferably brushed with oil) at 350 degrees for 1 1/4 hours . Put potatoes next to it, wrapped in foil for 30 minutes, then mash them. When the onions are tender, halve them and scoop out the insides– leave 2-3 layers. Chop the centers, caramelize further as desired, then add them to the mashed potato mix. (I added them all, but I *love* onion. You may like less.) Fill the onion-halves with the potato mixture and bake, sprinkled with cheese if desired, for another 10 minutes.
You could probably vary the seasonings in the stuffing in a million different ways and still have it taste good.
I know, I know, just as I was getting good about posting regularly, I disappeared. I apologize! The thing is that, well, I’m officially looking for a new job… but I’m still working at my old one. Thinking about moving, too. And– well, I have some exciting news! I’m going to New Orleans next week, and to Sudan for two weeks after that to do some professionally-relevant volunteer work. Plus, a fellowship application came up, and really, I’ve been swamped. I’m so sad that I missed last month’s Daring Bakers challenge, and I’m nervous that I won’t be able to post this month’s on time, as I will be in Sudan. The plan is to make it and write the post tomorrow– and either post it from afar if there’s internet, or have someone post it for me; I hope it works out that way. Either way, I beg your forgiveness for my extended past and coming absence.
I’ll admit it– I haven’t even been cooking, lately. Just throwing things together and ordering takeout. Luckily, Karen of the blog Bucaio took the time to send me an enormous package of Filipino snack foods, just the thing to carry me through a long few weeks. I’m even tempted to say, given the emphasis on dried fruit, that it had some nutrients! Just what the doctor ordered. I’m even more impressed that Karen took the time to put together such a thoughtful package– carefully avoiding the sometimes omnipresent mangoes that I’m sadly allergic to– given that at the time, she was very pregnant with her just-born third child! Congratulations, Karen! (I can only hope that some day when I’m pregnant, I have a millionth the grace she has.)
Now, on to the specific goodies. I haven’t got close-ups of all of them, but these are some of my favorites.
Black-melon seeds. I think this must be very similar to watermelon.
Lots of yummy beverages.
Dried tamarind. I’ve never seen it here, but I’ll be looking for it– delicious and tangy-sweet.
Chocolate churros mix… I haven’t tried it yet, but am excited to. What a special treat!
Pastillas… very sweet milky candies.
And, finally, the piece that will grace my kitchen for years:
How gorgeous is this salad set? Somehow, Karen knew that I’m a sucker for beautiful wood.
The beau came home from Union Station and asked for my next baking projects to be cookie cups. “Cookie cups?” I asked…. Apparently, I was missing out. Unbelievably, there was a class of dessert I had never heard of. “Cookie cups!” he said. Apparently, it consists of chocolate chip cookie dough baked in a cupcake tin and frosted with “buttercream” and topped with M&M’s or sprinkles.
Well, ummmmm. Yuck! I couldn’t deal with that. I’m a fan of chocolate chip cookies, but not gussied up with fake frosting and sprinkles. So, I modified it…
Instead, I made chocolate-hazelnut mini cookie cups, frosted with melted chocolate and sprinkled with toasted hazelnut– with a bonus hazelnut surprise center. Yum! They were gooey and crunchy on top, moist on the inside, crispy on the outside, and had a hazelnut to break it up just as you start to feel like it tastes homogeneous. Made with dark chocolate or cocoa, they’re delightfully sophisticated… but there’s no reason why you couldn’t lighten it up or change the nuts– or add Frangelico- to change the tone.
As a side note, I would’ve used nutella if I’d had, but I’m almost glad I didn’t. Hopefully someone will try it both ways and compare sometime. If you do, let me know.
Recipe
In a bowl, sift together flour, sugar and cocoa. In another bowl, cream butter, then gradually blend in dry ingredients and ground nuts. Chill for half an hour, then form into 1″ balls around whole hazelnuts. Press cookies into mini cupcake tins and bake at 300 degrees F for 20 minutes (if you overbake, they won’t be moist anymore. They should be starting to crack at the top.) Spread on melted chocolate or nutella and sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Let the cookies set for half an hour, or until slightly less gooey. Enjoy, preferably with milk. Ship remaining cookies to me. 
I tried, I did. I wanted to make a special Sunday night dinner, the kind that Jewish grandmothers dream of. I made roasted cornish hens and rice pilaf, enhanced with roasted vegetables and plenty of garlic. It was all fine, but the salad– my basic, beloved salad, that I somehow haven’t blogged about, stole the show.
You see, for a long time, even though I loved veggies, I hated salad. Couldn’t stand it.
You see, for a long time, I hated salad. Hated it. Loved veggies, hated salad… and then I realized that it wasn’t salad I hated. It was lettuce (I’ve since found varieties I like), croutons, processed cheese, and most salad dressings. So I started making salads with other vegetables as the base, cucumbers being my favorite. The only consistent thing about this salad is large amounts of cucumber, onion (red or sweet), vinegar, salt, and pepper. Sometimes I add lemon juice, feta, mozzarella, tomato, basil, dill, small chunks of red pepper, and even raw garlic. Key to know, though, is that this salad needs to sit a few hours at least– the longer, the better. Think refrigerator pickles.
Hope you love this as much as I do.
Fondue, as retro-seventies as it may be, has become a once-a-month staple in our little apartment. Good for guests but also ridiculously easy (and low on dishes), the only downside to this dish is that the kind of cheese you’ll want to use can cost a pretty penny. South Mountain Creamery sent a whole pound of good cheddar– for $5!– last week, though, so we had friends up to share. The fondue was cheddar-beer with a little mustard, but the special part for me is all the fillings…
Pictured: Apple, pear, broccoli, red onion, potato, and red pepper (capsicum), plus surprise favorite: hot dogs. (Like I said, mostly veg).
Not pictured: toasted french bread, garlic.
Yum!
I’m feeling a little bit wicked today, so I’m going to submit a luscious, rich dessert– pound cake– to Sweetnick’s ARF-5 a Day event.
You see (or maybe you don’t see- I finally got my camera in the mail yesterday, too late! alas for a picture of this), this isn’t just any pound cake. This is orange pound cake with marionberry preserves. And a small mountain of farm-fresh whipped cream. I don’t think whipped cream has any anti-oxidant properties– in fact, maybe the reverse– but don’t let that deter you. This is a fabulously cake, easy to throw together, fancy enough for company, rich enough to satisfy after a light meal, light enough from the citrus not to overwhelm, and a good way to use up the specialty jam you’ve got lying around begging to be showcased. You can also, incidentally, eat it for breakfast the next day and pretend that, since it has orange juice in it, it’s healthy. I promise I won’t tell.
Orange Pound Cake
Mix dry ingredients. Add butter, vanilla, orange juice and rind. Beat 2 minutes. Add eggs and beat 2 minutes. Pour into loaf pan, lined with wax paper. Bake in 350 degree oven for 1 hour.
Serve with jam, fresh fruit, whipped cream, and/ or maple syrup. Or a nice caramel sauce. *drool*
Hello, and welcome to this month’s Daring Bakers Challenge! This month we all got together and baked lemon meringue pies… or in my case, tartelets! I made mine in cupcake pans, rather than free-form or in a pie tin, and they were not as aesthetically pleasing as they might have been… but I think they did just fine, don’t you?
This was not only my first time making meringue pies, it was also my first time eating it! I thought it was interesting, but I admit to being a much bigger fan of whipped creams. My volunteer eaters, however, thought it was great, and that the texture was spot on. A lot of people had difficulty with this recipe, but I didn’t– I rather suspect that part of the reason I didn’t was because I used fresh farm eggs; while in ordinary baking, too-fresh eggs can make everything taste too eggy and feel too stiff, the freshness in these eggs seemed to give it extra structure.
I modified this recipe to make it 2/5th the size, which still wound up filling 12 cupcake tins. I also made the filling and the crusts the night before, filling and topping the tarts the day of. The meringues lost some texture in the next 24 hours, but still tasted great… and thanks to the lemon, while the tarts were sweet, they weren’t ridiculously so.
To Make the Crust:
Make sure all ingredients are as cold as possible. Using a food processor or pastry cutter and a large bowl, combine the butter, flour, sugar and salt.Process or cut in until the mixture resembles coarse meal and begins to clump together. Sprinkle with water, let rest 30 seconds and then either process very briefly or cut in with about 15 strokes of the pastry cutter, just until the dough begins to stick together and come away from the sides of the bowl. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and press together to form a disk. Wrap in plastic and chill for at least 20 minutes. (Mine was wetter than one might think reasonable at this point)
Allow the dough to warm slightly to room temperature if it is too hard to roll. On a lightly floured board (or countertop) roll the disk to a thickness of 1/8 inch (0.3 cm). Cut a circle about 2 inches (5 cm) larger than the pie plate and transfer the pastry into the plate by folding it in half or by rolling it onto the rolling pin. Turn the pastry under, leaving an edge that hangs over the plate about 1/2 inch (1.2 cm). Flute decoratively. Chill for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC). Line the crust with foil and fill with metal pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and continue baking for 10 to 15 minutes, until golden. Cool completely before filling.
To Make the Filling:
Bring the water to a boil in a large, heavy saucepan. Remove from the heat and let rest 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch together. Add the mixture gradually to the hot water, whisking until completely incorporated. Return to the heat and cook over medium heat, whisking constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. The mixture will be very thick. Add about 1 cup (240 mL) of the hot mixture to the beaten egg yolks, whisking until smooth. Whisking vigorously, add the warmed yolks to the pot and continue cooking, stirring constantly, until mixture comes to a boil. Remove from the heat and stir in butter until incorporated. Add the lemon juice, zest and vanilla, stirring until combined. Pour into the prepared crust. Cover with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming on the surface, and cool to room temperature. (I chilled mine overnight.)
To Make the Meringue:
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC). Using an electric mixer beat the egg whites with the cream of tartar, salt and vanilla extract until soft peaks form. Add the sugar gradually, beating until it forms stiff, glossy peaks. Pile onto the cooled pie, bringing the meringue all the way over to the edge of the crust to seal it completely. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, or until golden. Cool on a rack. Serve within 6 hours to avoid a soggy crust (my crust wasn’t soggy even after 36… they didn’t last past that with houseguests around!).
