Just in time for summer: apricot tea cakes

Enjoying some quiet time with Max. Be back soon. In the meantime, wanted to share part 3 of the design*sponge "In the Kitchen With" features. The piece came out the day Max was born. Thanks again Grace for having me! You can see the photos and a great recipe for an apricot tea cake on design*sponge here.

I'll also post the recipe below.


In addition, wanted to let you know that I am selling two sets of limited edition greeting cards. Both contain 12 folded cards (2 copies of six different images). The first set is a pairing of eggs and feathers from the bird that laid them (5x5). The second is a set of summer fruit images (5x7). Each set sells for $24. I am accepting pre-orders for the next two weeks. Please contact me if you are interested! See here for a larger view.

Note: My recipe calls for baking the cakes in disposable tartlet cups (approximately 4 inches in diameter and ¾ inch high). The cups are just the right size to ensure that the pretty fruit pokes out of the top at the end.

Apricot tea cakes (heavily adapted from Oven-Roasted Plum Cakes in Baking with Julia)
(makes approximately six cakes using cups described above)

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
2 Tbs light brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp minced lemon zest
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
¾ cup all purpose flour
¼ cup almond meal
¾ tsp baking soda
¼ cup buttermilk
3 ripe apricots, halved and pitted
Sanding or sparkling sugar (for dusting the tops)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.

Using an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars at medium/medium-high speed until light and fluffy and sugar is dissolved. Beat in eggs, one at a time. Add lemon zest and vanilla and beat until incorporated. Reduce mixer speed to low and add in flours and baking soda until just combined, taking care not to over-mix. Add buttermilk. Stir a few times with a rubber spatula, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl, to ensure all ingredients are well combined.

Place six tartlet cups on a baking sheet and fill half way with batter. Press an apricot half, cut side up, into the center of the cup. Sprinkle batter and fruit with sanding sugar. Bake for 25 minutes or until tops are golden brown and batter is just set (springs back to the touch). Enjoy with tea!

Appreciating fellow bloggers: Gourmet Girl's flourless chocolate cake

Bringing you this flourless chocolate cake was a labor of love. I made this as one of two Thanksgiving desserts with the ulterior motive of photographing it and posting the recipe for you, but of course, I ran out of time and never photographed it. Determined to share this wonderful recipe, I made it again a few days later but I thought I’d second-guess the instructions and cook it for five minutes less. When I unmolded the cake from the springform pan, it spread out into a chocolaty puddle of $25 Valrhona – becoming un-photographable and teaching me a lesson: do not second-guess the recipe (note: it still tasted great!).

A little annoyed but nevertheless still determined, I set off to make it again yesterday. This time I took my time and followed the tried and true recipe. It churned out the best version of the cake I have made yet: rich, dense and moist with a light crust on the top. It’s very sinful dessert, and one that looks more impressive than it is hard to make.

Where did I find this gem? On Gourmet Girl’s (Louisiana-based Katia Mangham) great site. It takes a lot for me to get motivated to make something I read about. I read dozens of blogs and many cooking-related magazines and have a treasure trove of recipe books. With that much fodder for culinary creativity I need to really be impressed by a new recipe for it to actually get to the top of my “to try” list. Gourmet Girl’s site always gets me. She has wonderful, unusual original recipes that are sure to be crowd pleasers. I also tried her wonderful Torta di Risso - faboo.

The only things I altered in the recipe were to remove the brandy, increase the quantity of vanilla extract to one tablespoon, and use semi-sweet chocolate for the garnish (I'm a monochromatic girl). See her original post here.

Flourless chocolate cake (from Gourmet Girl)

24 oz. dark or semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 lb butter (3 sticks)
1/2 cup sugar
8 eggs
1/4 cup Brandy
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 oz. white chocolate, melted after cake cools- for garnish

1. butter a 9" springform pan, line bottom with parchment and butter parchment. Wrap pan in aluminum foil and set aside. Preheat oven to 350 F. (Cookbook Catchall note: at this point, I fill my roasting pan half full of water and allow it to preheat in the oven so that the bain marie water mentioned in step 4 is hot by the time I put the cake into it).

2. Over a bain marie, melt chocolate and butter. whisk together until smooth, then set aside to cool for a bit.

3. In a mixer bowl, beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy- about 10 minutes on high speed. Lower speed to low and gradually add chocolate mixture to eggs. Add brandy and vanilla, and mix until just incorporated. Remove bowl from mixer stand, with a rubber spatula lighlty fold batter just to be sure it's homogenized. (sometimes there is chocolate at the bottom of the bowl which has not mixed in).

4. Pour batter into springform, then place pan in a roasting pan. Fill roasting pan with hot water (I use the water use the already warm bain marie water), fill pan to half way up the saide of the springform pan. Carefully place in the oven and bake 45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack, unmold, drizzle white chocolate on top and serve with whipped cream and berries.

Daring Bakers challenge: perfect party cake

I’ve just finished (of course, just under the wire) photographing this month’s Daring Bakers challenge which was “Dorie’s Perfect Party cake” from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours. Some challenges are about technique, others about presentation. This cake falls into the latter category. There was nothing new or challenging about the cake except if you’ve never made a Swiss meringue buttercream. Swiss meringue buttercream is my favorite frosting: it is far superior to the confectioner’s sugar and milk concoction that too often is used to frost cakes and cupcakes.

What I loved about this challenge is the specifics of decorating and frosting were left up to us, although I chose to adhere to the lemon flavored frosting and cake, filling of buttecream and raspberry preserves, and coating of coconut flakes. That sounded like a winning combination to me and I saw no reason to fiddle. What I did do, however, was make individual layer cakes instead of one large one, thinking that they’d be easier to share and consume over time. I used a half sheet pan to bake the cake in, and a round cookie cutter to cut circular disks that I used as the layers. After making four little 3-layer 3-inch diameter cakes, I used the remaining cake to make a dainty rectangular version. I topped each with raspberries brushed with egg white and rolled in dusting sugar.

I don’t know how to wax more enthusiastic about this cake except to say that it was absolutely divine. It turned out an elegant pure white cake with a moist, delicate crumb. The lemon flavoring was subtle and a perfect complement to the raspberry. The buttercream was perfect. It was the first time I ever added lemon juice to buttercream and was so suspicious of how it would absorb ¼ cup of liquid that I almost skipped it, but it worked perfectly and I’m glad I stuck to the recipe as written.

This is indeed the perfect party cake – I will keep this recipe on hand and use it again.

Thanks for the challenge and the recipe!

Dorie’s Perfect Party cake from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (printed exactly as provided to us)

For the Cake

2 1/4 cups cake flour
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

Center 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 flavor, 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.

A bit of sunshine in the winter: lemon cake

I’ve been looking back through the archives at posts from the very beginning of the blog. They are somewhat dreadful. Some don’t have photographs and others have photographs that are sorely lacking. I didn’t really write much about the dish or the context, mostly just posted the recipe.

When I first started blogging, I did it more to record and organize my recipes and learn about blogging than to really explore and share my culinary experiences. As time went on, I started to really enjoy writing about food and exchanging thoughts and reactions with other bloggers and blog readers. I then really stepped back to think about what it is that I love about food and cooking and realized it’s both the chemistry and art of combining ingredients and creating a dish, and the aesthetics of food that I love: the colors, textures and scale of the dish and the way it is presented at the table. I enjoy art and design as much as I enjoy food, and for me, both are critical to creating something that’s appetizing and memorable. This naturally gave rise to an intense interest in photography, and capturing the beauty in a dish, a table setting, and a scene.

Now that I am approaching blogging with a different angle, I’m going to periodically revisit some of my earlier posts and fill in some of the gaps. The first is one of my favorite go-to cakes, The Barfoot Contessa’s lemon cake. It seems appropriate to revisit this sunny little cake in the midst of winter! This cake is characteristically over-the-top: it’s soaked in a lemon syrup and has a sweet lemon icing on the top. What’s great about it is that given all of the moisture in the cake, it keeps very nicely and is also works pre-sliced and wrapped if you need something that fits that bill. I saw this prepared on one of The Barefoot Contessa’s shows about picnic food, and she prepared and served individually-sized portions of all of her picnic dishes (including the cake) in Chinese takeout cartons – it was a very cute and practical idea.

Lemon cake (From Barefoot Contessa Parties, courtesy of the Food Network)
Yield: 2 (8-inch) loaves

For the cake and lemon syrup
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 1/2 cups granulated sugar, divided
4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1/3 cup grated lemon zest (6 to 8 large lemons)
3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice, divided
3/4 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:
2 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted
3 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour 2 (8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch) loaf pans. You may also line the bottom with parchment paper, if desired.
Cream the butter and 2 cups granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on medium speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, and the lemon zest.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. In another bowl, combine 1/4 cup lemon juice, the buttermilk, and vanilla. Add the flour and buttermilk mixtures alternately to the batter, beginning and ending with the flour. Divide the batter evenly between the pans, smooth the tops, and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Combine 1/2 cup granulated sugar with 1/2 cup lemon juice in a small saucepan and cook over low heat until the sugar dissolves. When the cakes are done, allow to cool for 10 minutes. Remove the cakes from the pans and set them on a rack set over a tray or sheet pan; spoon the lemon syrup over them. Allow the cakes to cool completely.

For the glaze, combine the confectioners' sugar and the lemon juice in a bowl, mixing with a wire whisk until smooth. Pour over the tops of the cakes and allow the glaze to drizzle down the sides.

Happy new year and a (cuatro) leches cake

Happy new year everyone! I wanted to thank everyone for your readership this past year. I am so grateful for all of your support, comments, and interest.

I’ve had my little blog for about a year and a half now. I’ve learned so much and have had so much fun cooking, writing, and discovering. It’s been great meeting people through the blog and discovering new blogs to read. There are so many interesting and talented bloggers out there, it’s just amazing. Last year, I tried to up my food photography game. I joined flickr and have been participating in a number of food photography groups – a great experience. I learned how to use Photoshop (really there’s no end to the learning but I’ve at least gotten to a point where I can make use of a number of the truly amazing features it offers). I joined the Daring Bakers group, which has led to some wonderful new baking challenges. I started to participate in some of the many food and photography events in the blogosphere. It’s been a great year and I’m looking forward to more of the same next year.

Now, on to food. R and I had a lovely and low-key new years celebration with two of our friends last night. They cooked Nigerian food and we brought caviar and dessert. I decided to try something new rather than fall back on the tried and true and chose a recipe that intrigued me from this month’s Metropolitan Home (go figure). It’s a Colombian spin on a classic Mexican tres leches cake with one additional milk, a milky caramel-y dulce de leche sauce (making it a 4 leches cake!). I love tres leches cake and have been meaning to find a good recipe to try, so I decide this was the time. To add to the interest, the recipe for the dulce de leche sauce came with a warning that if not cooked properly, it might explode. After that type of a warning, I could not resist trying!

The cake was wonderful and very pretty. It was very dense and moist and the meringue frosting was silky and not stiff, as I would have expected. While delicious, we all thought the dulce de leche sauce was unnecessary – it made the cake sweeter than it needed to – the cake can easily stand on its own. I do, however, think the sauce would be lovely in another context – maybe on a dense chocolate cake or something where a little extra sweetness, moisture or a contrasting flavor would be nice.

Cuatro leches cake (from Chef Dunia Borga from La Duni Latin Café in Dallas as printed in Metropolitan Home, December 2007)
Serves 10

Vanilla cake:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1 ½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for buttering pan
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup whole milk

Arequipe (dulce de leche sauce)
1 (14 oz) unopened can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup whole milk, warmed

Tres leches sauce:
¾ cup evaporated milk
¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
¾ cup whipping cream

Meringue:
2 cups granulated sugar
½ cup water
1 cup egg whites (from 7 large eggs)
1 tbsp lemon juice
½ tsp pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar, for decorating

1. To make cake, preheat oven to 350˚F and arrange an oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Butter a 9-inch cake pan, line with a round of parchment paper, and butter the paper. Sift the flour with the baking powder and salt into a bowl. Cream the butter with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until very fluffy. Add the sugar, ½ cup at a time, beating after each addition, until blended. On low speed, add the eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Finally, beat in the dry ingredients, alternating one with the milk: first, about one third of the dry ingredients, then ½ cup of the milk, another third of the dry ingredients, the remaining ½ cup milk, and finally the remaining dry ingredients. Beat until fully mixed, 30 seconds to 1 minute. Do not over beat.

Pour patter into the prepared cake pan and bake until the center of the cake springs back when touched an a tester inserted comes out clean, 60 to 70 minutes. Let the cake cool in the pan on a rack for 10 minutes and then turn it out on the rack to cool completely.

2. To make the arequipe sauce, place the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a perforated insert such as a pasta pot) inside a large pot and cover with water. Bring to a simmer over medium high heat, and simmer for 2 hours, turning the can twice during cooking, once after 45 minutes, then again at 1 ½ hours. (Make sure the can is always covered by water, or it may explode.) Remove can from water and let cool before opening. Be careful when opening it, as the contents will squirt out; pour into a bowl, whisk in the milk, cover and refrigerated.

3. To make the meringue, combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over medium heat and cook, undisturbed, until the syrup reaches 240˚F (soft ball stage) on a candy thermometer. When the thermometer registers 200˚F, begin beating the egg whites on medium speed in an electric mixer fitted with the wire whip until soft peaks form.

4. To assemble the cake, turn the cake out onto a cardboard round and remove the parchment. With a long serrated knife, cut the cake into 3 even layers. Remove the top 2 layers. Use a fork, to pierce the bottom layer all over; brush with about ¾ cup of the tres leches sauce, giving the sauce time to soak into the cake. Place the second layer on top, pierce with the fork, and brush with another ¾ cup of the sauce. Spread top and sides of the cake with about 1 inch of meringue, finishing the top with peaks. Use a blow torch (or run under a broiler, if possible) to caramelize the meringue. To serve, cut the cake into wedges, drizzle with the arequipe sauce, and sift confectioners’ sugar over it.