I'm Back with a Recipe for PEAR CAKE 11/11/2009
 "When it Rains, it Pours" That's my life in a nutshell right now. I've been with my father much of October and November during and after his surgery. Right before I left last week for my father's home in Iowa, my computer crashed and needed to be replaced. When I finally returned home, there was a gas leak in my laundry room. Yes... "When it Rains, it Pours". "Dull Women Have Immaculate Houses" Right now, judging from my surroundings, I am one dynamic, exciting, extraordinary human being. And, instead of cleaning today, I put all of my energy into making this Pear Cake... Golden Pear Cake a recipe from Cavallo Point Cooking School published in Traditional Home | October 2009 • 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened (divided) • 1/2 cup packed brown sugar • 4 medium pears (1 1/2 pounds), cored, peeled, and sliced 1/2-inch thick • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour • 2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 2/3 cup granulated sugar • 1 teaspoon vanilla • 2 eggs • 2/3 cup milk Poire Williams Cream (recipe below) 1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Place 1/4 cup butter in 9-inch cast iron or other oven-proof skillet. Melt butter in skillet over medium heat. Stir in brown sugar. Cook and stir until sugar is melted and bubbly; remove from heat. Set aside; cool. Arrange pear slices in skillet. 2. In small bowl combine flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside. In large bowl beat remaining 1/2 cup butter with mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Beat in granulated sugar until combined. Beat in vanilla. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Alternately add flour mixture and milk to butter mixture, beating on low speed after each addition just until combined. The batter may appear curdled. Spread batter evenly over pears. 3. Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until pick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool on wire rack 5 minutes. Loosen cake by running a sharp knife around the edge of the pan; invert onto a plate. Serve with Poire Williams Cream or Vanilla Bean Ice Cream. Poire Williams Cream: Beat 1 cup whipping cream with electric mixer on medium speed until cream just thickens. Add 1 tablespoon Poire Williams or other pear brandy and 2 teaspoons sugar. Beat on high speed until soft peaks form. Fresh Apple Coffee Cake 11/01/2009
 I haven't been home much recently to bake, but I did make this Fresh Apple Coffee Cake before I left for my father's last week. I drizzled it with melted semi-sweet chocolate before eating. Somehow the thought of pairing apples with chocolate seemed a little strange to me, but I actually liked it a lot - at least on this cake. It's a dense, substantial cake, and great with a cup of hot coffee. Fresh Apple Coffee Cake • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened • 1 cup sugar • 2 large eggs • 2 teaspoons vanilla • 2 2/3 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour • 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda • 1/2 teaspoon salt • 1 cup buttermilk • 2 cups peeled, finely chopped apples • 1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar • 1/2 cup chopped pecans • 1/3 cup all-purpose, unbleached flour • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon • 1/3 cup melted, unsalted butter • 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate pieces • additional unsalted butter for melting with chocolate 1. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan; set aside 2. In a large mixing bowl, beat together the 1/2 cup butter and 1 cup sugar with an electric mixer until well-combined. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. 3. Combine 2 2/3 cups flour, baking powder, soda and salt; add alternately to the beaten egg mixture with the buttermilk, beating until combined. Fold in the chopped apples. 4. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, pecans, 1/3 cup flour and cinnamon. Mix in the 1/3 cup of melted butter. 5. Place about 2 cups cake batter in the prepared pan and spread evenly. Sprinkle with 1/2 of the crumb mixture; repeat layers. Bake in a 350˚F oven for about 70 minutes, or until a wooden skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes before removing the cake from pan; cool on a wire rack. 6. Melt the 1/2 cup chocolate pieces with enough butter to give it a drizzling consistancy. Drizzle over top of cake.  This is what I've been enjoying with my morning cappuccino. Carrot Tea Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing Carrot Tea Cake: • 1 cup sugar • 2/3 cup (10 2/3 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature • 1 cup grated, raw carrots • 2 large eggs, slightly beaten • 1/2 cup chopped pecans • 1 1/2 cup unbleached flour • 1 teaspoon baking powder • 1 teaspoon baking soda • 1 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/4 teaspoon salt Orange Cream Cheese Icing: • 4 ounces cream cheese, softened • 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened • 1 1/2 cup confectioners' sugar • 1 teaspoon grated, organic orange peel • 1 teaspoon fresh orange juice 1. Preheat oven to 325˚F. 2. In a bowl, cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Stir in the grated carrots, eggs and pecans until well-combined. Sift into this mixture the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, and salt; stir until blended. 3. Butter a 1 1/2 quart loaf pan (or 8 small, individual loaf pans as I've done) and fill with carrot cake batter. Place on the center rack of the oven and bake for one hour. If using the individual pans, bake for 25-30 minutes. 4. Remove from oven when cakes test done and turn out onto a cooling rack. When cool, frost with cream cheese icing, if desired. 5. Cream together cream cheese and butter until smooth; slowly add the confectioners' sugar and beat until well-combined. Stir in the grated orange peel and orange juice. Spread on top of the carrot loaf cake.  I have to make this Plum Upside-Down Cake at least once during the summer plum season. It's so good! Serve it for dessert with sweetened cinnamon whipped cream, or include in a weekend brunch menu.  Plum Upside-Down Cake Bon Appétit Magazine | June 1995 • 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature • 1 cup packed golden brown sugar • 1 tablespoon honey • 6 large plums, halved, pitted, and each half cut into 6 wedges • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour • 2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1 cup sugar • 2 large eggs • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1/4 teaspoon almond extract • 1/2 cup milk • Lightly sweetened whipped cream (with a touch of cinnamon) 1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. Stir 6 tablespoons butter, brown sugar and honey in heavy medium skillet over low heat until butter melts and sugar and honey blend in, forming thick, smooth sauce. Transfer to a 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides. Arrange plums in overlapping concentric circles atop sauce. 2. Mix flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter in large bowl until light. Add sugar and beat until creamy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and then the vanilla and almond extracts. Add dry ingredients alternately with milk, mixing just until blended. Spoon batter evenly over plums. Bake cake until golden and tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean, about 1 hour 5 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool in pan 30 minutes. 3. Using knife, cut around pan sides to loosen cake. Place platter atop cake pan. Invert cake; place platter on work surface. Let stand 5 minutes. Gently lift off pan. Serve cake warm with whipped cream. FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER -- pistachio-cherry cake 08/07/2009
 I didn't think you wanted to see photos of a frozen pizza for Friday Night Dinner (I'm still painting the guest bedroom), so here's a yummy Pistachio-Cherry Cake I made this past week from Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells.  Ms. Wells suggests serving the cake with homemade cherry sorbet, which I did; but for me, it was cherry overload.  I preferred each of them on their own. Actually, I really enjoyed the cake for breakfast the day after I baked it. It's a lovely, moist cake, and the pistachios and cherries are a great combination. Pistachio-Cherry Cake adapted from a recipe Vegetable Harvest by Patricia Wells • 1 teaspoon almond oil for pan ( I didn't have almond oil and substituted grape seed oil) • 4 large eggs, separated • 1/2 cup sugar • 6 tablespoons flour • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract • 1 teaspoon almond extract • 1 teaspoon kirsch or cherry eau-de-vie • 3/4 cup roasted, salted pistachio nuts, coarsely ground • 1 pound (4 cups) fresh sweet cherries, rinsed, stemmed and pitted 1. Preheat oven to 350˚F. 2. Brush a 9 1/2-inch springform pan with the oil. Set aside. (I used an 8 1/2-inch springform pan and increased my baking time). 3. Prepare the batter: In the bowl of a heavy-duty mixer fitted with a whisk, combine the egg yolks and 6 tablespoons of the sugar and beat at the highest speed until thick and pale, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the flour, vanilla extract, almond extract, kirsch, and the pistachios and stir with a wooden spoon to blend. Set aside. 4. In a medium bowl, with a hand-held electric mixer, whisk at low speed until the whites are frothy. Gradually increase the speed and slowly add the remaining 2 tablespoons of sugar, whisking at high speed until stiff but not dry. 5. Whisk by hand, a third of the egg white mixture into the batter and stir until the two are thoroughly combined; then, with a rubber spatula, gently fold in the remaining egg whites. Do this slowly. Do not overmix, but be sure that the mixture is well blended and that no white streaks remain. 6. Spoon two-thirds of the combined mixture into the prepared pan. Carefully place the cherries on top. Cover with the remaining third of batter. Place in the center of the oven and bake until golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean, about 40 minutes. (If using a smaller pan, as I did, increase the baking time accordingly). 7. Remove from the oven and transfer to a rack to cool. After 10 minutes, run a knife around the edges of the pan. Release and remove the side of the springform pan, leaving the cake on the pan base. Sprinkle with confectioners' sugar, if desired, before eating. Raspberry Buttermilk Cake 06/20/2009
 I hadn't planned to post this cake. It was just published in the June 2009 issue of Gourmet magazine and I have seen it on several other websites. I didn't think you needed me to pass on this recipe to you. But I happened to have a half pint of organic raspberries, and my husband asked me yesterday morning if there were any muffins for breakfast -- there weren't, and I felt pretty bad about that. I decided to make this cake that had looked so good on Smitten Kitchen's website. We would eat it for breakfast. It came out of the oven last night, but this lone piece of cake in the photo was all that remained this morning. How good was it? Well... I'm going out this morning to buy more raspberries so I can make another; loved it! And it's an easy cake to put together.  Rhubarb Shortcakes with Caramel Sauce 05/21/2009
 If your garden is overflowing with rhubarb, as mine is, or if you're seeing rhubarb at the farmer's markets and wondering what to do with it, please, please make Rhubarb Shortcakes with Caramel Sauce. Another recipe I had tucked away for many years without ever trying, I pulled it out last weekend when we hosted a dinner at our house for two other couples.  The sweet caramel sauce compliments the glistening baked rhubarb beautifully. We should not have been hungry for dessert after appetizers, a salad that could have been a meal itself, and southern "barbecued" shrimp ( all of these recipes will be posted in the upcoming days ), but everyone cleaned up their bowls. This is a dessert I will be making again before the end of rhubarb season. RHUBARB SHORTCAKE with CARAMEL adapted from chef Harlan Peterson Rhubarb: • 3 cups fresh rhubarb, cut into 1-inch pieces • 1 cup sugar • 1/3 cup fresh orange juice • 1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest (preferably organic) Shortcakes: • 5 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature • 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour • 1/4 cup light brown sugar • 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder • 1/4 teaspoon salt • 1/4 teaspoon grated nutmeg • 1 egg • 4 tablespoons heavy cream Caramel Sauce: • 1/2 cup sugar • 1/4 cup water • 3 tablespoons whipping cream • 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature Whipped cream: 1 cup whipping cream, firmly whipped 1. Prepare rhubarb: In a baking dish combine rhubarb, sugar, orange juice and orange zest. Cover and bake in a preheated 350˚F oven about 20 minutes, or until rhubarb is just tender. Keep rhubarb chunks intact; do not break up by stirring. Remove from oven. 2. Make shortcakes: In a bowl, cut butter into flour, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and nutmeg until mixture resembles coarse meal. Combine egg and cream and stir into flour mixture until dough just comes together. (I did all of this in my food processor). 3. Drop dough in six portions onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake in a preheated 400˚F oven about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned. 4. Make caramel sauce: In a small saucepan combine sugar and water, cover, and bring to a boil. When sugar has melted, remove lid. Cook gently until liquid is deep golden brown. remove pan from heat and slowly whisk in cream and butter. If caramel is not smooth, return to heat. Set aside. 5. Prepare shortcakes: Split biscuits in half and place bottom halves in bowls. Spoon warm rhubarb sauce over biscuits. 6. Spoon dollop of whipped cream on top of rhubarb and replace top of biscuit. Pour about 2 tablespoons caramel saucer over the top biscuit. Serves 6 MORE APRICOTS! 04/24/2009
 Are you tired of apricots yet? Not me. Yes, here's yet another apricot dessert. My third in less than a month. But as I mentioned the other day, strawberries are still flavorless, and altho' my rhubarb is getting bigger each day, it will probably be mid-May before there's a freshly-baked rhubarb tart in this house. In the meantime, I am using canned apricots as quickly as I can haul them home from the grocery. My only disappoint with this Apricot Upside-down Cake was that I didn't have a third can of apricots. I could have easily found room for a few more apricot halves on top! Sponge Cake with Berries 04/21/2009
 The upside of this cake with berries: It's a delicious, light, and easy little sponge cake to make. Easter Lamb--for dessert 04/13/2009
 My aunt that lived next door to us when I was growing up in Amana, Iowa, always made a lamb cake at Easter. Of course, I looked forward to this, and especially the phone call telling me it was finished and I needed to come by and take a look. Aunt Lillie had a wonderful, big old lamb mold that she used to make her Easter cake. We never found that old mold after she died, but my sister and I talked about it often, wondering what may have happened to it. Several years ago Susan found a newer mold, probably at a garage sale, and gave it to me. It has now become our family's Easter tradition to have a lamb cake on the table. One thing that changes, however, is the recipe I use for the cake. This year I tried an orange pound cake from an old Martha Stewart Living. |  Passions
|
RSS Feed