Tuesdays with Dorie: Rum-Drenched Vanilla Cake
June 29, 2010 at 1:30 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 28 Comments
I only have a few words to say about this cake. It has a perfect crust, a perfect crumb and it’s saturated with vanilla and rum. It is simply the best poundy-type cake I’ve baked up. I would be totally happy to devour it plain, but as luck would have it, there were poached cherries in my fridge. Big, no, huge thanks to Wendy for choosing this for TWD!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Pink Stripes. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake
June 22, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 27 Comments
Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes showed us that a loaf cake can be fancy, too, with her choice of Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake for TWD. I baked this the week before I went to London…glad I did, because I packed on a couple extra (now totally unwanted) pounds on that trip, and I may have had a hard time justifying making this afterward!
Both the cake and the frosting contain a good amount of sour cream. Chocolate-sour cream frosting is on my list of “world’s tastiest stuff.” The heaviness of the cake is cut by two layers of jam sandwiched in-between. I don’t usually go nuts for fruit and chocolate combos, but I must say that this was tasty!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Amy Ruth Bakes. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake
June 20, 2010 at 1:23 am | Posted in breakfast things, cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 13 Comments
Hey– Happy Father’s Day! Why not do something nice for pops and make him a Shenandoah Valley Blueberry Cake today?? It’s super easy, I promise. You can even make it by hand without breaking a sweat. I’d make it for my dad, but he lives clear across the county.
This cake is nothing fancy…plain, but soft and good. It reminds me of a blueberry muffin, which made it perfect for breakfast with a cup of coffee.
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. I made a couple of tiny tweaks…a little spelt flour in place of some of the AP, and a bit of lemon zest for extra flavor. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our blueberry cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: White Chocolate Brownies
June 1, 2010 at 12:27 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 24 Comments
Ooph…getting this one up late today! Here, I present to you the tenth brownie recipe for this blog. I would say that I’ve exhausted this topic, but you can tell by looking at them that these are definitely not your run-of-the-mill brownie. Marthe of Culinary Delights chose these White Chocolate Brownies with raspberries for TWD this week.
The full recipe makes a BIG batch, and one that a lot of folks had some difficulty getting to cook through. Fearing enough brownies for a lifetime, I scaled it down to a quarter recipe and baked it in a loaf pan. The original version also calls for a baked meringue topping, which I skipped in lieu of a sprinkling of sliced almonds. My meringue-less little batch cooked nicely in about 30 minutes.
These were good…sweet, though. I found the texture to be less like a fudgy brownie and more like a tea cake with a little chew. For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Culinary Delights. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Banana-Coconut Ice Cream Pie
May 25, 2010 at 1:10 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 21 Comments
I know I’ve told you before that I’ve been turning my nose up at raw bananas since I was a kid. But I try to keep an open mind, and I want to bake along with everyone, so I always give banana recipes a go anyway. Well, guess what. I think I’m starting to accept them…maybe even like them a little. I didn’t at all poo-poo Spike’s choice of Banana-Coconut Ice Cream Pie for TWD this week. In fact, I enjoyed it! What’s happening to me?? 🙂
An ice cream pie is what it sounds like– a crust (cookie-coconut in this case) topped with ice cream. I made mine in a springform rather than a pie plate, but that’s a nitpicky detail. Dorie uses chocolate ice cream as the base in her recipe…I assembled this pie at the same time I made that burnt sugar ice cream, so I used it instead. I didn’t want to miss out entirely on the chocolate, though, and made a cocoa fudge sauce to go on top.
Raw bananas make three different appearances here. There’s a layer of them between the crust and the ice cream, there’s a rum-banana smoosh stirred into the ice cream, and there are a few decorative slices for the top. Further proof that I am beginning to appreciate bananas: I thought the burnt sugar ice cream with rum and bananas stirred in was just killer!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Spike Bakes. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting
May 20, 2010 at 5:12 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 13 Comments
I almost forgot to bake this cake. That’s not quite true…I didn’t forget about the cake, I just didn’t realize the 20th is already here! For the month of May, we Cake Slice Bakers have mixed it up a bit and are throwing back to last year’s book, with a recipe for Lemon-Poppy Seed Cake with Almond-Cream Cheese Frosting from Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.
It’s pretty, isn’t it? Something about this cake seems so sweetly charming and old-fashioned…like something my grandmas might bake (except for my grandmas have never been much into baking). Underneath the almond-cream cheese frosting is a light white cake, flecked with lemon zest and poppy seeds. I added a few drops of lemon oil to the batter, just to enhance the lemon flavor.
The lemon oil was my only tweak to the recipe (also not quite true…I cut back on the almond extract in the frosting just a tad), although I did a wackadoo two-fifths of the original amount of batter and frosting (I only wanted to use two egg whites). I baked the cake in a quarter sheet pan, then cut it into three strips for frosting and stacking. I like the change from the usual round layer cakes, although I do find squares and rectangles to be a bit trickier to frost.
Poppy seeds are so freakin’ cute! Their amazing ability to get absolutely everywhere, though, really isn’t.
Here’s a printable link to the recipe…it’s really a keeper. Better yet, get your hands on a copy of Sky High: Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes by Alicia Huntsman and Peter Wynne. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our mile-high cakes this month.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding
May 18, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in groups, pudding/mousse, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 Comments
Elizabeth of Cake or Death? chose Apple-Apple Bread Pudding for TWD this week, but I actually baked this baby back in October. I’m not really sure anymore why I made it then…probably some combination of warm apple desserts sounding good to me at the time and having a couple of orphaned yolks to use up. Whatever…what’s important is that I remember how good it was. Caramelized apples and custard-soaked bread (or…umm…croissant). So squidgy and good. A little caramel sauce might have been gilding the lily, but I recommend it anyway.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Cake or Death?. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Quick Classic Fruit Tart
May 11, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 36 Comments
My “extended spring break” from work is absolutely lovely, but, to tell the truth, my life is losing a bit of structure. All those things that I had planned to do (spring clean the apartment, organize my digital photos into folders that make some sense, finally get a recipe archive on this blog…just to name a few) are just not getting done. I’ll tell you what is getting done, though…catching up on the DVR list (is anyone else addicted to Sarah’s House??), walking around Tribeca (with a stop for something caffeinated at either Kaffe 1668 or RBC Coffee) and taking afternoon catnaps (yes, even after the coffee). Well, I am enjoying it, because I know it won’t last forever, and I do thank the weekly TWD deadline for keeping my baking in check.
What’s up this week? Cristine of Cooking with Cristine chose a Quick Classic Berry (or Fruit) Tart. This is certainly a classic…I think it was the first tart we learned how to put together in cooking school. I’ve made a couple of these custard–type tarts at home in the recent past. The combination of the crisp cookie-ish crust and the cool pastry cream is killer. Really, I hardly need anything more than that, but a little fruit makes it even better. I fiddled with the traditional glazed berry topping a little bit (since berries are still a tad expensive here) and topped it with some vanilla-caramel roasted pineapple. I am going to tell you how I made this pineapple stuff, because it is easy, it is fab and it could dress up a zillion different things…maybe after my afternoon nap!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Cooking with Cristine. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Burnt Sugar Ice Cream
May 4, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I suppose because I work in the pastry biz, I’m often put on the spot about my favorite desserts. If I’m asked to name my favorite to eat, that’s such a tough question…often the answer that comes to mind is just the last thing I’ve tried! But if I have to name my favorite to make, that’s easy…ice cream! I love the way one simple base recipe can be switched up a million different ways. I love tempering the eggs and watching as they magically thicken the custard (geeky, right?). And I especially love that first taste of soft-serve right out of the machine! Yeah, so, needless to say, Becky’s pick of Burnt Sugar Ice Cream for TWD made me pretty jazzed up.
What is “burnt sugar?” It’s caramel taken half a step further…deep dark and just smoking. Don’t be afraid to take it to this stage for the best flavor. But do be prepared to move fast with your milk and cream when you reach it, or instead of getting the complex sweetness with a bitter edge that you are after, you will wind up with something that is just plain burned (and a pot that’s hard to clean!). Stand back when you add the milk and cream to the hot caramel…it will bubble and spit (you can minimize that by heating the liquids first), but the fury dies down quickly.
If you’ve given up on making ice cream at home because it turns rock hard as it sits in the freezer, give this one a shot. Because of the caramel, it stays luxuriously soft, creamy and easy to scoop. And the taste– oh momma! It’s perfect in an affogato, prefect for leftover DdL cookie sandwiches and perfect on its own, with just a sprinkling of pink salt.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Project Domestication. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chockablock Cookies
April 27, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 23 Comments
Mary of Popsicles and Sandy Feet decided on Chockablock Cookies for TWD this week. Why “chockablock?” Because they are loaded with good stuff– dark chocolate, dried fruit (I used cherries) and nuts (cashews here). Oops, I almost forgot to mention the oats, coconut and molasses. Don’t worry, the molasses doesn’t make then seem like spice cookies…it gives them a lovely chew and a brown sugary sweetness.
Usually extra cookie dough winds up in my deep-freeze, and is pulled out when I have nothing else prepped for dessert. But not this time…these guys were gone in a blink. Yeah, they are that good.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Popsicles and Sandy Feet. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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