The Cake Slice: Marbled Lemon-Blueberry Butter Cake
July 20, 2009 at 2:41 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 27 Comments
I really look forward to Cake Slice time every month. The best part, of course, is getting to eat homemade cake!! But the second best part is getting in a little decorating practice. I always keep it simple, mainly because I don’t have the finishing skills to make it fancy, but simple suits me best anyway. One thing I’ve discovered is that a few easy to crank out gumpaste or fondant flowers can make even a mediocre frosting job look pretty good!
I was a little on the fence when I saw we’d be making this particular cake, though. It felt like we’d just done the Triple Lemon Chiffon…although looking at my archives, I now realize that was back in March. My, how time flies– I guess we are due for another lemon cake!
This one’s a different animal from the chiffon altogether. You can tell it’s a butter cake, with its nice tight crumb…it is definitely lemony, which I loved (although I do admit to never measuring zest, and may have been heavy-handed). The frosting is a really rich buttercream…but the kicker is the homemade blueberry jam in the middle (and in the marble). How perfectly summery!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. 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 sky-high cakes this month.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Brioche Plum Tart
July 14, 2009 at 1:35 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, sweet yeast breads, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I’ve been itching to make a tart with the gorgeous summer fruits that are popping up at the Greenmarket. Thanks to TWD and Denise of Chez Us, I got the push I needed this week…albeit in a slightly different direction. Rather than a pastry dough, the tart shell here is made from brioche. It’s pressed into a ring and topped with jam, fruit and nuts. Juice from the jam and fruit seeps into the brioche while it bakes. The end result is a really classy tart that temporarily turned my teensy-weensy Manhattan kitchen into a European bakery! By the way, this particular brioche recipe is the easiest I’ve ever made. The butter is melted, and all the ingredients are basically chucked into a bowl at once and mixed. (I’m thinking cinnamon rolls may need to start making more frequent appearances at my breakfast table!)
Although Dorie intends this tart to be a breakfast or tea-time treat, due to my work schedule this week, we enjoyed ours for dessert. As you can see from the picture, I made a couple of indiviual tarts so I wouldn’t have soggy leftovers. One night I used some little purple plums, hardly bigger than golf balls. They softened up quickly in the oven, which is good because the brioche browned awfully fast! The next night, I pressed out a couple more shells and used sweet cherries instead. With a little vanilla whipped cream, both were good, but I think I liked the cherry tarts better…next time, I should give it a go with apricots and a bit of my homemade jam!
The recipe, of course, is in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, and is also on Chez Us. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll and Denise’s post over at Chez Us!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies
July 7, 2009 at 1:09 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 42 Comments
As a child, there were a few movies I was a bit obsessed with…so you don’t think I’m too demented, I won’t mention that as a six-year-old I could recite lines from The Elephant Man or pretty much the entirety of Mommy Dearest. Instead I will tell you that I’ve seen On Golden Pond, starring none other than Katharine Hepburn, more times than I can count. So for years I’ve known what a wonderful actress she was, but until Lisa of Surviving Oz chose Tribute-to-Katharine-Hepburn Brownies for TWD, I did not know that she was also an accomplished brownie-baker. (By the way, our guest hostess Lisa designed our fantastic new TWD logo, which you can see over there in my sidebar.)
These dark, deeply chocolate brownies are made with cocoa powder and lots of bittersweet chunks. They’re on the thin side, and since they have very little flour (one of Miss Hepburn’s tips for good brownies), they are really fudgy. I know that some people fervently oppose nuts in brownies, but I’m a die-hard with-walnuts fan, so I was glad to see them here. I also liked the strong hit of coffee from the espresso powder in the recipe, but I left out the suggested cinnamon so I wouldn’t have too many competing flavors. After reading a comment from Caitlin, I cut back on the butter by a tablespoon, and they were still wonderfully rich. A half-recipe baked up nicely in a loaf pan, although these were so good, we could easily have polished off a full batch!
The recipe, of course, is in Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, but she also has it here on NPR’s site, and Lisa of Surviving Oz has it as well. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Perfect Party Cake
June 30, 2009 at 1:21 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 52 Comments
Like many of you, I’ve made the Perfect Party Cake before, but it was so good that when I saw that Carol of mix, mix… stir, stir picked it for TWD, party or no party, I was happy to give it a second go! Since I had stayed pretty true to the original last year, this time around I thought I’d switch up the flavors a bit. Instead of using lemon zest and juice, I put almond extract in the cake itself and matcha powder in the buttercream frosting (I just added both flavors to taste). I skipped the jam component and sprinkled toasted sliced almonds over each layer. Good, good stuff!
The original cake is made from two thicker layers that are halved to make a four-layer cake…I simplified things a bit here, and just baked three thinner ones and used them as-is (or as-was, I guess). After making it twice now, the cake doesn’t seem to be an incredibly high-riser…but it was soft, moist and had a great fluffy texture both times, so I’m assuming that’s the norm. Dorie herself weighed in on the TWD site with some tips to achieve party cake perfection– check them out here.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read mix, mix… stir, stir (Carol always has some cool tricks up her sleeve, so definitely check her post out). Don’t forget to scan the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in June: Bakewell Tart
June 27, 2009 at 1:32 am | Posted in daring bakers, groups, pies & tarts, sweet things | 40 Comments
June’s Daring Bakers’ challenge is Bakewell Tart, brought to us by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. This traditional English tart consists of a sweet shortcrust pastry, which is spread with jam or curd and topped with almond frangipane.
The day before this challenge was announced, I had gotten strawberries and rhubarb as part of my weekly Greenmarket haul. I made them into a compote with my morning granola in mind, but after reading the challenge, I knew it would be perfect for the jam component of the tart. This was pretty easily assembled, and tasted great (especially with whipped cream)! Next time, I’ll use a tart ring with higher sides, so I can fit in more frangipane– I love that stuff!
Check out of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar for the Bakewell Tart recipe, and visit the Daring Kitchen site to see what everyone else is up to!
The June Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Jasmine of Confessions of a Cardamom Addict and Annemarie of Ambrosia and Nectar. They chose a Traditional (UK) Bakewell Tart… er… pudding that was inspired by a rich baking history dating back to the 1800’s in England.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise
June 23, 2009 at 4:45 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 35 Comments
Wow. I almost thought this Coconut-Roasted Pineapple Dacquoise wasn’t going to get done, but I really wanted to give props to Andrea in the Kitchen and the Aussie contingent of TWD, so I busted the recipe out this morning.
If you’re wondering what exactly this is, it’s a cake made from layers of crisp almond-coconut meringue. It’s filled with a softly-whipped white chocolate ganache and pineapple slices. Sounds good, right? It’s not hard to make, but there’s a fair amount of wait-time involved, so it did take awhile from start to finish. I made a half recipe of the meringue layers and a just third of the ganache.
I totally of get a kick out of how retro this thing looks. I know that dacquoise meringue is used as a building block for many classic French desserts, but I think this particular cake looks like it belongs at a 70’s dinner party, which instantly makes me love it! I do have to admit that since I just assembled it about an hour ago, my dacquoise is still sitting in the fridge– uncut and untasted. I have taste-tested all the components separately, though, and I do think the final product will be a hit! I’m looking forward to a chilled slice tonight…probably with a few raspberries thrown around the plate.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Andrea in the Kitchen. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
The Cake Slice: Piña Colada Cake
June 20, 2009 at 3:16 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 32 Comments
Anyone who knows me well knows that I like relaxing vacations in tropical places (but really, who doesn’t?). If I can’t be in paradise, then a frou-frou frozen drink with a paper umbrella and a plastic mermaid can usually put me in high spirits! But a Piña Colada Cake?? I dunno about that, but if it’s from the book Sky High, I’m willing to give it a shot.
This cake has a couple of standout elements. The first is the actual cake itself– a brown sugar cake that’s really soft and moist, and it stayed that way over the four nights it took us to eat it (and I only made 1/3 of the recipe!). The second is the pineapple filling– crushed pineapple cooked down with vanilla bean and lime juice. It is supremely delicious, and I’m thinking that if I reduced it just to the point of a loose sauce (rather than a jammy cake filling), it would make an awesome topping for vanilla ice cream!
I have to say, however, that on the first night, I wasn’t so impressed by the total package. A healthy sprinkling of rum moistens each cake layer. Normally that would get me pretty excited, but it was just too harshly alcoholoic for me. And the coconut buttercream tasted overwhelmingly of the coconut extract (which always seems a little fake to me) used to flavor it. Happily, after a night of refrigerated rest, the flavors nicely mellowed out…just like me under a palm tree with a drink in my hand!
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. 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: Honey-Peach Ice Cream
June 16, 2009 at 2:45 am | Posted in groups, ice creams & frozen, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 34 Comments
We are well into June now…never mind the fact that it’s been raining here constantly, and the thermometer can’t decide if it wants to read warm or chilly…it’s time to crank out some ice cream! Tommi of the colorful Brown Interior selected Honey-Peach Ice Cream for TWD, so that’s a good place to start!
Peaches cooked down in honey are puréed and added to a simple custard. I buy Cobble Hill Honey from Two for the Pot in Brooklyn. Every jar I’ve purchased tastes a little different, and my current one is quite mild. After churning, some extra chopped peach bits are supposed to be added to the ice cream. Peaches aren’t quite in season here, and the ones I bought were less than spectacular, so I just cooked and puréed the whole lot, rather than save some for add-ins. I added most of the purée to the custard, but didn’t want to thin it out too much, so I froze the rest in an ice cube tray…I see bellinis in my near future! As is, I liked this ice cream a lot, and would love to try it again with amazing peaches and a stronger batch of honey!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Brown Interior. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
P.S.: By the time this post pops up, I’ll be in Michigan, visiting one of my grandmas. I haven’t seen her in a few years, so please forgive me if I can’t make the blogroll rounds this week. Also, because of the timing of this trip, I’m not sure I’ll be able to make next week’s recipe. I know, I know…I’ll do my best, but it may have to be one for the rewind files.
Tuesdays with Dorie: Parisian Apple Tartlet
June 9, 2009 at 2:54 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 49 Comments
I probably would not have considered making an apple dessert when I have two big quarts of greenmarket strawberries in the kitchen, but then Jessica of My Baking Heart selected Dorie’s Parisian Apple Tartlets for TWD. I’m actually glad she did, because I am in love with these little tartlets!
They are so simple (and pretty, too, I think)…a round of buttery puff pastry, topped with half an apple, then dotted with butter and brown sugar…c’est tout. Using good-quality store-bought puff makes this one of the quickest and easiest desserts to put together. In the oven, the apple turns soft, the pastry turns crisp, and the whole thing gets sweetly caramelized. The best part, though, has to be the center of the puff pastry– the part the apple had been sitting upon. It absorbs the brown sugar and the juices from the apple, and is indescribably yummy.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read My Baking Heart. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Cinnamon Squares
June 2, 2009 at 2:17 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, simple cakes, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 50 Comments
I’ve often wondered when Cinnamon Squares would have their fifteen minutes of TWD fame. Thanks to Tracey of Tracey’s Culinary Adventures, their time has come.
Chocolate, coffee, and, of course, heaps of cinnamon join forces here to form simple squares of cakey goodness. Add frosting, and it becomes simply outrageous. As an aside, why do I always accidentally stick my finger in frostings, and then notice only after I’ve taken pictures??
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Tracey’s Culinary Adventures. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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