The Cake Slice: Red Velvet Cake
January 20, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
The Cake Slice Bakers are baking up a true slice of Americana this month– Red Velvet Cake. Even though this cake has been super trendy in recent years, and I even though make a giant batch of it at work every day, I’ve never been so enthusiastic about red velvet. All that food coloring makes me a bit uneasy. A good thing about making it at home, though, is that you can control how much Red 40 does or does not go into it. Just like the other time I made red velvet here, I used only a couple drops of gel coloring…more of a “rust velvet,” I guess.
I generally think cream cheese frosting and red velvet go hand-in-hand (although where I work, we use a cinnamon buttercream), but this recipe has a boiled milk frosting with coconut and pecans. That’s new to me, but I really do think the frosting made it the best red velvet I’ve ever had (probably because it reminded me of my most favorite cake, German chocolate)! And the texture of the cake’s crumb was great, too…soft and, of course, velvety.
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our red velvet cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars
January 19, 2010 at 1:04 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 30 Comments 
I am the type who is already daydreaming about Halloween in January, so Lillian’s choice of Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars for TWD was alright by me! Chocolatey, peanutty goo sandwiched between two layers of oatmeal chew make for a fine candy bar approximation, especially when cut into fun-size bars.
The original recipe yields a bit too much (actually a lot too much!) for just two people, so I made a third of it in a loaf pan. For me it was a little too heavy on the oat mixture. If I make it again, I’ll go with 1/4 of the oat mixture and 1/3 of the chocolate goo. A little extra chocolate is always a good thing! Also, I left out the raisins in the chocolate layer. Something about that was a little too reminiscent of a Chunky Bar…despite what Nestlé’s website says, that combo does not bring back fond memories. The peanuts alone were plenty tasty.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Confectiona’s Realm. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Mrs. Vogel’s Scherben
January 12, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, sweet things | 30 Comments
Whoosie-whatsit?? I was wondering when someone would have us make these little bits of deep-fried goodness with the crazy name. Then along comes Teanna of Spork or Foon? to banish our fears of frying.
Little strips of fried dough, scherben are easy to make. They don’t taste like much naked, but if you toss them in cinnamon sugar when they are just out of the oil and then sprinkle them with 10x, yeah, they’re pretty addictive…which is good, because if you live in an apartment where the windows don’t open and the stovetop doesn’t vent to the outside, you will be reminded of your frying escapades for days to come.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read Spork or Foon? Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Tarte Tatin
January 5, 2010 at 1:01 am | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 39 Comments
Happy anniversary! You may be wondering, “What anniversary?” Why, it’s TWD‘s second anniversary! The group’s throwing a big celebration…you’ll see that some of us are bringing cake and others, like me, are bringing Tarte Tatin. (I’ll have to get to that cake soon myself…sounds like good stuff!)
Tarte Tatin is a dessert that’s very familiar to me. If my mum says she’s making an apple pie, she’s not talking about the traditional American kind…she’s talking about a tarte Tatin. In fact, when my brother was staying with us in Sydney, I made a double-crusted apple pie, and he griped that it wasn’t like our mum’s! But, hey– big chunks of apple that have been cooked down in buttery caramel– who can blame him?? You can use a regular pie crust as your base (or top) if you want, but I just love caramel-soaked puff pastry.
There are a couple of things about tatins that can make people a little nervous. First, you have to let the caramel and apples go for awhile…don’t be afraid to let the caramel turn a pretty deep amber. And pack those apples in, because they shrink while they cook. Flipping the Tatin out of the pan might sound a little scary (you, know it bakes upside-down, right?), but if you wear good oven mitts and flip with confidence, all should fall into place.
Whew, two years and over one hundred recipes from Baking: From My Home to Yours…just thinking about that makes me want slip into something elastic-waisted! But seriously, big hugs and lots of thanks go to both Laurie and Dorie. I’m so looking forward to the next year of baking!!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. It’s also here on NPR, along with an audio link to the radio story. As always, don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Friday!): Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake
January 1, 2010 at 3:24 pm | Posted in cakes & tortes, cheesecakes, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 22 Comments
Happy New Year, my friends! Here’s to a 2010 full of sweetness and happiness!
So, how did you ring in the new year? There was a time when I’d stay out all night, but I can’t toss ’em back quite like I used to, so these days I like to keep it low-key…make a nice dinner and drink champagne cocktails at home. Part of last night’s celebration involved Dorie’s Low and Lush Chocolate Chessecake. I added my own chocolate and sour cream topping, mainly so I’d have a nice shiny surface on which to place the edible gold stars I found not long ago. Pretty cute, but I did have to go through the tiresome task of applying each one individually with tweezers.
This cheesecake was made my favorite way (which is also the easiest way to lump-free batter, if you ask me)– in the food processor. It baked up creamy and smooth and pretty, but I have to say that I prefer the bright freshness of fruit, rather than chocolate, with my cheesecake. For that reason, I probably wouldn’t make this one again just for us, but if I had a guest coming over that simply adored chocolate cheesecake, I certainly wouldn’t hesitate.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Tea and Scones, as it was the Tea Lady’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie (on Saturday!): Dorie’s Favorite Pecan Pie
December 26, 2009 at 6:33 pm | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 12 Comments
Pecan pie is certainly one of my favorites, so I thought I’d give Dorie’s version a go for Christmas dinner. Dorie’s Favorite Pecan Pie has a couple of unusual twists– chocolate, cinnamon and espresso powder. (My one twist was to use golden syrup in place of the corn syrup.) This was a big hit, especially with a little bit (or a lot, as the case may be) of whipped cream. Not too sweet, and not too gloppy either, if you know what I mean. Next time I think I’ll experiment with leaving out the chocolate, keeping the cinnamon and espresso, and see what I think about that.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or read Someone’s in the Kitchen with Brina, as it was Beth’s choice for TWD this week. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Daring Bakers in December: Gingerbread House
December 25, 2009 at 1:11 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, daring bakers, groups, other sweet, sweet things | 20 Comments
Welcome to my home– my gingerbread home! Let me show you around inside. It’s nothing fancy. Just four walls and some spackling. Oh, and mind your head…the roof has quite a slope.
Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi had us break out our hard hats and toolboxes to construct our very own gingerbread houses for this month’s Daring Bakers’ challenge! As a result, I’m sure you’ll tour some ultra tricked-out gingerbread houses around Food Blog Avenue this Christmas. Mine’s more of a cottage, really…some may say a shack…but I’m quite pleased with it. And it’s now over two weeks old, so I know it’s solidly built!
I used the Scandinavian Gingerbread recipe provided by Y, found an easy template, and started construction. I needed just half a recipe of dough, and I actually added a spoonful of cocoa powder to it, just to make the color a bit darker. Some windows, a sanding sugar snowstorm and a wreath out front, and I was a proud homeowner in just a few hours!
I wish you all a very Merry Christmas, and I’m sure I’ll see you again before the new year!
Scandinavian Gingerbread (Pepparkakstuga)
adapted from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book by Beatrice Ojakangas
1 cup butter, room temperature [226g]
1 cup brown sugar, well packed [220g]
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour [875g]
-In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. If necessary add more water, a tablespoon at a time. Chill 2 hours or overnight.
-Cut patterns for the house, making patterns for the roof, front walls, gabled walls, chimney and door out of cardboard.
-Roll the dough out on a large, ungreased baking sheet and place the patterns on the dough. Mark off the various pieces with a knife, but leave the pieces in place.
-Roll out the dough on a floured bench, roughly 1/8 inch thick (which allows for fact that the dough puffs a little when baked), cut required shapes and transferred these to the baking sheet. You can save any scraps to reroll at the end.
-Preheat the oven to 375’F (190’C). Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. After baking, again place the pattern on top of the gingerbread and trim the shapes, cutting the edges with a straight-edged knife. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.
Royal Icing
1 large egg white
3 cups (330g) powdered sugar
1 teaspoon white vinegar
1 teaspoon almond extract
-Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. Pipe on pieces and allow to dry before assembling. If you aren’t using it all at once you can keep it in a small bowl, loosely covered with a damp towel for a few hours until ready to use. You may have to beat it slightly to get it an even consistency if the top sets up a bit. Piped on the house, this will set up hard over time.
The December 2009 Daring Bakers’ challenge was brought to you by Anna of Very Small Anna and Y of Lemonpi. They chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ everywhere to bake and assemble a gingerbread house from scratch. They chose recipes from Good Housekeeping and from The Great Scandinavian Baking Book as the challenge recipes.
The Cake Slice: White Chocolate Layer Cake
December 20, 2009 at 1:11 am | Posted in cakes & tortes, groups, layer cakes, sweet things, the cake slice | 20 Comments
As I type, we are in the midst of the first big winter snowstorm here in NYC…so it seems only appropriate that I share with you this white-on-white White Chocolate Layer Cake chosen by the Cake Slice Bakers this month. I’m not super keen on white chocolate, so I probably would have bypassed this recipe if not for the group, but I have to say that I was pleasantly surprised. It’s the toothachey sweetness that really bugs me about white chocolate, but for every element of white chocolate here (it’s in both the cake and the frosting), there is an element of tanginess to balance it out. For the cake, it’s buttermilk. For the frosting, it’s cream cheese. The cake is moist and soft, and c’mon, let’s face it…cream cheese icing would make pretty much anything taste good…so whats not to like here?
Here’s a printable link to the recipe. Or get your hands on a copy of Southern Cakes by Nancie McDermott. Cruise through the list of The Cake Slice Bakers to check out all of our white chocolate cakes this month!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Café Volcano Cookies
December 15, 2009 at 1:01 am | Posted in cookies & bars, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 26 Comments
Would you like to come over for coffee? We can chat…we can gossip…I’d really love to meet you. And, yes, of course there will be cookies. It’s no problem at all…these little Café Volcano Cookies that MacDuff of the always entertaining The Lonely Sidecar picked for TWD are ridiculously easy to whip up.
Just a few ingredients (egg whites, sugar, espresso powder, walnuts and almonds) stirred together by hand produce these sweet and crispy little treats. Not quite the same as a traditional meringue, they’re like coffee air held together by nuts.
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here on The Splendid Table), or read The Lonely Sidecar. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
Tuesdays with Dorie: Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart
December 1, 2009 at 1:26 pm | Posted in groups, pies & tarts, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 37 Comments
I feel like I’ll be dealing with leftover turkey forever, but the holiday bundt is all gone now. Time to move on to the Rosy Poached Pear and Pistachio Tart that Lauren of I’ll Eat You picked for TWD. I will be honest and admit that making it was a bit more work than I felt like doing after just having prepared Thanksgiving dinner a couple of days before. You have to make tart dough, pastry cream, poached pears, caramelized nuts and sauce. That’s a lot of stuff, but the payoff is most definitely worth the effort. This is a stunningly delicious tart!
Pastry cream-based tarts don’t hold up so well overnight, so I made individual tartlette shells that I could fill with the pistachio pastry cream as needed. I haven’t had JELL-O pistachio pudding in years, so I’m not sure if I’d love it today as much as I did when I was little, but this pastry cream is spot-on for my tastes now…little flecks of nuts and the color is a far more “natural” green. I used bosc pears for poaching, and they sucked up all that gorgeous color from the red wine. BTW, the chilled poaching liquid tastes an awful lot like sweet sangria to me…hmmm…keep me away from the leftovers or I may wind up with a lampshade on my head!
For the recipe, see Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan, or read I’ll Eat You. Don’t forget to check out the TWD Blogroll!
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