Archive for the 'cake' Category
Happy birthday Dad.
It was a potluck last night for my Dad’s birthday; ribs by his request, and potato salad, and we filled it out with corn and greens and asparagus.
To be honest, I passed on the potato salad, which my sister had thoughtfully made with fat-free Miracle Whip in consideration of my Dad’s high cholesterol, and which as a result had that unappealing translucent sheen to it. It did remind me though that I need to make roasted potato salad soon in order to illustrate my favourite cooking method for potato salad: roasting, which not only adds far more flavour and a better texture than boiling (which would you rather eat on its own?) but creates this crispy crust that doesn’t allow the potatoes to absorb as much mayo as they otherwise would, had they been boiled. If you really want to win friends and influence people, you could cook a few slices of bacon and then roll the potato chunks around in some oil and the bacon drippings before roasting them. You then of course add the crumbled bacon back to the salad along with the chopped celery, hard boiled egg, and all that.
My Mom had been to the market and bought some kettle corn, which we all picked at while preparing dinner. So it wasn’t homemade, but I do have a recipe anyway:
Kettle Corn
This is a little more caramelly than regular kettle corn, but it’s the same perfect marriage of salty, sweet and crunchy. It’s really fast and easy to make when you need a caramel corn fix.
1 bag light butter-flavored microwave popcorn, popped
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. water
1 tsp. butter
Place the popcorn in a large bowl. If you like, spray the bowl first with nonstick spray to keep it from sticking.
Combine sugar, water and butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer for 10 minutes, swirling pan occasionally but not stirring, until the sugar is deep golden. Immediately pour over the popcorn and quickly stir to coat. Tongs work great for this!
Cool and eat. (It’s usually cool enough for me by the time I get from the kitchen to the living room.)
Per serving, divided by 4: 200 calories, 3.7 g total fat (0.6 g saturated fat, 3 g monounsaturated fat, 0 g polyunsaturated fat), 2.1 g protein, 40.7 g carbohydrate, 2.6 mg cholesterol, 0 g fiber. 16% calories from fat
Chocolate Popcorn: once the sugar is deep golden, quickly stir in 2 tbsp. cocoa and pour over the popcorn, tossing to coat.
Banana Split Popcorn Mix: add 1 cup banana chips, 1/2 cup dried cherries, 1/2 cup peanuts and 1/4 cup chocolate chips to the cooled popcorn.
Dad also requested a flourless sunken chocolate cake, one he remembered having years ago that he described as “meringue-y”, which my Mom had found in a magazine that has since been packed away in preparation for their move. So she flipped through her Joy of Cooking and found another sunken chocolate cake, which was not at all meringue-y but made with a full pound of bittersweet chocolate, no flour and very little sugar, it was as my sister described: “like chocolate fudge sauce in cake form”. But not puddingy; very dense, and softly, finely crumbly, and just intense. Like the very best kind of chocolate cake (I’m not really a fan of traditional chocolate cakes), it was perfect with ice cream and berries. It very nearly didn’t happen at all after one of the grandkids (not mine) spooned a big glop of melted chocolate into her ten carefully separated egg whites just as she was about to beat them to stiff peaks (she doubled the recipe to feed 8 adults and 3 kids).
Flourless Chocolate Decadence
from the 1997 Joy of Cooking, page 960
1 lb. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
10 Tbsp. butter, cut into pieces (although I suspect you could get away with much less)
5 large eggs, separated
1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
1 Tbsp. sugar
Whipped cream or vanilla ice cream and fresh berries, for serving
Preheat the oven to 325°F and grease an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan, then line the bottom with a circle of parchment or waxed paper.
Put the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl, and set it over a pot of simmering water. Stir until melted and smooth.
Separate the eggs, being careful not to get any yolks in the whites. Whisk the yolks into the melted chocolate. Beat the whites along with the cream of tartar with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually beat in the sugar and continue beating until the eggs are stiff but not dry.
Using a rubber spatula, fold the egg whites into the chocolate mixture about a third at a time, being careful not to deflate the eggs. (Don’t worry if the mixture is still a little streaky.) The recipe instructs to put the pan into another pan and pour enough boiling water into the outer pan to come halfway up the side of the cake pan, but since it was doubled and divided among three 8″ pans, my mom didn’t have a big enough roasting pan, and dinner was ready, and so we just threw them in the oven as is and they were just fine.
Bake for “exactly 30 minutes”. The recipe further says that the top of the cake will have a thin crust and the middle will be gooey, which it was not. I don’t think I’d want it gooey though, now that I’ve had it thoroughly cooked through. It also tells us to refrigerate overnight, which we obviously didn’t do; rather, the cake was warm when we served it, and delicious.
Serve with whipping cream or vanilla ice cream and fresh berries. Serves 10-12.
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June 22 2008 | cake and snacks | 1 Comment »
We kind of skimmed past dinner, anticipating eats and drinks at Velvet before a show at the Grand tonight. We tried to make an art opening en route, which along with Vancouver-style rain slowed us down somewhat, leaving us time for tapas (small plates) and shared pasta. It was like the grown-up version of going to Earls and ordering appetizers (cheese sticks and chicken fingers, washed down with virgin strawberry daquiris and chased with mocha Kahlua pie to share - ah, to be 15 again).
The food was truly spectacular. Of particular note the bread, which I forgot to enquire the source of, was medium-dark and nutty, and served with soft sweet butter sprinkled with a little coarse, flaky salt. I love that. I ate my way through half the bread basket before our tapas came: coconut shrimp, olive tapenade, and crackers with brie, pecans and, get this: balsamic caramel (I know!) Then Mike ordered Saffron Conchigliette (read: pasta shells) with shrimp, scallops, mussels, garlic and basil, and I had a warm spinach salad (that means it was gently wilted) with smoked bacon, cashews, brie, and maple balsamic vinaigrette - enough to almost render it a soup; fortunately I love it that way. Both were every bit as good as they sound. I took plenty of photos that don’t do the food justice - it’s tough in a dark space when you have to use flash.
But I have to leave you with something. Before we left, we were snacking on an olive oil loaf cake made with lemon, rosemary and some chopped pears (added as an afterthought in my usual attempt to not waste half-eaten pears, nor have to down yet another one).
Rosemary Lemon Olive Oil Cake
4 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
grated zest and juice of a lemon
1/2 cup regular or extra virgin olive oil or canola oil
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking power
1/4 tsp. salt
2 sprigs of rosemary, leaves stripped off and chopped
1 unpeeled pear, finely chopped or grated (optional)
a couple more sprigs of rosemary to decorate the top (optional)
Preheat oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, beat the eggs for a minute, until frothy. Beat in the sugar and continue to beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is thick and pale. Beat in the lemon zest, juice and olive oil.
In a small bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Add it to the egg mixture and stir by hand until almost combined; add the rosemary and pears (if you’re using them) and stir just until blended.
Pour into an 8″x4″ or 9″x5″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray. Lay a couple sprigs of rosemary on the top. Bake for about 45 minutes, until golden and springy to the touch.
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May 24 2008 | cake and eating out | No Comments »
I have to share a snippet from one of the greatest emails I’ve ever received. This was sent not to me, but to someone I’ve never met from someone I’ve never met, and the one on the receiving end forwarded it to me because she thought I’d get a kick out of it. (I did.):
Just an update on the “pear gingerbread upsidedown cake” situation. I took two PGUCs to a CWA coffee morning and they very nearly caused a stampede. I sent the recipe to five women. One of them took it to a Conoco-Phillips coffee morning and handed out four copies of the recipe. Trouble is, now I feel like I can’t take it to any more coffee mornings because someone else is sure to show up with it - after all, pretty much everyone in town has the recipe by now. I predict that this recipe alone will cause Jakarta grocery stores to run out of molasses.
I have no idea what CWA stands for, but the very idea that Jakarta might be hurting for molasses as a result of this recipe has made me smile for days. So although I rarely make this except during the fall and at Thanksgiving, I can’t wait that long. Besides, there were several pears with giant bites out of them sitting in my fruit bowl.
And here’s the recipe that’s apparently causing a run on molasses in Jakarta:
Upside-Down Pear Gingerbread
One of the biggest selling points of an upside-down cake is the fact that it needs no decorating. When you invert the cake the pear slices end up on top, making it look gratifyingly complete with no need for frosting. It does, however, scream for ice cream or whipped cream – provide a bowl of it alongside for people to serve themselves, or put a dollop on each slice. Pear gingerbread is also great with thick vanilla yogurt. It even works for breakfast.
Topping:
1 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. honey or corn syrup
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 ripe but firm pears or tart apples, peeled and thinly sliced
Gingerbread:
1/4 cup butter or non-hydrogenated margarine, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup buttermilk or sour milk
1/4 cup dark molasses
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger, or 1 tsp. powdered ginger
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. allspice (optional)
1/4 tsp. salt
Preheat the oven to 350°F and spray an 8″ or 9″ round cake pan with nonstick spray.
To make the topping, melt the butter, honey and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat or microwave it until it’s smooth. (Or combine them in the bottom of the pan, put it in the oven until it melts, then take it out and stir it together.) Pour the mixture over the bottom of the pan and arrange the pear slices on top, placing them tightly together - they shrink a bit as they cook, so you can even get away with overlapping them.
To make the gingerbread batter, beat the butter and brown sugar in a medium bowl until well blended. Add the egg, buttermilk, molasses, and ginger and beat until thoroughly combined.
In a small bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the egg mixture and stir by hand or on the lowest speed of an electric mixer just until the batter is combined. Pour the batter over the sliced pears.
Bake the cake for about 40 minutes, until the top is springy to the touch. Let it stand for 5 minutes, then run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert it onto a plate while it’s still hot. If it cools too much and sticks to the pan, warm it in the oven again before you try to invert it. Don’t worry if any pear slices stick to the bottom of the pan – simply peel them out and place them back on top of the cake where they belong.
And here’s a more summery thing to do with it: to make Blueberry Gingerbread, omit the topping and stir 1 cup of fresh or frozen (unthawed) blueberries into the batter. Bake it as directed in an 8″x8″ pan, and cut into squares.
For dinner, cold sesame noodles. Sesame noodles because I’ve had this weird craving for them for months, and also: have you seen what we’ve been eating lately? I actually wished we had some tofu that I could press the moisture out of and caramelize in the way that Heidi does on 101 Cookbooks. I mean, look at the mahogany colour of that tofu! (I generally don’t consider myself a tofu fan, but I do like it once in awhile when it’s nicely flavoured and crispy. The trick to this is pressing some of the excess moisture out. Soft tofu can also easily travel incognito in things like smoothies and peanut sauce.) My ulterior motive is a piece on picnics tomorrow morning for which I needed to do a test batch of noodles before bringing it to the studio.
A few weeks ago I was at an Asian grocery (Arirang, beside Community Natural Foods on 10th Avenue SW) looking for panko, and picked up a couple packages of fresh noodles. They are the thick(ish) ones you see in Shanghai noodle dishes at Chinese restaurants.
My intent was to take a stab at Shanghai noodles, since W devours them whenever we get takeout. Halfway through the cold sesame noodles it occurred to me that he might not appreciate a dish of cold, vinegary noodles, and so pulled some out of the pot and fried them up in a slick of sesame oil (in the pan that had just done the garlic and ginger), with a drizzle of soy sauce and dab of honey (I have no idea what they do to Shanghai noodles to make them that way), and they turned out pretty well, actually. I sprinkled them with sesame seeds, and he devoured them just as enthusiastically as those that cost $12.95 a plate.
It occurred to me then that my favourite cold sesame noodles might very well have been sautéed before being cooled down and tossed with the dressing/sauce; I think next time rather than just boil and cool the noodles, I’ll give them a quick flash in the pan, too, before cooling them off.
Cold Sesame Noodles
1 Tbsp. canola oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger
2 Tbsp. sesame oil
2 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. rice or balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 Tbsp. honey or sugar
a tiny squirt (about 1/4 tsp.) chili sauce or sambal oelek
1 lb. fresh Chinese noodles, rice noodles or spaghetti
2-3 green onions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup toasted sesame seeds (optional)
1/2 cup chopped roasted peanuts (optional)
In a small skillet (or a large one, if you want to sauté your noodles after you boil them) heat the canola oil and sauté the garlic and ginger for a few minutes, until soft but not brown. Transfer to a bowl and add the sesame oil, soy sauce, vinegar, honey and chili sauce.
Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to the package directions, or until tender. Drain them in a colander and run them under cold water to stop them from cooking and cool them down. (Alternatively, drain them and then toss them into a hot skillet with a bit of sesame and/or canola oil, and toss for a few minutes, until the noodles start to brown; set aside to cool before tossing with the dressing.)
Add to the bowl of dressing along with the green onions and sesame seeds and toss well to coat. Let sit for an hour, or refrigerate overnight. Serve topped with chopped peanuts, if you like. (this is best served at room temperature.)
Serves 4-6.
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May 19 2008 | cake and pasta and vegetarian | 4 Comments »
I worked today, cooking for Customer Appreciation Day at Willow Park. (On these days I get to rifle through their massive kitchens and challenge myself to creatively use up whatever has piled up in their fridges and freezers. They have an entire fridge devoted to cheese. Today they had more Spolumbos sausages than I ever care to see in one place again.)
I got home around 5, and we decided to have an impromptu barbecue on the back porch to celebrate the fact that a) the trees are finally starting to grow leaves, and b) it’s actually warm enough (33 this afternoon!) to have an impromptu barbecue on the back porch. So a bunch of assorted friends congregated in our back yard; K & N brought cross sections of corn on the cob, wrapped in bacon (inspired by the menu at Palomino). J & P brought teeny sweet peppers, tossed in olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and chunks of pineapple threaded onto skewers to grill for dessert. Everything got thrown on the grill, but unfortunately I got distracted taking photos of all the boys hanging out the kitchen window and our bacon-wrapped corn caught fire. After extracting the cobs, we actually had to douse the lingering flames with baking soda.
To make bacon-wrapped corn, all you need to do is cut the corn into chunks about the same width as your strips of bacon, then wrap a strip of bacon around each piece, securing it with a toothpick. (Soak them in water first if you don’t want them to burn.) Grill, turning as you need to, until the corn is sort of shrink-wrapped by the cooked bacon.
The peppers, similarly, were slicked with oil (and a bit of balsamic) and tossed whole onto the grill until they were slightly charred and soft, then returned into their bowl with its oily, vinegary residue.
I didn’t have much time to think about what to make (Spolumbos sausage would have been easy), nor did I feel much like cooking anymore, so called my trusty pork satay into service - besides being quick, they are easy for larger numbers of people to eat while sitting on folding chairs on the deck. Plus, I haven’t met a little boy yet who didn’t love meat on a stick.
I told you - when I stumble upon something that works, I make it over and over again. I did switch back to the maple-rosemary version though.
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Maple-Rosemary Pork Satay
2 pork tenderloins
Marinade:
1/4 cup maple syrup
3 Tbsp. lemon juice
3 Tbsp. soy sauce
2 Tbsp. grainy Dijon mustard (or any mustard you like)
2 Tbsp. chopped fresh rosemary
Cut the pork tenderloin in half widthwise, then into even strips lengthwise. Put them into a ziplock bag along with the marinade ingredients; knead the bag a bit to blend everything, then stash in the fridge for up to 24 hours or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
When ready to grill, soak bamboo skewers for at least 10 minutes, then thread the pork onto the skewers and grill for a couple minutes per side (depending on the thickness of the pork), just until done. Serve hot, warm or cold, preferably with peanut sauce.
Makes lots. (We fed 8 adults and 5 kids.)
For dessert, the pineapple was simply grilled until it was soft and grill-marked, then drizzled with honey.
And finally, a raspberry crumble cake, made with a handful of the frozen raspberries I keep in the freezer for smoothies. This eat-straight-from-the-pan cake is one of my favorite go–to recipes, and perfect for summer because you get the benefit of cake and fruit crumble all in one. It’s not too sweet, easy to eat with your fingers, and can be made with any kind of fruit you have around, even if it’s getting wrinkly. In the summer, use berries, peaches or plums, and add some grated lemon zest to the batter. At Christmas, try it with pears and cranberries with grated orange zest in the batter.
Apple, Plum or Berry Crumble Cake
Sometimes I throw a handful of sliced almonds into the crumble mixture, or sprinkle them overtop before the cake goes into the oven. For a raspberry-almond cake, you could also use almond extract in place of the vanilla in the cake batter; this would go well with raspberries.
Crumble:
1/2 cup whole wheat or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1-2 Tbsp. ground flax seed (optional)
a shake of cinnamon (optional)
2-3 Tbsp. butter
Cake:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup low fat sour cream or plain yogurt
Fruit:
a large apple (peeled and sliced), or 3 plums, pitted and thickly sliced, or a large peach or nectarine, pitted and sliced, or a cup or so of fresh or frozen (unthawed) berries
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray an 8″ square or round pan with nonstick spray.
To make the crumble, stir together the flour, brown sugar, flax seed, cinnamon and butter and blend it with a fork or your fingers until the mixture is well-combined and crumbly. Set aside.
To make the cake, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, beat the butter and sugar with an electric mixer until it’s light and fluffy. Beat in the egg. Add half the flour mixture and stir by hand just until it’s combined. Stir in the sour cream, then the remaining flour mixture, stirring until it’s just blended.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Spread the apples, plums, peaches or berries on top and sprinkle with the crumble mixture. Bake for about 30 minutes, until the cake is golden and springy to the touch. (Springiness may be difficult to test with the fruit in the way – you could also test it by sticking a toothpick or bamboo skewer into the cake. If it comes out with moist, not gooey, crumbs sticking to it, it’s done.)
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May 17 2008 | appetizers and cake and pork and snacks and sweet stuff and veg | 5 Comments »
Some good friends of ours arrived from Vancouver tonight, and since we didn’t know their ETA or whether they’d be hungry upon their arrival, we made a pot of black bean soup, baked a loaf of no-knead bread and some pita chips, and mixed up some roasted red pepper hummus. All things that keep well and provide the sort of nourishment one might need after spending 10 hours in the car with a toddler. (Further post-drive therapy included the couch, The Big Lebowski and plenty of White Russians.)
Earlier in the day I had baked a sweet potato cake (similar to a carrot cake, but with grated sweet potato in place of the carrots) to take photos for an article in What’s Up Kids magazine in Toronto. Willem stood guard by it all afternoon, and by the time our friends arrived and we got to eat it, the swirly icing had been further festooned by his tongue.
Sweet Potato Cake with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. salt
1 cup canola oil
4 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 medium sweet potato, unpeeled and coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
1 cup applesauce
1 cup chopped dried fruit, nuts or a combination (optional)
Cream Cheese Frosting:
1 8 oz. (250 g) pkg. regular or light cream cheese, at room temperature
1/4 cup butter, softened
1 Tbsp. lemon juice
2-3 cups icing sugar
Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C). Spray a Bundt pan or two 9″ round cake pans with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, stir together the flours, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. In a smaller bowl, stir together the oil, eggs, and vanilla. Add the oil mixture, grated sweet potatoes and applesauce to the dry ingredients and stir by hand until almost combined. Add the nuts and dried fruit and stir just until the batter is blended.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s). Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes for a Bundt cake, or 40-45 minutes for layer cakes, until the tops are cracked and springy to the touch and the edges are pulling away from the sides of the pan. Cool the cake(s) in the pan for 10-15 minutes, then loosen the edge with a knife, and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.
To make the frosting, beat the cream cheese and butter with an electric mixer until smooth; add the lemon juice and 2 cups of the icing sugar and beat until well blended. Add the remaining icing sugar, a bit at a time, until you have a soft, spreadable consistency.
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May 12 2008 | cake | 3 Comments »
Let me clarify: chocolate-dipped cheesecake pops are not something I would typically make for dessert on a plain old Monday night. I made them for the Eyeopener because tomorrow I’m going to chat about food blogs. Thinking I’d choose a recipe from one of my favorite sites, I hopped around a few and found that Cream Puffs in Venice, Tartelette, and another blog I stumbled through were all posting cheesecake pops. As I was perusing them my friend S emailed from Whistler, where she is apparently hooked on something from the local chocolate shop called cheesecake bombs. I took this as an unmistakable sign that I should make some. What a hero I’m going to be in the studio tomorrow morning!
The pie was to make use of leftover spaghetti; I did a few segments debunking common cooking myths on BT this morning, and as a result had plenty of leftover cooked pasta that was used to demonstrate the myth that adding oil to the cooking water prevents it from sticking together. (It’s a large volume of water, kept at a rolling boil with space for the spaghetti to move around, that keeps it from sticking. In fact, adding oil to your water will result in an oil slick on your pasta once you drain it, and your sauce won’t stick very well.)
Spaghetti Pie.
I’ve seen many versions of spaghetti pie, some in which the pasta is tossed with the sauce and cheese, then baked, others that have the crust par-baked first to crisp it up, and others with layers of cottage cheese between the noodles and sauce.
So I improvised: tossed the leftover spaghetti with some egg white (I had some whose yolks had been used to make lemon curd), a bit of grated Parmesan, a grinding of pepper and a big spoonful of pesto, just because there was some open in the fridge and W is such a fan, then spread the spaghetti into an oiled pie plate, pushing it up the sides a bit.
I had requests for spinach sauce, but had hastily crumbled and cooked a couple lean Italian sausages, a red pepper, a few fresh tomatoes that had gone too wrinkly for anything but cooking with and a can of tomatoes before remembering this, and pureed sausage, I imagine, is not a Good Thing. So I decided to proceed as if it were a lasagna - I crumbled some ricotta and thawed, squeezed-out spinach over the crust,
topped it with the sauce…
and some grated part-skim mozzarella, and baked it at 350F for about half an hour, until all was golden, crsipy-edged and bubbly. Yum.
The cheesecake pops were simple, really, mostly because I didn’t make the cheesecake from scratch like the others did. Some advised making a cheesecake and then scooping up balls of it with your hands, freezing them and then dipping the frozen wads in chocolate. Because I couldn’t envision blaspheming a cheesecake that way, nor attempting to cut one into teeny fancy shapes using a cookie cutter (too thick for any in my collection) I decided to buy one of those small plain frozen Safeway cheeesecakes and cut it into wedges. It worked perfectly.
After inserting the sticks (bamboo skewers, although popsicle sticks or the 4″ lollipop sticks you can buy at Michael’s would work brilliantly), I put them back in the freezer to solidify while I melted some chocolate chips in the microwave, then half dipped, half spread the melted chocolate onto the frozen wedges. Some sprinkles or other decoration would have worked out well, but I didn’t really have anything. That’s the beauty of radio; you don’t really need to accessorize.
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April 28 2008 | cake and dessert and freezable and one dish and pasta and sweet stuff | 6 Comments »
OK, that’s not all we ate. It was staggered between a bowl of oatmeal, strawberries and blackberries, leftover bean salad and some greens, but after a mid-afternoon birthday brunch, none of us were much in the mood for dinner. I’ve decided that on these occasions the most recent meal should count as the default.
Besides, I want to tell you about a chocolate cake that’s low in fat, made with canola oil and tastes like a giant Jos Louis.
But first, brunch: the usual suspects - poached eggs, back bacon, and yes hollandaise since I have recently become reacquainted with it and had people over to safely dispose of (read: take home) the leftovers. And cinnamon bun French toast. A few weeks ago my parents dropped by on their way home from IKEA with a 6-pack of cinnamon buns, and since it a) was 9 o’clock at night, and b) there are only 2 1/2 of us, there wasn’t much to do with them but stash them in the freezer until they could be called into service for an occasion such as this. It was either cinnamon bun bread pudding or cinnamon bun French toast; since bread pudding still seems to still have very few fans, I decided not to risk it.
In case you’re wondering, you make cinnamon bun French toast the same way you’d make it with bread; slice them in half or in thirds, crosswise (they’re thick), dip in egg-milk-vanilla, and cook in a well-seasoned cast iron skillet with a bit of canola oil.
Now, the cake. Chocolate, of course, with my favorite frosting: known in my grandma’s battered cookbooks as 7 Minute Frosting, Boiled Icing or Seafoam, it’s a light, creamy, meringue-like, marshmallowy whip that is beaten in a stainless steel bowl set over simmering water in order to cook the egg whites. The light and creamy texture makes it easy to spread, it’s fat-free (yes I realize it’s loaded with sugar, but no more than regular buttercream frosting, which also contains butter and/or shortening), and takes on flavorings and food coloring very well. (The chocolate cake is delish with peppermint-spiked frosting.) Add a few drops of color to the water if you want to tint the frosting, or drop it in at the end to create a swirled effect. My only complaint is that the ultra-whiteness of it tends to show off every chocolate crumb.
Chocolate Cake
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, or half all-purpose, half whole wheat
1 1/2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. salt
1 cup milk (regular or soy)
1/2 cup canola oil
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup hot coffee or boiling water
Preheat oven to 350° F. Spray two 9″ round baking pans or one Bundt pan with nonstick spray, or line muffin cups with paper liners.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar and cocoa.
Add the milk, oil, eggs and vanilla and beat with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Add the coffee and beat on low speed just until blended. The batter will be thin.
Divide the batter among the prepared pans and bake them for 30-35 minutes for layer cakes, 20-25 minutes for cupcakes or 50-55 minutes for a Bundt cake, until the top of the cakes are springy to the touch. Let them cool for about 10 minutes before running a knife around the edge of the pans and inverting them onto a wire rack. Cool completely before you frost them.
Makes two 9″ layers, 2 dozen cupcakes or one Bundt cake.
Seven Minute Frosting
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 Tbsp. light or golden corn syrup
1/3 cup water
2 large egg whites
1 tsp. vanilla, coconut, maple, mint, or other flavored extract
In the top of a double boiler or in a clean stainless steel bowl set over a pot of simmering water, combine the sugar, corn syrup, water, and egg whites. Make sure the simmering water doesn’t touch the bottom of the bowl or double boiler – you only need an inch or two of water in the pot. Beat the sugar mixture with an electric mixer on high speed for about 7 minutes, until it stands in billowy peaks. Remove it from the heat and beat in the vanilla.
To make Seafoam (Brown Sugar) Frosting: Substitute packed dark or golden brown sugar for the white sugar.
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April 20 2008 | breakfast and cake | 5 Comments »
Today was a Snow Day of the best kind; we woke up to huge clumps of snow accumulating as a record-breaking snowfall that slowed everyone down almost to a halt. My morning meeting was cancelled. I took it as a sign (or really, more of an excuse) to lounge around all day, something I haven’t even been doing on the weekends for a very long time. I suppose it wasn’t so much lounging as puttering, doing laundry, cleaning up my blog and photo files, answering emails and playing and reading books with W. All the stars fell into alignment: there were two full Tim Horton’s coffees in the fridge, some leftover shortcakes for breakfast with the last of the vanilla-cherry jam my friend S brought back from New Zealand, and the latest issue of Cooking Light arrived in the mail. The cherry on top: the first new episode (in ages) of The Office is on tonight!
And because there are so many leftovers from last night, I didn’t even need to cook.
I said I didn’t need to. I am hard wired to want to bake on days when it feels like Sunday and the snow is a foot deep. Besides, the leftovers included a bowl of whipped cream, a dangerous thing to have snowed in with me. I remembered a recipe for whipped cream pound cake in Richard Sax’s Classic Home Desserts, and looked it up, wondering if it would make a suitable poppyseed cake. (My friend A mentioned how much she loves poppyseed cake a few weeks ago after seeing it on the dessert menu at the Highwood, and when I stumbled upon a bag of poppyseeds in the depths of my cupboard last week I pulled it out thinking I’d make one for her.) It seemed strange to me that a cake made with only 2 cups of flour would call for two loaf pans or a 10″ tube pan, so I did my own thing with it, cutting out a third of the sugar while I was at it, and it worked out beautifully.
Whipped cream cake sounds outrageously rich, but this pound cake contains no butter. (Or shortening, or oil.) Because cream is 35% butterfat, in this case it’s a lower fat option, providing this cake with half the fat of other pound cakes.
Lemon Poppyseed Whipped Cream Pound Cake
1 cup whipping cream, chilled
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
grated zest of a lemon or two
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup poppyseeds
Preheat the oven to 350F.
With an electric mixer, whip the cream until stiff; set aside. In a large bowl, beat the eggs for a minute, then slowly add the sugar, beating until the mixture is thick and pale yellow. Beat in the vanilla and lemon zest.
In another bowl, stir together the flour, baking powder and salt. Sprinkle half over the beaten eggs and fold it in with a spatula; then fold in the whipped cream and then the remaining flour, along with the poppyseeds.
Spread into an 8″x4″ loaf pan that has been sprayed with nonstick spray, and bake for 45-50 minutes, until golden and the top is springy to the touch.
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April 10 2008 | cake | 6 Comments »
My craving for pizza has not been satiated since the disappointing pizza I brought home last week. A few days ago I mixed up a batch of no-knead bread dough with the intention of making a pizza. Yesterday, when the dough had already been sitting patiently on the counter for 24 hours when it became apparent that I wouldn’t be able to use it, I put it in the fridge - this slows the yeast-rising process, so it was fine to use today and hadn’t morphed into some form of sourdough. I sauteed some mushrooms and wilted some spinach, and turned out our usual big rectangular pizza on one of my rimmed cookie sheets.
Happily, I did need to test a recipe for an article on honey I’m working on for City Palate, so we made Chocolate-Honey Cupcakes with Honey Ganache. They turned out incredibly well; not overly sweet despite their name, with a fine, dense texture. Although I’ve never been one to turn down a Crave cupcake, it was refreshing to have one that wasn’t top-heavy with a swirl of fatty frosting. The ganache is easy to make and even easier to apply; the result elegant even when the chocolate escapes in a glob down the side. I scattered a few with multicolored sprinkles and popped them in the freezer for Ben and Emily’s next visit on Monday. Next time I’ll have some fresh raspberries and stick one upright in the middle of each cupcake before the ganache has a chance to set. Maybe for W’s third birthday. I do love ganache.
Except that I remember why I never make it: most of it makes its way into my mouth, instead of onto the cakes.
Honey Chocolate Cupcakes with Honey Ganache
Ganache is just a fancy word for chocolate melted with cream, and in this case, honey. It’s the same mixture you’d use to make truffles, only more liquidy. It’s actually easier to make than frosting.
Cupcakes:
2 1/4 cups flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 cups buttermilk or thin plain yogurt
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
2 large eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
Ganache:
1/2 cup whipping cream or half & half
1/2 cup honey
8 oz. (8 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a muffin tin with paper liners, or spray it with nonstick spray.
In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt. In a medium bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, canola oil, honey, eggs and vanilla. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk just until combined.
Fill the lined muffin tins 3/4 full and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until tops are springy to the touch. Repeat with remaining batter. Set on a wire rack to cool.
To make ganache, combine whipping cream and honey in a small saucepan and set over medium heat until it begins to simmer around the edges. Remove from heat and stir in the chocolate. Let sit for a few minutes, and then stir until smooth. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes before pouring over cooled cupcakes. If you like, top each cupcake with sprinkles or a candy or raspberry before the ganache sets.
Makes about 20 cupcakes.
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March 08 2008 | cake and dessert and sweet stuff | 2 Comments »
I suppose at least my current crazy schedule is making this project more interesting. Or more dull?
Today I taught a homemade pasta class at the Cookbook Company with Lina deGaeta, master pasta-maker and the wife of the owner of the Italian Supermarket on the corner of Edmonton Trail and 20th Ave NE. (Who makes, by the way, the best pizza in Calgary - Saturday afternoons only they fire up the wood-burning oven and you can order pizza any way you like it, with real Italian ingredients and chewy, bulbous crusts.)
Tonight though, my call time to the set of It’s Just Food is 10:30pm, and we’re going to shoot all night. So I had a bit of a nap, and then, technically, it was dinnertime. Because I was assembling a sort of “lasagna” made out of fresh ravioli as a beauty shot for the show, I assembled another small one for Mike and W. (I got the idea from a cookbook put out by Real Simple magazine.)
I ate a wedge of frozen chocolate zucchini cake. That counts as dinner, right? After all, it does contain a vegetable, and was made with canola oil - a healthy fat.
Ravioli Lasagna
This is as fast and easy as it gets. The ravioli is already filled, so you don’t need to layer your noodles with filling. Also great when cooking for one – you can make individual sized lasagnas, which isn’t possible when using pasta sheets or lasagna noodles.
If you like, use any kind of cooked veg as well as or in place of the spinach – a container of roasted tomatoes, peppers, zucchini and eggplant from the Italian market works especially well.
1 large jar good-quality tomato sauce
2 16-18 oz. bags fresh or frozen large ravioli - any kind
1 pkg. frozen chopped spinach, thawed
1 cup grated part-skim mozzarella (or as much as you like)
½ cup grated Parmesan
Preheat oven to 350°F.
Spray a 9”x13” baking dish with nonstick spray, and spread about a third of the tomato sauce over the bottom. Lay half the ravioli in a single layer overtop. Sprinkle with the spinach and half the cheese, another third of the sauce and then the remaining ravioli, sauce and cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and bake another 10 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
Serves 6.
(Low Fat) Chocolate Zucchini Cake
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups buttermilk
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup strong coffee
1 zucchini, unpeeled & grated
1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt.
Add buttermilk, brown sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla and beat for 1-2 minutes, until well blended and smooth. Stir in coffee and zucchini. The batter will be thin.
Pour into a bundt pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake for 45 minutes, until springy to the touch.
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March 02 2008 | cake and dessert and freezable and one dish and pasta | 4 Comments »
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