Frustrations and Tea Cakes

I really wanted to call this post frustrations and fruitcakes because it sounded better,

but it would have been false advertising, plus fruitcake are both unpopular and out of season.

While reading my friend's blog this morning I realized that bad days are universal.  No matter what you do for a living, you are bound to have one of those days that just levels you.  You get to work ready to take on whatever you are supposed to face that day and then you are steered into one too many wrong directions and you realize that you would have been better off sleeping through till the next day.  Monday was one of those days for me.  One aggravating situation after another turned the day into my own personal version of Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. By 6:00 PM I was out the door, looking forward to a run to blow off some steam.  I was exhausted but figured that my day would probably benefit more from a run than an evening on my couch with my TV and Campari and soda, so off I went.  The weather was perfect and my run took me on a short tour around the monuments.

I am lucky live in a city where a short run means being able to take see such fabulous views.

As I turned onto P street I slowed down and did something I swore I would never do.  I walked into Whole Foods covered in a post run sweat.  I can't tell you how many times I've been waiting in line at Whole Foods and someone has stood behind me to check out smelling like the workout they just had.  This is probably because there is an absurd number of yoga studios and gyms within a 2 block radius of the store, but still.  Do you really not have time to shower before you shop for your dinner?  Embarrassed that I used to judge the person I had just become, I walked into the store to find something to cook.

A friend who tasted my mango sorbet suggested I try to make a pina colada version.  I picked up some pineapple and coconut milk and decided to give it a try.  After looking up a few recipes I decided to combine one from Holy Cannoli and one from a random Google search.  While the recipe mash up wasn't a great success, the work frustration that the run didn't get rid of was quickly squashed by chopping and pureeing an entire pineapple.  While the mixture that was to become a sorbet failure was chilling in the refrigerator, I decided to bake a cake.

Like I said, I had a really bad day and had to work it off.

A while ago I had the idea of making a poundcake and infusing it with Earl Grey tea scented simple syrup.  What better time than that night to try it?

Early Grey Pound Cake

Adapted from a recipe found on Piece of Cake

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour, spooned and leveled ( I used regular flour)
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 cups sugar
6 eggs
1 cup sour cream (I used 2% milk because that's all I had in the fridge)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.  In a mixer blend the butter and sugar until completely incorporated.  Slowly add the eggs, one at a time.  Add the milk and vanilla to the mixer until completely blended.  Add half the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients until well mixed in, and then add the other half. Pour into 2 buttered and floured loaf pans and bake for about 90 minutes.

It's a pretty standard pound cake recipe. What makes this cake a little different and a lot tastier is the early grey simple syrup.

I love tea.  I drink a lot of it during the winter.  Less so once it warms up.  My sister introduced me to a tea shop in Pike Place Market in Seattle where she lives and I bought a few different kinds just to try.  My friend gave me some pretty intense Earl Grey tea not long ago so I used it for this recipe.  Along with tea, I also bought little bags at Market Spice to make my own tea bags.  They are perfect if you have loose tea and just want to make a little bit of tea.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of confectioner's sugar

1/4 cup water

2 tbs of earl grey tea leaves.

Directions:

Put the sugar and water in a sauce pan and stir over medium heat until the sugar has completely dissolved.  Place the earl grey teabag in the syrup and let it steep over low heat for as long as you feel necessary.

I left mine in for a good half hour because I wanted it to be as flavorful as possible.  I ended up adding a little water because the syrup became too thick.

It should turn brown, like tea does.

This is where experimenting doesn't always work.  I poured my early grey syrup onto the two cakes right after they were removed from the oven.

I poked a few holes in the cakes and then poured it right on.  Looking back I would have waited about 20 minutes for the cakes to cool, removed them from the pans and then poured the syrup on them.  The syrup make the cakes stick to the bottom and the sides a bit which made it harder to remove them from the pans.  Live and learn.  If you aren't too concerned about esthetics, the cakes were great.

The syrup seeped into the cake and livened up the otherwise banal pound cake with the unmistakable floral tones of Earl Grey tea.  The sweet glaze finish wasn't bad either.

Yum.

Autumn Plums

Summer is unfortunately over.  It's a fact.  It has only been over for 4 days, but to me, it ended the day I came back from vacation about two weeks ago.  As much as I love the cooler fall days, it's always hard to say goodbye to warm nights- the perfect excuse to go out for drinks and sit outside, farmers markets FULL of fruits and vegetables, and my favorite "it's a Friday in August so I'm leaving work early" excuse.  Fall means back to school, back to work and the start of the root vegetable season at the farmers' market.  Before all brightly colored fruits hibernate for the winter, fall gives us a few last bursts of color, like the pomegranate, the plum and figs (OK I know some figs are black but there are some pretty lime green ones too!)

I've discovered a new interest in cocktails.  I never really enjoyed sweet cocktails like the Cosmopolitan but I thought those sugary/sour/fruity drinks were my only option if I wanted something other than a beer or a glass of wine while sitting at a bar.  This isn't the first time that it turns out that's I'm wrong..  Over the summer I found several bars, in DC and other cities, that are "re-creating" the cocktail, using creative new combinations of flavors and ingredients.  Fruits, herbs, bitters, infusions- the possibilities are endless.  I've made Limoncello before and I just infused vodka with lemon verbena but those both have vodka.  I wanted to try a new liquor.  To go along with my "fall" mood, I thought I would try a recipe for plum brandy my sister found for me in the New York Times. She sent me two recipes: "Brandied Plums with Cinnamon and Vanilla" and "Pomegranate Gin Preserve". Brandied plums it is! The pomegranates will have to wait.

Brandied Plums with Cinnamon and Vanilla

Adapted from The New York Times - published on September 21, 2010

Ingredients:

2 lb of plums

1/2 cup sugar

1 liter of brandy

one cinnamon stick

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise

Directions:

This really could not be easier.  I changed the original proportions a little but nothing really changed all that much.  The recipe is put together in under 10 minutes and then you just have to wait.

Wash the plums and prick them all over with the tip of a sharp knife.  Put them in a large jar (the kind with a top that clamps shut).  I used  3 liter jar and it was not full.

Pour the sugar over the plums and then add the brandy.  Plop in the cinnamon stick and the vanilla bean and voila!

Let the jar sit in a cool dark place (not the fridge) for at least 6 weeks, and up to 3-4 months.  Gently "shake" the jar from time to time, by turning the jar over.  Who knows.  This is an experiment.  The ingredients sound like they would go together and it if works, I'll have a delicious drink to sip when it's cold this winter (or give away as Christmas gifts because let's be honest, that's a lot of brandy).  I'll keep you updated on the brandy's status!

 

***

I had some plums leftover so I thought I would make a cake.  Last week I made a delicious peach upside down cake with the last of my summer peaches.  I've learned that most stone fruit desserts work with just about any type of stone fruit (or any sort of fruit in general really because a tart tatin is the apple version of this cake.)

Plum and Rum Raisin Upside Down Cake

Adapted from the Honey Peach Upside Down Cake from Hotpolkadot

Ingredients:

About 8-10 plums depending on the kind you use and how big they are- quartered

1/4 cup of maple syrup

1/4 cup of golden raisins soaked in about 1/4 cup of rum - drained.

1 cup of flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup unsalted butter - room temperature

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup honey

2 eggs

 

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.  Butter a 9 inch round cake pan (sides and bottom).  Cup out a round piece of parchment paper and put it on the buttered bottom of the pan.  Butter the parchment round.  (I know it sounds like a lot of butter but this is an upside down cake.  You really don't want it to stick when it comes time to flip).

Pour the maple syrup on top of the buttered parchment paper.  The original recipe called for honey but I thought the deeper flavor of maple syrup would taste really nice with plums.  Take your plum quarters and arrange them, cut side down, in a nice circular pattern.  Take your rum raisin and sprinkle them evenly over the plums.  Set this aside and now.  It's time to work on the cake batter.

In a small bowl, mix together your dry ingredients (flour, salt and baking powder).

In your mixer's bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.  Add the honey and then the eggs.  I added a little nutmeg because I think nutmeg tastes like fall.  You can omit it, of course, or add your spice of choice.

Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and you're done!  The batter will not soupy.  In fact, you probably won't be able to pour it out of the bowl.  Use a spatula to scoup and plop it into the pan (kind of like mashed potatoes).  Don't be afraid to use your fingers to gently convince the batter to fill in the little holes between the plums.  Work the batter into the pan and put it in the middle of the oven.

The recipe calls for baking the cake for 30-35 minutes.  Both times I made this it took me more like 40-43.  See what works for you.

When the cake is done (clean toothpick test), let it cool until you can pick up the pan with your fingers without burning them (idiot test).  Put a large plate over the pan and quickly flip it and put the plate down on the table.  If all the buttering did its job the cake should easily slip out of the pan.  If the parchment paper came out of the pan with the cake, just carefully peel it off.

Serve it warm or refrigerate it for the next day.

Happy fall.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thomas Keller’s “Grapefruit” Cake

What does one do with 6 oranges, naked, just sitting there in bowl after I peeled them for candied orange rind??  Find a recipe that uses the flesh of an orange!  I wasn’t looking very long before I found a recipe for a citrus cake.  My mother gave me Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home cookbook a few weeks ago so I went to that book first.  What luck… he has a grapefruit cake recipe.  What uses grapefruit can use orange I’m sure.  Problem solved!

I made a cake similar to this one a while ago but this recipe is slightly different and it’s a Thomas Keller recipe so it pretty much has to be good right?

“Grapefruit Cake”

Adapted from Thomas Keller’s Ad Hoc at Home

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups of all purpose flower

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 2/3 cup of granulated sugar

2 large eggs

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cups of canola oil (I used equal amounts of apple sauce.  Apple sauce is healthier and keeps the cake just as moist. Upgrade!)

1tbls grapefruit zest (I actually used grapefruit and not orange here. I’m sure you could completely substitute all things grapefruit in this recipe with orange but I thought I would mix the two and call the cake “citrus”.)

1 tsp vanilla paste ( I just used vanilla extract.  Sorry TK I didn’t make your vanilla paste ahead of time) 

 

For the “grapefruit” aka orange syrup:

1 cup strained fresh pink grapefruit juice (or orange juice in my case)

2/3 cup granulated sugar

“Grapefruit” Icing:

I used clementines here.  Might as well through another citrus fruit into the mix!

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1 tbs plus 1tsp fresh pink grapefruit juice (or clementine juice in my case)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  The recipe calls for one 10x4 inch loaf pan but I had regular, small, loaf pans so I used two of them.  Spray you pans with oil or butter them up!

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt together and set aside. 

In another bowl combine the sugar and eggs in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer.  Mix for about 3 minutes or until the mixtures is thick enough to leave a trail behind the mixing “wisks”. 

Next, beat in the milk, the oil (or the applesauce in my case), grapefruit zest and the vanilla.  Once all wet ingredients are well incorporated slowly add the dry ingredients that you mixed together in the first bowl.

Pour the mixture into both loaf pans.  Keller says to score the top of the batter with a knife and make a 3/4 inch “slice” into the batter to give the cakes a nice little crack on the top once it has baked.  I did this and didn’t really see what he was talking about but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t give it a try!  Score away.

Bake the cakes for an hour or until your toothpick comes out clean.

…meanwhile…

While you cakes are baking make the citrus syrup to pour on top of the cake once it comes out of the oven.

Combine the citrus juice and sugar in a saucepan and cook over medium heat just until the sugar has dissolved.

As soon as you take the cakes out of the oven take a long skewer (or the candy thermometer like I did.. it was the only long, clean “stick” I could find – chopsticks would work well too) and poke the cakes with 3/4 inch deep holes.  These will help the syrup that you are gently pouring over the cakes seep in.  Let the cakes cool for about 15 minutes then remove them from the pan.  Pour the icing over the cakes and you’re finished!

***

As a kid my mom would fix my sister and me pound cake with yogurt as a snack after we came home from school.  This is sort like pound cake, so why not try it with yogurt?!

Citrus/yogurt sandwich!  Amazing.

Blogs, food and delicious looking pictures

It's no secret that I can spend hours reading food blogs. Bored at work? Read a food blog! Don't know what to cook and need some inspiration? READ A FOOD BLOG! Like many foodies (I'm still not sure if I like the word...but let's go ahead and use it) tastespotting.com is one of my favorites. What could be better than page after page of food pictures? And behind every picture? A link to the blog it came from! It's as if someone took the time to gather all the most amazing looking pictures from the best food blogs and neatly packaged them into one perfect little food blog. Oh wait, that's exactly what they did! Heaven.

I don't bake much. I'll make the occasional tart, or brownies or banana bread, but other than that I mostly cook. A picture of a super moist grapefruit cake convinced me to go out and stock up on flour and sugar and bake!

Yogurt+ flouer+ grapefruit zest+sugary glaze = amazingly moist, delighfully citrusy grapefruit cake!

Recipe:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup plain whole-milk yogurt ( I used low-fat and it tasted just fine!)
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
3 extra-large eggs
zest of two large grapefruits
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup freshly squeezed grapefruit juice

for the glaze:
1 cup confectioner's sugar
2 tablespoons freshly squeezed grapefruit juice (i used a moreless - about 2 and a half)


original recipe found on pickycook.com
http://www.pickycook.com/dessert/grapefruityogurtcake.aspx