Blackberry-Lime Julep Cake

Published on May 17, 2018 by alisahuntsmanLeave a comment

Well, it goes without saying, I have neglected this blog lately. As spring approached, things in the garden at home and in the Demonstration Garden got busy, very busy. As we have worked to prepare the Demonstration Garden, a small team of volunteers worked on getting the word out. The result, a chance to tape two segments for a local TV show, Talk of the Town. The plan, tie the garden into the Royal wedding happening this Saturday. The result, a Blackberry-Lime Julep Cake and opportunity to talk about flowers.

While the cake the royal couple chose sounds delicious, I had to give it a southern spin. Spring in the south means horse races, lots of flowers and a bit of bourbon drinking in the form of mint juleps. For a cake, those things all work well. Elderflowers are not easy to come by but blackberries are so I decided to make a cake that combined blackberries and lime with a rich bourbon buttercream. And for those of you that are shaking your head and wondering about the mint, I chose to use it to decorate the cake. In the photo above, you can see Mountain Mint, False Blue Indigo, Red roses, Blackberry blossoms, Cilantro blossoms, Chamomile blossoms, Tansy leaves and Thyme. If you want to use fresh flowers or herbs to decorate a cake, be sure that they have not been treated with any chemicals. These all came from the garden and were grown without any chemicals, and with the exception of the Tansy and the False Blue Indigo, they are all edible.

And because I love to swirl colors together, I marbleized the layers of the cake and I suggest you do this too! The pale green color of the lime batter contrasted nicely with the purple blackberry batter. Honestly, you could do this with blueberries as well, the recipe was adapted from one in my first book, Sky High Irresistible Triple Layer Cakes.

Blackberry Julep Cake

Makes 1 (8-inch) triple layer cake to serve about 16

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 cups sugar

1 tablespoon freshly grated lime zest

½ teaspoon salt

7 egg whites

3 cups cake flour

4 teaspoons baking powder

1-1/4 cups milk

Blackberry-Lime Preserves, recipe follows

Bourbon Buttercream, recipe follows

Fresh flowers, mint sprigs and blackberries for decoration

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease 3 (8”) cake pans, line them with parchment paper and grease the paper. In a mixer bowl, cream the butter with the sugar, lime zest and salt until light and fluffy. Gradually add the egg whites, 2-3 at a time, beating well between additions and stopping to scrape the bowl.

2. Combine the flour with the baking powder and whisk gently to blend. In 2-3 alternating additions, beat the dry ingredients and milk into the butter mixture, scraping down the sides of the bowl several times. Beat on medium-high speed for about 1 minute to smooth out any lumps and aerate the batter.

3. Scoop out 1 cup of the batter into a small bowl. Divide the remainder equally among the 3 prepared pans, smoothing out the tops with a rubber spatula. Mix 2-1/2 tablespoons of the Blackberry-Lime Preserves to the reserved batter and blend well. Drizzle heaping teaspoons of this blackberry mixture over the batter in the pans. Using a skewer or paring knife, swirl the blackberry mixture in short strokes to drag it down through the batter but take care not to mix it in.

4. Bake for about 25 minutes or until a cake tester or toothpick stuck into the center comes out clean and the cake begins to pull away from the sides of the pan. Let the layers cool in the pan for about 10 minutes, then turn them out onto wire racks, remove the parchment paper and allow them to cool completely.

5. To assemble the cake, place a layer, flat side up on a cake stand or serving plate. Spread half of the Blackberry-Lime Preserves over the top. Place a second layer on top of the first and spread the remaining preserves over it. Finally, place the third layer on top of the second and frost the sides and top of the cake with the Bourbon Buttercream Frosting. Arrange the flowers, mint and berries around the top of the cake and the serving plate.

Blackberry-Lime Preserves

Makes about 1 cup

3 cups frozen blackberries, fresh or frozen

¾ cups sugar

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice

2 teaspoons freshly grated lime zest

1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger

1. If using frozen blackberries, allow them to thaw and the juices to accumulate. Place the berries and the juice into a blender. Puree the berries and pass them through a strainer to remove the seeds.

2. In a heavy medium nonreactive saucepan, combine the blackberry puree with the sugar, lime juice, lime zest and the ginger. Bring to a gentle boil over medium heat, stirring frequently dissolve the sugar. Continue cooking, stirring often, for 20 minutes, until the preserves have thickened and are reduced to 1 cup.

Bourbon Buttercream

Makes about 3-1/2 cups

1 cup sugar

6 tablespoons Bourbon

2 eggs

3 sticks (12 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tablesoons freshly squeezed lime juice

1. In a small nonreactive saucepan, combine the sugar and Bourbon. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Continue to boil with out stirring, occasionally washing down the sides of the pan with a wet pastry brush, until the syrup reaches the soft-ball stage, 238 degrees F, on a candy thermometer. Immediately remove from the heat.

2. In a large mixer bowl with the mixer on medium speed, beat the eggs briefly. Slowly add the hot syrup in a thin stream, pouring it down the sides of the bowl; be careful to avoid hitting the beaters or the syrup will splatter. When all of the syrup has been added, raise the speed to medium-high and beat until the mixture is very fluffy and cooled to body temperature. This can take 15 minutes or longer.

3. Reduce the mixer speed to medium-low and gradually add the softened butter 2-3 tablespoons at a time, beating well between additions. As you’re adding the last few tablespoons of butter, the frosting will appear to break, then suddenly come together like whipped butter. Beat in the lime juice, and the frosting is ready for use.

Sky_High

Many thanks to Tuwanda Coleman and Talk of the Town for the opportunity to tape the segments and for promoting the Urban Gardening Festival. To see the segments from Talk of the Town, follow these links:

Blackberry-Julep Cake

The Royal Bouquet

pineapple upside-down slab cake

Published on January 13, 2018 by alisahuntsman1 Comment

Every month, our Master Gardener group has a potluck dinner that precedes our meeting. Each member brings a dish to feed about 8-10 people and I always bring cake. My original plan was to make an apple cake to use a few leftover apples, but when I went to the grocery store, pineapples were on sale. My plans quickly changed.

If you have spent any time on the internet looking at dessert recipes, you have seen recipe after recipe for slab pies. Honestly, I have seen too many. Yes, they are a little easier than a typical pie but I felt it was time for a change. As I planned my dessert for the dinner, I decided to double it and bake it in a roasting pan; an upside-down sheet cake. The result, a big slab of cake to feed a crowd.

One very important note to all of you bakers, this recipe is formulated by weights! Cups are great but can vary from set to set as well as from baker to baker since everybody has their own way of filling them. By using weights, you get exactly what you need! Purchasing a scale is easy, they can be found in most stores that sell baking equipment and are relatively cheap, mine cost me $15 and I use it a lot!

To make a really good pineapple upside-down cake, you must use a fresh pineapple. While canned fruit will work in a pinch, it just does not have the flavor of a fresh pineapple. If you do not want to mess with cleaning a fresh one, look in the refrigerated section of the produce department in the grocery store. Most stores will stock fresh pineapple that has been peeled and cored, keep in mind that it will also cost at least double the price.

Another reason to buy a whole fruit, the crown. Pineapple tops, if removed correctly, can be rooted and grown and in about 2 years, you will actually get a fruit. Before you cut the fruit, grab the top and twist until it releases and breaks free. You will get a little pointed knob on the bottom. Set it aside for now and carefully trim away all of the skin and eyes using a serrated knife. Cut the fruit in half, from top to bottom, and then cut each piece in half. You will have a somewhat triangular piece of fruit and the core will be at the pointed end. Using your knife, cut the core away in one long strip. Lay the piece down and slice the fruit into 3/8 of an inch thick. Take all of the little scraps and small pieces and chop them up, you will need 5 ounces, about 2/3 cup, for the cake recipe. Be sure to use the ugly pieces for this!

Use a roasting pan that is 10 inches by 13 inches or use a rectangular cake pan of a similar size as long as the sides are close to two inches high. Grease the pan well and pour in the caramel. Tilt the pan to spread it evenly across the bottom and then layer in the slices in any pattern that suits you. For my cake, I chose rows simply because they would act as a cutting guide for the person who would be slicing the cake and it worked out beautifully.

When the cake comes out of the oven, it is important that you let it sit for 10 minutes before unmolding it or the fruit will stick to the pan. The caramel is boiling at that point and it needs to cool a bit to form a bond with the fruit and the cake. If you wait too long, you will need to return it to the oven to heat it up again, so this step is not one that you want to lose track of. Set your timer for 10 minutes when you take it from the oven and wait for it! Place a sheet tray or serving platter over the cake and invert it. The cake should release immediately and fall right out onto the platter. Allow it to completely cool off before slicing or the cake will crumble.

The perfect blend of spice cake and caramelized fruit!

While your cake cools, let’s get that crown taken care of! Gently pull off the leaves of the crown until you reveal what looks like roots. Believe it or not, they are roots! When you have a nice layer of them that goes all the way around the pointed end, place it in a glass of water.

Keep it near a bright window and be sure to change the water frequently so that it does not get moldy or fermented. If all goes well, you will have roots that stretch down into the water and you can plant it in a pot. Use a light soil, one that will not hold water and make sure it is in a warm, sunny spot. It will take a long time to grow a fruit, be patient! For more information, here is a good link on growing pineapples.

This method has worked for me in the past, and it has also failed. The good news is that pineapples are affordable and you can experiment with allowing it to dry out and plant it directly into soil as well as rooting in water! Look for the grocery store to have a sale, this one was $1.89, the peeled/cored ones were $5.99!

Pineapple Upside-Down Slab Cake

serves about 36

Please note, this cake can be baked in one roasting pan, 10″ x 13″ or in two 10″ cake pans or cast iron skillets. The recipe is also easily divided in half since the ingredients are measured by weight! Cup measurements are included but are approximate amounts and may yield slightly different results.

topping

1 ripe pineapple, peeled and sliced as described above

4 ounces unsalted butter

4 ounces dark brown sugar (1/2 cup)

5-1/2 ounces light honey (1/2 cup)

cake

8 ounces unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

11-1/2 ounces granulated sugar (1-2/3 cup)

8 ounces dark brown sugar (1 cup)

1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

1 pound and 6 ounces all purpose flour (4-1/2 cups)

4 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground mace

1 cup buttermilk

5 ounces of chopped pineapple (2/3 cup)

Preheat the oven to 325F. To make the topping, prepare the pineapple as directed and set it aside. In a skillet or saute pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. Add the brown sugar and honey and stir to dissolve it. Bring the mixture to a slow boil and allow it to cook until it thickens a bit, 2-3 minutes. Pour the syrup into the greased pan and tilt it to spread it evenly. Carefully arrange the pineapple slices and set this aside while you prepare the cake.

To prepare the cake, place the butter, the sugars, ginger, vanilla and salt into a mixing bowl. With the mixer on low, combine the ingredients, scrape the bowl well and then allow it to cream until fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Be sure to scrape the bowl well to combine it evenly. Place the flour, baking powder and spices into a mesh strainer or sifter and sift it over the bowl, all at once. Fold it by hand a few times, dump the buttermilk in, all at once and fold it completely. Finally, add the reserved pineapple bits and the juice that has accumulated in the cup and finish folding it until no streaks of flour or juice remain. Carefully drop dollops of the batter over the pineapple in the pan and gently spread it out evenly over the surface. Use an offset palette knife along with a gentle hand for the best results, you do not want to disturb the pattern of the fruit!

Bake the cake until a pick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 1 hour. Remove from the oven, allow it to sit for 10 minutes (use a timer for this!) and then invert it onto a serving platter or tray. It is best to wait until it is completely cooled to cut it, you may have to restrain yourself!

guess again…a tomato spice cake

Published on September 5, 2017 by alisahuntsman2 Comments

When I signed up to attend the hypertufa workshop, read about that here, I knew that I had to bring a cake with me. As I walked in with my traveling cake safe, I heard a few gasps, and exclamations; “oh, you brought a cake!” This came as no surprise to some, especially Doris, who looked at me and smiled and said “You brought cake? Of course you did!!!” She obviously knows me, and the truth is, occasions like this are really just an excuse to take a mold down from the wall and use it!

Late summer is tomato season and if you find yourself with a few too many, consider making a cake with them. Actually, this recipe is versatile enough that you can make it with canned tomatoes, either crushed or puree, or even with tomato juice which means you can have it anytime. If you use a purchased puree or juice, check the ingredient list to make sure that ingredients such as onions or garlic are not included.

A few things to consider here. Raisins are one of those ingredients that you either love or hate. Personally, I am not a big fan but in this recipe, the golden raisins really work. Just be sure not to skip the step to plump them or they will actually draw moisture from the cake and can make it seem dry. If you use fresh tomatoes, blanch them to remove the skin and then cut each one in half and squeeze out as many of the seeds as you can before pureeing them. The nice thing about using fresh tomatoes, you can mix it up by changing the variety of tomato. Of course, you can just use a can of puree and make it anytime you want a fresh baked spice cake.

As the summer fades, spice cakes shift to center stage. Slightly denser, jammed full of warm spices, and in this case, loaded with dried fruit and nuts, spice cakes are the perfect pick-me-up as the temperatures finally start to cool off. For this cake, I combined cinnamon, allspice, cloves and freshly grated nutmeg which give the cake a warm, spicy flavor.

Guess Again Tomato Cake

with raisins and pecans

makes an 8-inch bundt cake, serves about 8-12

1/2 cup golden raisins

1/2 cup pecan pieces

2 cups cake flour

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

5 ounces (1 stick + 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter, softened

1-1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

1 cup tomato juice, puree or crushed tomatoes

vanilla glaze, recipe follows

Preheat the oven to 350. Grease and flour a 6 to 8 cup tube or bundt pan. Place the golden raisins in a small saucepan, cover with water and bring to a boil. Remove from the heat and let the raisins plump until cooled. Drain well before using.

Toast the pecan pieces on a baking sheet for 5 to 7 minutes, until lightly colored and fragrant. Transfer to a dish and allow to cool.

In a mixing bowl, combine the cake flour, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, cloves and nutmeg. Set the dry ingredients aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter on medium-low speed for 1 minute. Add the brown sugar and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and mix completely, scraping the bowl at least once. Sift one-third of the dry ingredients over the butter mixture, fold by hand a few times and add half of the tomato. Fold a few times; sift half of the remaining spiced flour over the batter, add the remaining juice, and fold a few times. Add the last of the flour mixture, and fold the batter gently until no streaks remain. Add the raisins and pecans and fold enough to incorporate them evenly.

Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, spread it out evenly and bake until a pick inserted comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Allow to cool in the pan for at least 10 minutes, then unmold and cool on a wire rack. Using a large spoon, ladle the glaze over the top of the cake, completely covering the top and letting the excess drip down the sides randomly.

Vanilla Glaze

makes about 3/4 cup

2 cups confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

1/3 cup milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the confectioners sugar into a bowl. Add the melted butter, milk and vanilla. Whisk until smooth and creamy, use at once.

This cake is from my second book, Desserts from the Famous Loveless Cafe.

just another sunday in paris…a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on February 14, 2017February 14, 2017 by alisahuntsman12 Comments

If only I knew what a Sunday in Paris was like; someday… Actually, in this case, it is a reference to a pastry shop in Paris and that is the name of it; Sunday in Paris. This cake is a specialty of theirs and a favorite of Dorie Greenspan’s which is why she developed the recipe for her book, Baking Chez Moi. The Tuesdays with Dorie bakers chose this cake for February and it was a great cake for Valentine’s day, or any day that chocolate and peanut butter are appropriate-otherwise known as everyday in my book!

Peanut butter is not that popular in Paris where Nutella apparently reigns but here in Tennessee, it flies and fast. We took this cake to a potluck dinner and I came home with crumbs on a dirty tray. The dark, rich cake reminded me of Drakes Devil Dogs with a hint of peanut butter. To have enough for the dinner, I doubled the recipe and baked it in a pullman loaf pan to make a tall, brick shaped cake. We didn’t have any peanuts in the house but while rummaging through the cupboards, I found a Payday bar and chopped some of it up for the garnish on the top.

This is a recipe I would make again and if you have the book, do not hesitate to try it! To see what the other bakers came up with this week, visit the website! To participate, pick up a copy of the book and bake along with us.

granola cake; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on January 24, 2017January 24, 2017 by alisahuntsman12 Comments

Back in September, I learned we were relocating again. After a few bumps in the road, we have landed back in Nashville and are settling into our new home. During the move, one of the things I missed the most was being able to bake in my own kitchen and now that I have a kitchen again, I am also baking again!

First up; granola cake. Actually, this recipe comes from Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan and not only is it the first cake I have baked in a while, it is the first time I have been able to join the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers since we started packing up for the move. Since we are back in Nashville, we are active with the Master Gardener program and this cake was a great choice for the potluck dinner we have each month. Having cut the cake into thin slices, I placed the cake on the dessert table and didn’t have any trouble convincing folks to try it!

The recipe calls for bittersweet chocolate, shredded coconut and granola which all combine to make the flavor similar to an oatmeal cookie with coconut and chocolate chips. The only thing you need to know, use a good quality granola because it is a large part of the flavor and texture of the cake. With this in mind, I made a small batch of my own granola rather than buy it.

While I am not posting the recipe for the cake, we do not post the recipes from the book out of respect for the author, I am posting the recipe for the granola that I used in the cake. This recipe is the one that I made for years when I was working at the Loveless Cafe and I suggest you mix up a batch-it’s that good!

Granola

This small recipe makes about 2 cups of granola and can easily be doubled or tripled, just store it airtight and use it within a month. My preference is to use a combination of wildflower honey and sorghum but you can use just one for the total amount. If you can’t find sorghum, molasses will work but will give it a little more color.

3/4 oz light brown sugar

1-3/4 oz pecan pieces

5 oz whole rolled oats

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon honey

1 tablespoon sorghum

Preheat the oven to 350. Line a baking pan with parchment paper. In a heat proof bowl, stir together the brown sugar, oats, nuts and cinnamon, set aside. In a small pan, combine the butter, honey and sorghum and over low heat, stir until the butter melts and the mixture is heated but not boiling. Pour the melted butter mixture over the oats and stir until it is combined. Dump the mixture onto the prepared pan and spread it out evenly. Bake for about 10 minutes, stir it well and continue baking for another 10 minutes or so. The time depends on how thin the layer is in the pan. Keep a close eye on the granola and stir it frequently until it turns a nice deep amber color. When the granola is the color you want, remove it from the oven and let it sit for 5 minutes. Using your hands-it will still be hot and it needs to be pretty warm for this to work, break up the granola so that it will be free flowing when it cools off. Gently rub the clumps between your fingers to separate the large lumps-they will be pretty hard once cooled so do not be tempted to leave them in tact. Allow it to cool completely and store it airtight.

Want to bake along with us? Pick up a copy of the book, visit the website and get to work!

matcha financiers; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on March 21, 2016March 7, 2016 by alisahuntsman13 Comments

A while back, I picked up a little tin of matcha tea so that I could try baking with it. Needless to say, it has been living on the spice rack in the pantry and would probably still be there, unopened, if the Tuesdays with Dorie bakers had not chosen to make matcha financiers this week!

Since we are trying to lose a little weight here, I only made a third of the recipe which gave me 10 little cakes. My new pan, one I found on my last trip to Pennsylvania, is actually for popovers and for some reason, it only has 7 cups in it which meant I had to use 2 pans. The ones I baked in the muffin pan, a black-nonstick pan, are on the right side of the photo. The look very different from the ones baked in my aluminum popover pan.

Not only did they look different, they also came out shorter and much darker. Beleive it or not, I used a portion scoop and each one is the same amount of batter-the pans were just so different that it really shows in the baked cakes above.

Matcha tea is not easy to find and I picked mine up in a spice shop that also sells teas. The tin is so cute but if you notice the size of my measuring spoons next to it, you should see that it is also tiny; it holds barely 2 tablespoons!

My new, old pan. It is a fairly heavy gauge, aluminum popover pan and the cups are nice and deep. Best part, I think I spent $3.00 for it!

A side view of the cups-nice and deep

The photo in the book has very bright green cakes but the recipe tells you that the batter will be a pea green. Mine are definitely pea green which makes me wonder about the photo in the book. The day these were baked, the flavor was a little grassy and I did not care for them but as they aged for a day or two, the flavor improved, a lot. These may make another appearance in our kitchen, but not for a while-we really need to get back on track with the diet!

To see how the other bakers did, visit the website. Feel like baking along with us? Pick up a copy of the book and head to the kitchen!

odile’s fresh orange cake; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on March 8, 2016March 7, 2016 by alisahuntsman26 Comments

It has been a while since I have participated in the Tuesdays with Dorie baking and I decided to get back to it this week by baking Odile’s Fresh Orange Cake. Luckily for me, I happened to have a bowl of Sky Valley heirloom oranges from Trader Joe’s camping out on the kitchen counter and this gave me a way to use them before they went bad.

The recipe is simple and easy to prepare, it was also very easy to cut in half thanks to the fact that Dorie includes the weights for the ingredients in the recipe. Honestly, if you aren’t using a scale at home, you really need to pick one up. It is easier to weigh out ingredients and it guarantees accuracy.

To decorate the cake, I followed the directions except rather than use slices of whole oranges, I cut the oranges into sections-not really the supremes but close enough! And just as Dorie suggested, I only used half of the syrup to soak the cake. The rest was drizzled over the slices as I cut them from the cake. The flavor is strongly orange but not overpowering or cloying, either one is easy to do with orange. The soaking from drizzling half of the syrup on the warm cake gave it a nice amount of moisture without making it wet or soggy.

My half batch of batter made a 6 inch cake which actually was more than we could eat. We both like oranges and will snack on them but when an orange flavored dessert is offered, neither of us will go crazy with it. This cake would probably be wonderful with tangerines or blood oranges so I may try it again! To see what the other bakers came up with, be sure to visit the website and if you would like to bake along with us, pick up a copy of Baking Chez Moi and head to the kitchen!

lemon-parsnip cake; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on January 12, 2016January 12, 2016 by alisahuntsman26 Comments

The cake for today’s challenge is supposed to be a tangerine-carrot cake but after a quick check in the fridge, I could only find lemons. Then I spied the last lonely parsnip and decided that I should keep going in this direction and change it all up. We have been trying to cut back on snacking and it has been a while since I made a cake. The fresh eggs from our hens are stacking up on the counter and it was a chance to use a couple.

The change from tangerine to lemon meant that the acid level was increased and I am pretty sure that it changed the texture of the cake and made it a little denser than the description in the recipe. Even so, it was still pleasingly moist and a little firm. The parsnip mellowed during the baking and honestly, you wouldn’t know it was there unless I told you.

The only other observation I made was that the batter amount baked up just fine in my 8 inch tart pan. After greasing the ring and bottom and dusting it with flour, I set it onto a sheet pan to prevent leakage in the oven. It came out of the pan and off the bottom beautifully. This was such an easy cake to make and honestly, the potential combinations are numerous so I can see myself pulling this recipe out again when I need a quick and foolproof cake!

Please consider picking up a copy of Baking Chez Moi by Dorie Greenspan and baking along with us. To join in on the fun, visit the website and see how the other bakers made out with this recipe!

pear-almond baby loaves; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on November 3, 2015 by alisahuntsman10 Comments

Now that I am home full-time, not only do I plan to work on my book, I also plan to participate with the Tuesdays with Dorie group more. This week, we are working from the book Baking with Julia and the chosen recipe is for Hazelnut baby loaves. The recipe is actually for a small loaf cake and requires an unusual pan size. Most mini loaf pans are 5″ x 3″ x 2″ or a close approximation to that but the recipe calls for eight 4″ x 2″ x 2″ pans and I only have three-hard to believe. After looking in a couple of shops, I could only find the 5″ pans and had no desire to buy a big baking plaque for loaves in that size (think rectangular cupcake pan) so I did the next best thing; I used a muffin pan.

My tale of woe does not end here. When one isn’t working, one watches spending and I could not bring myself to spend $6 on hazelnuts when I only needed 1/3 cup so I used 1/4 cup of almond flour, something I am apparently hoarding in my freezer.

When my husband and I went to the not so local International market on Sunday, I stocked up on tiny pears. They had both Fourelle and Seckel pears and I chose a half-dozen of each. What can I say, I happen to love pears and was thinking of something I saw on Pinterest recently and thought I would give it a try. First I poached the pears. To do this, I placed the peeled pears-stems and cores left in place, into a saucepan with 1/2 cup ruby port, 1/2 cup apple cider, 2 cups water, 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1 cardamom pod, 1 star anise pod, a 1″ piece of vanilla bean, 3 whole allspice and 5 whole black pepper corns. With the heat at medium-low, I allowed the pears to simmer gently, turning them occasionally so they would color evenly until they were tender when a knife tip was inserted. The pears were allowed to sit in the liquid until mostly cooled and then were carefully lifted out and placed in a dish lined with a paper towel and placed in the fridge over night.

The recipe also called for creme fraiche and since I had some heavy cream and cultured buttermilk, I made my own by pouring 1 cup of cream into a glass measuring cup, then I stirred in a tablespoon of buttermilk and let it sit out overnight. It was pretty thick-I may have added a bit more than a tablespoon of buttermilk.

Having toasted the almond flour, I proceeded with the recipe but doubled the almond extract to give it a bit of a frangipan flavor. The batter was divided between the pans and the pears were pressed into the batter. A little of sprinkle of Demerara sugar over the top and into the oven they went.

They baked up beautifully; the pears only added about 5 extra minutes of baking time. They needed to cool in the pans so that the cake could set and support the pears. However, the greasing/flouring of the pans allowed them to slip out undamaged.

To get an idea of what the pears were like, the front left is a Seckel pear, the front right is a Fourelle pear and in the rear is a fully ripened Comice pear. Can you see the difference in size? The Comice pear was easily twice the size of the others but all were ripe and juicy and when poached, they held their shape without falling to pieces.
The syrup on the plate is actually the poaching liquid. After I removed the pears, I had about 2 cups of liquid and using the same sauce pan over medium-low heat, it was reduced down to slightly less than a cup. It is flavorful and a beautiful ruby color and I am thinking it will make some wonderful cocktails…My only thought on this, the cake was not very sweet. While my first impulse is to add more sugar next time, I think in this case, more syrup and possibly a scoop of ice cream would do the trick nicely.

Until next week, bake on friends. To see how the other participants made out with this recipe, check the website and consider joining in on the fun!

tiger cakes; a tuesdays with dorie post

Published on October 13, 2015October 13, 2015 by alisahuntsman24 Comments

It was a tough decision but I had to do it. Last week, I gave notice to my employer that I would be leaving. For the last two years, I have wanted to write another book. A while back, I did co-write a proposal and unfortunately, it flopped. The publishers that read it ultimately chose to pass on it and after all was said and done, I was done with it too. The whole process led me on a journey to figure out what I want to do and what I want to write about and after some major soul-searching and more than a couple of pity parties, I finally figured it all out. Well, most of it anyway, and thanks to a consultation with a literary agent, an even better and more focused plan is beginning to emerge. This proposal will focus on things I love so you know it will involve baking. But for now, I will leave it at that; you will just have to wait to hear more about it…

While I work on that proposal, I am trying to get back to things I love doing and Tuesdays with Dorie is one of those things that I have truly missed. If things go as planned, I will get caught up and make all of the recipes I missed over the last 6 months. This week, we are baking from Baking Chez Moi and our chosen recipe is for Tiger Cakes.

Can you say “easy peasy” because that is what this recipe was-easy; crazy easy and quick and topped with ganache. The batter mixes up quicker than you think, it actually takes longer to measure out the ingredients than it does to whisk them together! The main ingredient is almond flour and it is whisked into egg whites and sugar with a bit of flour and a generous helping of finely chopped bittersweet chocolate. These decadent little cakes are moist and chewy and as if that wasn’t enough, they get dressed up with a bittersweet chocolate ganache.

Join us, bake from Dorie Greenspan’s books, Baking Chez Moi and Baking with Julia; to see how the other bakers made out with the recipes, check the website, Tuesdays with Dorie.