mmmbiscuits

Coconut Cake

2009-10-13T21:33:00.000-07:00

(a quick shout out to Lenore. thanks for following the blog!)

OK. I messed up. I made a really good cake and didn't take a single picture.
Great.
But...this cake is real good, and deserves a post. And the internet...so many images!

This recipe comes from one of those half-sized recipe magazines in the checkout line at the grocery store. These often have really good recipes. Kitschy? Sure. But take a look as you wait in line at Gristedes or King Sooper or Safeway. Try one.

The Cake
This is a grown up cake. Not super-sweet, which makes it work really well in concert with the frosting. They need each other to be complete. The subtle cake with great texture and the sweet frosting.

Oven to 350.

Beat til foamy:
4 egg whites
Slowly beat in
1/2 cup sugar
Beat til stiff and glossy (teehee)

Mix in a separate bowl:
2 cups and 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1 cup sugar
3 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup shortening
Beat in
1 cup milk

Mix it all for 30 secs slowly, then 2 solid minutes at medium speed. Don't skimp on mixing time. The texture and color will smooth out. It starts chukyish and becomes very smooth and kind of gorgeous. It gets very smooth and has a wonderful (what? that word applies here) color. Biege/pearl....rather beautiful.

*sigh*

Fold the foamy egg whites into the beautiful batter. Let's call a spade a spade. Folding sucks. It's touchy, it takes delicate patience. I hate it, but it makes for real nice cakes. So I shut my trap, stop whining, and get to it. Here's a good video demo. (She starts foldeing at the 1:22 mark. The same principles apply whether your folding something into whipped cream or egg whites.)
Maybe in the future bakers will have a machine...a device...that does this for them. They'll read about folding and laaaauuuuuugh. Long heatrty condescending laughs. It's a nice thought.
Oh......one more thing....is anyone reading this?

Pour into greased and floured 8 or 9 inch pans.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes.

Horrific coconut crab

The Frosting

Beat til smooth:
2 sticks butter, room temperature

Then throw in and mix till fluffy (snicker snicker tee heeee)
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cup coconut milk
1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt

For Gah-nish
toast, lightly, it'll burn if you're not cautious:
1 1/2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

My cake looked pretty much like this. Yes I stole this picture.

Black and White Cupcakes

2009-08-07T19:33:00.000-07:00

A black and white cookie is a yellow cookie iced on one half with white frosting, on the other with chocolate frosting. They translate beautifully to a cupcake.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The cookie

looks boring.
When done well, though, it is much more than the sum of its cookie part and frosting part and the other frosting part.
The flavors are simple and clear but the frostings, thin firm glazes, meld and chew perfectly with the cakey cookie.
Just because I don't take the time to say "I'm not stoned" doesn't mean that I'm baked like some middle aged cubicle working Big Lebowski guy.

B&W cookies are a deli standard in New York.

Here is a NY times article that combines a recipe, history (made in NYC since 1902), gooshy human interest tribute, and TV review.
Smittenkitchen also has some interesting background on them.

The Cake
I already had a great yellow cake recipe for this, posted here.

The Frostings
For the frosting I looked up several B&WC recipes and worked out this, a formula online in several places, to which I added extra chocolate. It seemed the most common and easiest. Most importantly it delivers the thin glaze that hardens a little when it dries. (The recipes in both of the articles I posted above were also very common.)

White frosting:
4 cups powdered sugar
add
1 tablespoon boiling water at a time until it's spreadable. Spread on half of each cupcake. This should only take about half the frosting

Chocolate frosting:
place bowl of white frosting over a pan with boiling water.
add 2 one-ounce squares of bittersweet chocolate, chopped up.
Stir it around until the chocolate melts.

Leave it over the heat (reduce the heat a bit) as you spread this on the other half of the cupcakes. It's easier to work with when warm.

I was working fast. No points for neatness, (The frosting on a B&WC should really be smooth and flat on the top) but they tasted great.

We ate that shit.

Ethel's Sugar Cookies

2009-07-19T18:02:00.000-07:00

Angie and Rob invited up to a picnic with their kids Miles and Giana. We brought these.
Flowers?
Buttons?
Suns?
Moons?
Eyes?
mmhmm.

This recipe is so simple that I almost wasn't going to post about it. But this blog is partly about excellent versions of classics, and this is the best rolled sugar cookie recipe I've ever tried.

This is also another shout out to the Cooky Book, { sd Bg00Nf. ref book: monodirectional comm csist pigment on absorbent surface, "print". Supports theory of pre-W infodistributio } from whence it came.

The dough easily rolls very thin . If chilled or almost frozen between the cutting and the baking, they only barely plump up when baking. Crispy flaky texture, but structurally strong. The very clean taste comes from using shortening instead of butter. Using 1/2 butter is still good, but a tiny bit richer.

Is shortening bad? Does it help to use organic shortening? Will a little kill you? { ref shortening: derived vegetable fat, for "cooking": heatinterface with perishable food. see LTHCalorieDelivery, 2ndMil, Earth. }
{ cult: questions directed at presumed audience, 100% human. rhetorical pos humorous }

mix:
3/4 cup shortening
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
Flavor (1/2 teaspoon lemon extract or 1 teaspoon vanilla, or......)

In separate bowl, mix
2 1/1 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

add dry stuff to wet stuff, mix well.

Chill it for at least an hour. Otherwise it's unworkable. Roll out about 1/4 batch at a time, keeping the rest in the fridge to stay cold.

Is anyone reading this? Did I surprise you? Surprise you into making a little startled noise?

{cult: questions directed at presumed audience. Intent undef. Pres fiction, referential. }

Maybe I heard you....... Maybe you are reading this but don't want me to know......Maybe I'm in a hall of mirrors. In. My. Mind.

How long will web signals bounce around, or lie latent in discarded memory blades, until intrepid archaeologists of tomorrow....well this is how I keep the lonelies away.

Place cut out cookies on ungreased baking sheet and put it in the freezer for about 5 min.

I work in stages. I roll, cut and freeze all the dough, in 1/4 batches. By the time the last cookies are placed in the freezer, the first ones in are ready to bake. Baking them cold helps maintain the shape like I said....important if you're an unforgiving perfectionist.

Sprinkle with
sugar or
sprinkles before baking. Lightly press into the dough...just a little.

Bake: 400 degrees { ref degrees: atmosphere activity msmt. xref "heat"} for 6 - 8 min.
{ ref mins: "minutes" timemsmt.}

We ate these festive little shits.

Grapefruit Cake

2009-07-07T18:46:00.001-07:00

For better or worse, right?
Not everything I make is a home run, and if anyone is reading this (besides the e-archaeologists of the future who may have stumbled upon this....but wait, you guys too....if you still bake in the future) then I think I owe it to you to share the lessons of my learnings. IS anyone reading this?

Learnings = fuckups.
This isn't really a fuckup, just a close but not so hot cake.

I tried making a grapefruit cake for our friend Forrest's birthday.

Forrest

It's a Paula Deen recipe that Paul saw Kathy Griffin eating on her 'reality' show. What the hell kind of pop-culture provenance is that? Anyway, here's the link to the recipe.

Paula Deen. I basically like her, but what is that device? Clearly not just a toaster.

I didn't take many pics of the cake because we were vacationing at Forrest's mom's house and distracted.
Maybe I got carried away, I did add some extra zest, but not too much. I thought. The cake had pretty good flavor, not very strong though. I think if I hadn't added extra zest it would have been weak.

The problem came near the end of eating a piece....my mouth went kind of numb. Everyone's did.

Ever react that way to grapefruit? Especially if you eat the pith or some zest for some reason? A numbness starts in the lips..... It wasn't like the after affects of oral surgery but it was weird.

Weird like this band called grapefruit from the 60's

So either not enough flavor or numb lips. Not worth it. As Forrest said, some flavors aren't meant for cake and this is one of them. It wasn't a complete disaster, but if a citrus cake is called for lemon or orange will do much better.

Forrest and Emily's son Ian ate the cake. I didn't think to ask him how he reacted

....so young....

I hope I didn't sour him on cake at an early age.

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge Part 3: Bagels

2009-06-21T18:15:00.001-07:00

in which New York bagel meccas leave me slapping my New York forehead.

I've joined the online Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. This is the third recipe in the book, and in the challenge.

Blurry bagels

The book recommends you use a really high gluten flour. One with 14% gluten compared to the 12% of bread flour. They recommend ordering it online or just asking your local bagel maker to sell you some. I thought "I live in NYC, not far from the Upper West Side. I'm morally obligated to get my ass to a bagelry and ask for flour." I looked forward to bragging about making bagels using the same flour as H&H Bagels, Zabar's.

I called H&H Bagels and asked if they would sell me flour. Woman on the phone said yes., so I went to H&H.

"We don't sell the flour" said the woman behind the counter. I told her about the phone call and she stared at me. 'We don't make the bagels here. They make them in New Jersey."
Oy. Fine. I hadn't dialed Jersey. I stared back for a second then left. Tempted to argue for some reason, but realized.......why bother?

But what's right across the street?
Zabars. Perfect. I head for their bread/baked goods/bagel counter.

"Hi. WIll you sell some of the flour you use to make your bagels?"
"Oh, talk to the person up front. They might give you secrets."
"I don't need to know how you make them. I'm just hoping I can buy some of the flour."
"We just use white flour."
"Oh! Regular white flour?"
"Talk to person up front" Then the smile drops, she gazes past my left shoulder, eyes suddenly focused on the distance and I am cold shut out!
Why couldn't she just say "I have no idea"? That was clearly the truth

That wasn't protecting secrets. It was clasic New York institutions being trumped by bad New York customer service. Not thoughtful enough to be New York rudenesss. Just New York idontcare.

I could have pushed but I thought, if it's this much work to get the flour I won't want to do this again. I decided to try just bread flour. The book says it's ok, and I don't have to wait for it or negotiate for the right to buy it.

Easy recipe
Starts with a soaker of yeast and flour and water. Rises well.

Add more ingredients to make a dough and knead it. The book says pros use malt syrup to add flavor but they say brown sugar is ok. I used broown sugar. (A tiny ammount. These weren't sweet.) Then shape into balls.

Then shape into bagels an put them in the fridge overnight.

They swell in the night.

Boil them for just a minute or two. This is when mine collapsed a little. Got dense but deflated looking.

Sprinkle with seeds or rock salt or both or nothing or whatevah.

Then they bake about 10-15 minutes. The morning process is short, which is great. These had a nicely dense, not too dense, texture inside, but look. Flattish.

Tasted great though. I'll be patient next time and order the high gluten flour.

We still ate that shit.

Cornmeal Sage Chili Powder Biscuits

2009-06-20T19:33:00.000-07:00

Another du-liiiiiiiiish variation on my standby biscuit recipe.

Adding cornmeal gives these a nice crunch and color. The chili powder and sage work very well with the cornmeal. These kind of taste like Doritos biscuits. Butter them up and feel your head explode (good thing) when you start chewing.

Mix the dry:
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup cornmeal

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sage 1 teaspoon chili powder

Mix in:
1/3 cup COLD shortening or butter (butter's best)

Use a pastry cutter or your hands break the butter up into approximately pea-size chunks, some bigger, some smaller. Err on the larger, less finessed side.
Solid butter/shortening chunks create steam pockets in the biscuit when it bakes, making it fluffy.

Mix in:
1 cup buttermilk, milk, or cream (buttermilk is best)

Just barely mix this in, then drop the dough on a floured counter.

Sprinkle a little flour on top, and flatten the dough with your hands to about 1/2"high, then fold it, then flatten it again, and fold again. You finish off the mixing this way, while you're folding it to create the layers.

If it's real wet sprinkle more flour on top. But be cautious not to dry out the dough. Flatten and fold about 4- 6 times.
Working fast and not over mixing is key. In about 30 seconds it looks like this:

Cut them out.
Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 min.

Watch them rise! RISE!

A HA HA HA HA HA HA HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

These are great little shits! Eat that shit!

Tutti Fruity Cupcakes

2009-06-17T17:28:00.000-07:00

aka Orange Cupcakes with Lemon Frosting

Dang. I mean, honestly, these were great. I don't mean to brag. But I do.
I didn't exactly see them in a dream, but I saw them in a daydream late in the winter, and have since been waiting for warm weather.

the Orange Cupcakes: so flippin' easy!
Oven to 350.

Mix the dry:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 teaspoons baking powder
2 cups white sugar

In a separate bowl, mix the wet:
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup orange juice
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
zest of one large orange

Mix the dry with the wet. Mix well. If using an electric mixer let it ix on medium/high speed for a minute. But don't lose control ok? If one minute is good it doesn't mean 10 minutes is great. Keep your head. Fluff it some, but it's very liquid so you can only fluff it so much. Have I made my point? Should I go on? No, I don't think I need to. Do I? Do I?

Bake cupcakes for about 15-18 minutes. Look at those domes. Humpy.

Lemon Frosting
(alllllright, this is an adaptation of the passion fruit cream cheese frosting I posted earlier. Don't criticize, this recipe works well with a tart fruit. Don't call me that. Quick question: IS anyone reading this? Can I get a whatwhat? cricketcricket. I know you're out there I can hear you breathing. Actually I can't. If you are reading this from the future please leave a comment and tell me what crazy events lead to you stumbling on this. What is it telling you about 2009?

In a mixer bowl beat until smooth (3-4 minutes):
6 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

On low speed, add 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing:

Zest and juice of one large lemon

mmmmchunks

You may need to chill it a bit to make it thick enough to work with. Also don't be afraid to add a little more powdered sugar if it isn't thick enough. Cream cheese frostings can be temperamental, consistency-wise.

Fruit Topping advice
Here's where the daydreaming came in. I got some blackberries, blueberries, kiwis, raspberries, strawberries, and oranges, cleaned and sliced them. Arranged them on the frosted cupcakes.
I brushed them with honey. Glazing like this is important when topping something with fruit, otherwise the fruit can dry out really quickly. Marmalade or honey work well as glaze. Warmed in the microwave it becomes thin enough to brush on.

Such compulsive behavior. Drugs help get through it. I kid. But they do. A little. No, a lot. I kid.

But it's worth it.

They look great, and the fruit actually added a lot to the taste and texture. They were great when chewed up with the cake and frosting. There was no off-putting clash of texture. No need to pluck them off and eat them separately. It's decor that functions.

Eat that shit!

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge Part 2: Greek Celebration Bread

2009-06-07T20:18:00.000-07:00

I've joined the online Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge. This is the second recipe in the book, and in the challenge.

Greek Celebration Bread is an easy bread that starts with a pre-ferment the night before. The pre-ferment takes 11 minutes to prep. I kid. I didn't time it. But it was fast. Very fast.
It's yeast and flour and water that sits overnight, getting bubbly and developing a deep flavor that will give the bread a great base. Look at that bubbly mass.

The next day the whole process, (mixing the dough, letting it go through 2 rising stages) is very easy and takes about 4- 4 1/2 hours overall.
The dough, pre-rise:

Cinnamon and Allspice add flavor but subtley. This is slightly sweet and spiced but nothing like a spicecake. It's good and moist and strong enough to hold a thinnish slice. It gets a lemon glaze on the crust that bounces nicely off the light spices. French toast may be the vehicle that shoots this bread into heaven, but it can also man up to coldcuts like salami, swiss, a good spicy mustard. Bring something with a little strength to work with the flavor in the bread.

I skipped the elaborate decoration the book advised. I thought it was meant for another bread, Oops.

But none the less (is that one word? Nonetheless?) the bread has a PRESENCE. Big as my head. Easy to slice, nice fragrance, Damn. And perfect - pay attention - for toast, butter and jam, or like I said, French Toast!

A Bulging big beauty with a toasty crust.
Look at that.
So satisfying to make. So easy. This will be a standard in my kitchen. Looks like the mother ship, doesn't it?

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge Part 1: Anadama Bread

2009-06-07T17:49:00.000-07:00

Peter Reinhardt's Bread Baker's Apprentice is my favorite bread book. I've mentioned it before.

I found a group of other baking bloggers, organized at Pinch My Salt, who are baking each recipe in the book, in order, one at a time. I'm joining in. At least until it gets too hot. Pinch My Salt is a great food blog. Please check it out.

If anyone else from the group is checking me out: HELLO! Welcome! Leave a note before you go. I'm Chad, and over there are the aliens and people from the future that I suspect are the only other ones who read this.

They're nice so far. If they're messing up this present to alter their future, I haven't noticed yet. But then that's how it would work, isn't it?
To respect Reinhardt's copyright, the group requests that we not post recipes, so I won't. Really, I think one recipe or two is good advertising. Since this is all about doing the whole book, though, I won't. I'll just talk about the other stuff.

Alright. the first challenge.
Anadama Bread (in which a procedural (d)evolves into a diatribe)
is a pretty easy bread that starts with a pre-frement the night before of cornmeal and water, left at room temp.

The pre-ferment takes 7 minutes to prep. The next day the whole process takes about 6 hours. The cornmeal is noticeable in the flavor and texture. It's got a richness and a crunch, and it's slightly dense. A slight sweet flavor, a little complex.

This isn't a light bread. It's a tiny bit crumbly so it holds a nice slice if it's a little thick. It's therefore a little too cumbersome, and crumbly for a sandwich bread. (But then, I'm a little picky about how my sandwich bread behaves.) I'm not stoned, it's just that recipes for bread don't talk enough about the function. Breads can do different things and sometimes I want a bread specifically to do something. Cakes are always for dessert, but not all bread makes for a good grilled cheese or good french toast. I'm compensating for that perceived lack in baking writing now. My own little mission. My thing. My bag. The way I roll. Where I'm at in my own journey.

So anadama bread: messy and a little sweet for sandwich bread for me, but great just toasted. It has flavor, but goes over the top (that's good) with a little butter. It would work well, slathered in butter, for scooping up salty runny fried eggs.

You start with a preferment of cornmeal and water, like I said. It ferments overnight, gives the bread a good flavor base and softens the cornmeal.

The dough rises nicely on my crowded counter.

I only have one loaf pan. Pretty impressive, yes. So I baked little rolls in muffin tins. I wasn't sure if the dough would support it's own weight so I used the tins.

I think the loaf was better than the rolls. I'm maybe nit picking.

A handsome loaf.

Whole Wheat Bread

2009-05-08T09:33:00.000-07:00

From The Bread Baker's Apprentice comes this easy and delish bread.
This is maybe my favorite bread book. The author, Peter Reinhart is a really good educator/writer with a great blog here.

It requires making 2 starters the day before you bake, but it adds up to about 20 minutes of extra work. This is incredibly easy. The starters do all the work of fermenting while you sleep, so this yields a great tasty bread.

The day before you make the bread, make a Soaker and a Poolish.

Soaker (a wet non-yeasted batter used to start breaking down coarse grains like whole wheat. The breaking-down starts releasing sugars in the grain).
Mix:
1 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 cup water.
Leave in a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit at room temp until the next day.

Poolish (a wet 'pre-ferment'; a batter that allows some yeast to start digesting the flour early, giving it more time to ferment, or turn sugars into ethanol and carbondioxide, resulting in rich barely-sour flavor in the bread)
Mix:
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/4 teaspoon instant yeast
3/4 cup water or buttermilk or milk
Stir just til flour is wet. Cover in a bowl with plastic wrap. MLEave at room temp for 2-4 hrs or til it starts bubbling. Then fridge it overnight.

Bread:
Take poolish out of fridge and let warm to room temp for an hour or two.

Mix in an electric mixer bowl:
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon instant yeast
1 cup white bread flour
1 1/3 teaspoons salt

Add:
Soaker
Poolish
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 egg

Mix til dough forms a ball. Knead it by hand for 10-15 minutes, a little less if using a mixer.

Like a flame it compels you to stare. Stare! Watch it come together as it abuses the mixer that creates it. Is anyone reading this? Aliens and people from the future don't count.

Let rise at room temp for 2 hours or til it doubles in size.

Split the dough in 2. Shape into sandwich loaves and place in 2 lightly oiled 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pans. (I only had one pan so i did one loose. It worked just as well)

Mist the top with oil and cover loosley with plastic wrap. Let rise about 90 minutes (or til it doubles again).
MEANWHILE heat oven to 350.

Bake for 30 minutes, rotate 180 degrees and bake 15 to 30 minutes longer. When done, it should sound hollow when thumped on the bottom.

A tasty, light loaf!

Eat that shit!

Please review mmmbiscuits

2009-04-23T17:40:00.001-07:00

I have registered this blog on Blogged.com. Please review it!

You can review it here: link.

I'd be thrilled to get some public feedback.
It can be short. And honest. I won't mind.

Thanks! Your two cents will be invaluable.

Crime. Boorishness. Outrage. Bobby Flay.

2009-04-21T20:06:00.000-07:00

This post is a hats-off to Cake Man Raven of Brooklyn.
An eloquent baking entrepeneur who totally won me over one night on TV.

I adore Red Velvet cake. (Here's my earlier post on it.)
It recently made an appearance on TV that gets right to the heart of what I love about baking.

In other news, I'm not much of a fan of Throwdown with Bobby Flay.

Flay

Something is wrong with the basic premise of this show: Mr. Flay, backed by his team, bust in on a chef with a local following and challenge them in a cooking duel where Flay tries to make a better version of the chef's specialty. Potentially humiliating to the underdogs, only to inflate Flay's ego.

Then I saw this Throwdown episode where Flay goes after Cake Man Raven from Brooklyn. He challenges him to a Red Velvet cake bake-off. I know it means watching a whole episode, but watch it if you can. It is a classic display of an insightful artist facing off against a philistine and his henchmen.
Listen to Cake Man Raven talk about the detailed subtleties of Red Velvet. How it has cocoa but isn't meant to be just a chocolate cake. Mr. Raven understands that Red Velvet is its own flavor.
He also knows what RED means. This kind of awareness of details tells me he loves what he does. He really pays attention and lets the cake talk to him about what it is. I'm not stoned right now.

Cake Man Raven

Watch Flay create a fugly, red-brown-grey cake, not understanding at all that red velvet has always derived its color from red food coloring. Same goes for his fool judges, who react with such shock at Raven's cake that I think they've never seen a Red Velvet cake before. What the fuck (I'm sorry. I just get so worked up) qualified them to judge this?

What Flay makes is a very modified version of classic Red Velvet, and he doesn't seem to understand that.
Raven clearly has a feel for the history and nuance of the cake he's making. He talks like a man who has mastered his subject and knows the whys and hows of what he does. He's inspiring. He knows that some flavors can't be categorized, that some cakes are goofy, and that both can also be rich in complexity and interest. I'm really not stoned. This is what makes baking worthy of passion. I hated to see him lose.

Cake Man Raven's cake

I know. I didn't taste them. But just hearing Mr. Raven talk tells me I'd like his better.

Double-Dipped Yellow Cupcakes and Chocolate Frosting

2009-03-20T23:02:00.001-07:00

Named for a color, not a flavor, yellow cake still can be rich and subtle. There are dozens of different recipes, a huge variety of textures and slight flavor variations. A tar pit for perfectionists and obsessives. The flavor emphasizes butter and vanilla, and the color comes from butter and egg yolks. The mommy of all cakes. Elemental.

Topped with chocolate - just a very simple chocolate frosting or glaze, and you have a great contrast in color and flavors....flavors that also melt together in easy harmony.
I'm not stoned even though I sound like it.

I've posted another recipe for yellow cupcakes before, as well as chocolate frosting. I like those recipes too. The earlier recipe is a tiny bit more complex than this one, and makes a cake or cupcakes with a light delicate texture and good flavor.
The recipe in this post (The one you are reading. This one. Don't look away. Is anybody reading this?) makes for a heartier cake with a buttery flavor. Both recipes are easy and very good. This frosting recipe (the one you are about to get to, if you keep reading) makes more of a glaze, good for dipping thinner when warm, less fluffy, but less sugar and fat...more pure chocolate.

I found this recipe on All Recipes.com, and I tweaked it a bit.

The Cake:
Oven to 350.

Cream together until light:
1 cup butter
1 1/2 cups white sugar

Add one at a time, mixing in each:
8 egg yolks
And then:
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix dry stuff in a separate bowl:
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Add to egg mixture in 2 parts, alternating with dry:
3/4 cup milk.

These rise a lot. Fill cupcakes cups only halfway, maybe barely more.

The Frosting

This recipe is from The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard. I've mentioned that book before. It's good.

Melt in double boiler (or a bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water):
8 ounces chocolate (whichever sweetnes level you like)
4 ounces softened butter

Stir occasionally and remove the bowl from the heat when the chocolate's melted.
Sift:
1/2 cup to 1 cup Powdered Sugar

Stir it into the chocolate. Stir for a few (3-4) minutes until it's all absorbed. It might look clumpy at first but don't freak just keep stirring.

Use it right away. I found the consistency more like a thick glaze than a frosting, but you can add more sugar to thicken it.

I dipped the cupcakes once and cooled them in the fridge.

The second dip left a nice smooth slightly domed top.

These are so good. I wish I had one now.

I'd eat that shit.

Apple Pear Pie

2009-03-20T22:49:00.000-07:00

Roberta came over for this sort of late breakfast but early lunch meal we had on Sunday (not exactly breakfast neither nor lunch pers se) and I made a pie.

A little fuzzy. Too bad. This pie was the shit.

For The Crust I followed a recipe in The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard. I like that book, lots of good advice on technique and plenty of science without getting bogged down. Anyway:

for top and bottom crusts I doubled the batch.

Cut:
2 Sticks Butter
into 1 inch pieces and put in freezer for 15 min.

Sift together into the bowl of an electric mixer:
2 1/2 cup flour
2 Tablespoons sugar

Add the:
Butter
1 Teaspoon salt

Mix on low for 2 min. Then stop and hand-pinch flat any remaining big chunks (bigger than a cubic quarter inch).

In a a bowl mix:
1/2 cup ice water
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar

With mixer on low, add it all at once to butter mixture. Mix just til dough holds together, about 15 seconds.
Remove the dough from the bowl, wrap it in plastic wrap, and Chill at least an hour. (or up to 3 days in the fridge)

Roll it out, real thin-like. I won't go into how here.....I assume you know.....(is anyone even reading this?).

Aliens? People from the future? That'd be cool but not too rewarding in the short term.

If you're doing a top crust too, don't pre-bake the bottom crust. DON'T . They need to get seemed together around the edges so they both must be raw...and don't worry it won't be soggy.

The Pie is a Martha Stewart recipe. That's right. I didn't create a damn line of this. I do know how to ferret out good recipes though. Come on.

Peel, core, slice:
4 pounds fruit

Toss it with:
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest
2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon coarse salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

I let it sit for about 20 min. even though Martha doesn't say to. She says put it right in the crust. In 20 minutes my fruit leaked a lot of liquid. I didn't want to just pour loose juice (don't call me that) into the pie so get this - I drained the fruit, put the fruit in the crust, cooked the juice down til it was thick, and then put that on the fruit. Took 4 minutes and was I don't want to say brilliant but definitely a good thing to do.

And of course a top crust. Riffing off Martha Stewart some more I cut out lots of leaf shapes and layered them on top of each other to make the crust. I crimped the bottom edge.
Brush it with eggwash:
1 yolk
1 tablespoon cream
and sprinkle with sugar.

Bake: 400 degrees 25 min or til crust starts to brown, the lower it to 375 and bake another hour or so, til juices are bubbly. If the crust starts to get too dark, cover it loosely with foil. Loosely.

My leaves lost their clarity but I still liked the way the craggly crust looked.

Berts seemed pleased.

The lemons were good in this. You could taste them and they were unexpected but not distracting. We ate that shit.

Green Chili Biscuits and a shocking story

2009-03-20T22:45:00.001-07:00

I love the scrap biscuit....what's left after the circles are cut out.

This is more of an addition to a recipe than a new recipe. Semantics?

My friend Alec brought me some roasted green chilis from New Mexico.

I skinned and chopped three,
and added them to my buttermilk biscuit recipe, reprinted (with chilis worked in)here:

Mix the dry:
2 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt
Mix in:
1/3 cup COLD shortening or butter (butter's best)

Use a pastry cutter or your hands break the butter up into approximately pea-size chunks, some bigger, some smaller. Err on the larger, less finessed side.
Solid butter/shortening chunks create steam pockets in the biscuit when it bakes, making it fluffy.

Mix
1 cup buttermilk, milk, or cream (buttermilk is best)
3 chopped green chilis, or about 1/2-2/3 cup (or any grilled/roasted/cooked pepper)
Then add it to the dough.

Just barely mix this in, then drop the dough on a floured counter. Sprinkle a little flour on top, and flatten the dough with your hands to about 1/2"high, then fold it, then flatten it again, and fold again. You finish off the mixing this way, while you're folding it to create the layers. If it's real wet sprinkle more flour on top. But be cautious not to dry out the dough. Flatten and fold about 4- 6 times.

Working fast and not over mixing is key.

See the big butter chunks? Leave some large like that.....about 30 % of them. The rest in varying smaller sizes.

These were great. The chilis just seem to belong there. They mix perfectly with the flavors in the biscuit. And some butter. Ayee. These wouldn't be bad with a very small amount of seasoning like chili powder or cayenne pepper. (1/2 teaspoon max).

And then

AND THEN

They were cooling n the rack on the open window sill. I started taking them off from the front of the rack. The weight shifted. The whole rack tilted up....and back.

Three of them just flew out and plummeted 3 stories.

Lost to me.

The ones that were left, though. We ate that shit.

Mango Cupcakes and Passion fruit Frosting redux

2009-03-20T21:12:00.000-07:00

A new Passion Fruit Frosting recipe.....keep reading....

You don't want to make the same ol' thing right? So when I make the mango cake (or cupcakes) I end up fiddling with it. I like each different approach.

This last time , when I made the cupcakes I added more sugar and a little bit more fruit (don't call me that) (is anyone reading this?). I liked it so I'm going to change the recipe accordingly.

I did the frosting very differently I made it a cream cheese frosting. I liked it. Goopier than the other version of this frosting, though I like that as an alternative.

An image search for "mango" brings this:

Passion Fruit Frosting V2

First reduce
Passion Fruit Nectar
Just boil down a whole bottle of good quaity nectar, not juice. That matters.

In a mixer bowl beat until smooth (3-4 minutes):
6 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

On low speed, add 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing:

1/2 to 3/4 cup reduced passion fruit nectar

You may need to chill it a bit to make it thick enough to work with. Also don't be afraid to add a little more powdered sugar if it isn't thick enough. Cream cheese frostings can be temperamental, consistency-wise.

I piped it into cartoony flowers. MMmmmm.

Playing with the Sourdough Process

2009-03-20T20:06:00.000-07:00

I've been playing with the long-winded sourdough process lately, trying to shorten it and still get a good loaf.
I haven't shortened it immensely yet but I've learned that the procedure can certainly be tweaked and pulled to fit your schedule. Here are 3 ways I've found to make it easier.

Rush the Rising Times
The long rising times of steps 1, 2, 7, and 8 don't have to be followed to the letter. If pressed for time you can move to the next step once the volume has doubled.

This is the result of a very rushed process. Still great volume, and tasty though the sourness was not very strong.

That's Forrest and Emily's bright red table.

That's Forrest and Emily with the loaf cut open. Cheezits in the background.

It lasted about 12 minutes.

Chill It and Spread the Work Out
The dough can be chilled overnight after steps 2 and 7 so that you devote a little work to it over 3 nights and end up with bread. This way you can actually make the bread during a work week, or without having to take an entire day to stay home.

Move the Dough Around Less
I grew frustrated when my dough deflated once after moving it into and out of the floured towel in step 8, so I short-cut it. Instead of moving the dough into the floured towel in the colander, I placed it on the cornmeal-covered baking sheet. You're technically not supposed to do that until just before it goes into the oven, but I let it rest there for it's final long rise, then baked it without having to move it to another surface.

I ended up with a nice proud loaf.

Of course, tweak at your own risk, caution caution careful careful blah bah blahblahblah but don't be afraid. I haven't had a failure yet.

Butterscotch Cupcakes

2009-03-08T18:14:00.000-07:00

These are fantastic. The flavor is exactly what you want from butterscotch. Rich, with a tiny bit of that butterscotch spice bite.

I had no cupcake cups so I just greased and floured the pan. They stuck, had to be pried out, and split in 2. They don't look great, but if I'd only used paper cups they would have been fine. I have complete confidence in this recipe so I'm posting it, even though the pictures are far from impressive. I've been too distracted by trying other recipes to go back and do these again just for the sake of pics...so here we go.

Some people crave butterscotch the way other people crave chocolate. Our culture serves the latter much much more than the former. I'm trying to correct this.
The cake recipe is my adaptation of a recipe by Rose Levy Beranbaum from The Cake Bible. I started with her All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake (long title) and added spices.

The frosting is a recipe I found on Emeril Lagasse's pages on the Food Network site. I've never watched his show, but this frosting is great. It takes some extra work, but is very worth it.
I reprint his recipe in my format, but here's the link to his site.

The Cake:
Oven: 350 degrees.
Mix:
6 large yolks
1/4 cup milk
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla

In another bowl mix:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon cardamom
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Chinese 5spice blend (This is maybe a little cheat. It's a premixed spice blend I had, but you can improvise by using similar spices. It's made of star anise, cloves, cinnamon, fennel, black pepper)

In an electric mixer add to the dry ingredients:
12 tablespoons soft butter
3/4 cup milk
Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.

Add egg goo in 3 parts, mixing well between.

mmmmmmmmm

Put into cupcake cups, fill just barely over halfway (these rise quite a bit).
Bake about 10-14 minutes.

The Frosting

First make Butterscotch Sauce:

mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

Combine:
3/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons water
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

Mix them in a medium, heavy saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Let boil without stirring until the mixture becomes a deep amber color, 3 to 4 minutes, watching closely so it doesn't burn. Remove the pan from the heat.

Add: 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Swirl it in the pan until it is melted.

Return to heat, brng to boil and add:
1/2 cup heavy cream
Whisk it in, remove from heat and add:
2 tablespoons milk
(add up to 2 more tablespoons until you get the consistency you want. Let it cool to room temp. It will thicken a little.

Now - make the frosting:

In a mixer bowl beat until smooth (3-4 minutes):
6 ounces cream cheese
1 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

On low speed, add 1 tablespoon at a time while mixing:
6 tablespoons Butterscotch Sauce

I took advantage of the split cakes, and added more frosting between the two accidental layers.

Srumtious. Really. We ate all of these little shites!

Cornmeal Apple Molasses Upside Down Cake

2009-01-30T20:59:00.000-08:00

This is a variation on the Cornmeal Peach Bourbon Upside Down Cake I did a few months ago. It's so good it's worth reposting in this new incarnation

Cornmeal makes it a little crunchy and gives it a rich slightly dense texture, but the cake is still buttery and moist. So good for winter.

Entire apple peeled in one piece.

Here's the same recipe as before, with a few wee changes. I still like the original version too.
This is meant for a 10" cast iron skillet or other pan that can work on stovetop and in oven.

Heat oven to 350.
On the stove melt in the 10" pan on medium high heat:
3 tablespoons butter
Add
1/4 cup sugar
Let it bubble a little, let it start to brown.
Prep:
3 medium apples , peeled, cored and sliced
Lay on top of the sugar, to wit:

Cook about 5 min, don't stir them around., then increase the heat and cook just til sugar almost burns. This will make it most tasty.
Take off the heat, make the batter in a separate bowl.

Mix up the dry:
1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

In yet another bowl cream together:
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
Add and mix in one at a time:
3 large eggs
Then add:
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Add one half at a time, alternating with dry stuff:
1/2 cup heavy cream.

Pour/scrape the batter over the applegoo, such that:

About half way done....

Bake for about 20 min, until you know....poker...you know. Let it cool a few minutes, then flip it. Knock the bottom to dislodge the fruit. Inevitably some will stick and others will shift. You'll have to scootch shit around to make it look good. No biggie.

I made this in an 8 inch pan. Honestly it's too high. Do as I say and not as I do and use a 10 inch pan.
Not all the apples fit on top, so I sauteed the rest and just served them up with the cake.

Look at that.

Look! Touch that!

Eat that shit!

Cupcake Towers

2009-01-18T19:48:00.000-08:00

Life stopped with the holidays and is only now beginning again.

I haven't baked in a while, but last week I was commissioned to make 150 cupcakes for a birthday party and arrange them on cupcake towers. (Happy Birthday, Donna!)

Finding the apparatus was the difficult part by far. Lots of options but you just never really know what you're getting 'til you have it.

At any rate, I made Red Velvet, Chocolate, Carrot, and Caramel cupcakes (the caramel cake has the burnt meringue frosting). I also made a little star-shaped sugar cookie to top each one.

Here are some highlights.

Welcome 2009.

Chocolate Cookies for Em&Fo

2008-12-14T16:56:00.000-08:00

Emily and Forrest requested more cookie recipes.

Easy. Chocolatey. Very good, crispy and a little chewy, and strong chocolate taste.
Make them and tell me about it! This is from a Martha Stewart holiday cookies magazine from 2001. Wow. Right? I know.

I'll explain that little butterscotch drip soon.

Mix the dry and set aside:
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons flour
¾ cup cocoa powder
1 ¼ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt

Mix well in another bowl:
2 ½ stick softened butter
2 cups sugar
Add and mix in
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Gradually add the dry stuff and mix well. Chill an hour until workable. If you’re in a hurry, flatten the dough on a couple of plates and put it in the freezer for 10 minutes. Form into tablespoon-or-so-sized balls, roll them in a mix of cocoa powder (about 30%) and sugar (About 70%), and bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes.

These are good plain, and also good with a mint glaze (crushed starlight mints, powdered sugar, and water) or a butterscotch goo (I tried melted butterscotch chips. Is that trashy? It's not that, but it's pretty Semi Home Made With Sandra Lee. I like cheap and fast and even semi-prepackaged, but her stuff also just seems poorly thought out...impractical...she does things like cut banana slices a full inch thick and expect someone to mouth that whole thing with a Nilla Wafer, and a knob of pudding all at once without smearing it all in their facial hair. At any rate the melted butterscotch chips were ok, but you could easily do better for a schmear.)

These are fantastic plain, though.

Eat that shit.

Red Velvet Cake w/ Cream Cheese Frosting

2008-11-28T07:20:00.000-08:00

Paul liplocks it.

Surprised to hear that a friend had never heard of Red Velvet Cake, I decided to beef this up.
Here's a quick
Red Velvet Primer

Recipe is below if you want to skip ahead.

Red Velvet is a deservedly popular, but also trendy, blood-red cake. It's been around since at least the 40's and was especially popular in the south. It started to achieve a wider following after an infamous (sort of) cameo in Steel Magnolias in 1989. This low-fi clip is the only one online.

It swept the nation pretty quickly, I think it's part of the trendiness of kitsch that grew out of the 80's. The B-52's and PeeWee's Playhouse are in a similar aesthetic line.

Once it caught on it hung on, because it really is delicious. Just about every example of the cupcake-focused bakeries that opened in the last few years offers a RVC. Most of those places offer lousy (dry, hard) cupcakes though, so don't go there for your first.

The color comes from 2 large bottles of red food coloring. It's a brutal truth. There are myths that it initially came from beets, or a reaction between early forms of cocoa and baking soda. They are not true.

It is somehow associated with devil's food cake. It's unclear whether RVC was once called DFC, or if RVC is a variation on early recipes for DFC. Regardless, they are both flavored by chocolate and the devil is red...

Red coloring and cocoa mixed into a paste.

As in one of the articles in the prior paragraph, it's also called Waldorf Astoria Cake or $100 Cake because of a myth that the recipe came from the Waldorf Astoria.

There are many variations. using different fats, leaveners and flours. Here is a very detailed post comparing various RVC recipes and studying the differences. There is also a lot of good geeky information about the science of leaveners in general and how they work.

Here's another that also touches on its history.

and thus:

The Recipe
Oven: 350 degrees

Mix into a paste:
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 ounces red food coloring

Mix in a separate bowl:
1 cup buttermilk
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Mix well in mixer, slow/medium speed:
1/2 cup oil
2 cups white sugar

When smooth, add one at a time and mix in:
2 eggs
Then add the red color mixture.

While mixing, add this in 2 parts, alternating with the buttermilk goo:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted

Mix together very quickly then fold into the batter:
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Bake about 30 min, or til poker you know.

The color came out a little marbled. I don't know why but I found other bakers who fell victim to this. Some advise mixing the cocoa with the flour instead of the red coloring.
I do use more cocoa than most recipes. Makes my cake a darker red and maybe partly to blame for the marbling.

Cream Cheese Frosting

Mix:
16 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 cup softened butter
2 teaspoons vanilla

When smooth, gradually sift in:
1 lb (1 box) powdered sugar

Mix it well on high speed.

Thanksgiving

We went to Lori and Brian's place. Lori made a Pumpkin Ginger Pineapple Upside Down Cake

It kicked my ass.

There's the finished RVC next to the PGPUDC.

Lori's sister Angela made my absolute favorite cake. Jello Cake. So good.

This cake was maybe my best of the year. Subtle but rich flavor. Very moist but hearty. It aged very well, getting tastier for the next 2 or 3 days without getting dry.
I used Dominican vanilla in the frosting. It made a difference. More about that soon.

Eat that shit.

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-11-21T20:40:00.000-08:00

The best chocolate chip cookies I've ever had. Perfect thickness: not cakey and tall, thin but not greasy. Very tasty and rich. The salt is such a brilliant but obvious move and I'm kicking myself for not thinking of it.
Here's the NY Times article about how they concocted this after talking to various bakers and chefs.
What with this and their famous no-knead bread, I'm keeping my NY Times Tshirt.

I didn't change much about the recipe at all, except for the specific type of chocolate. I used combination of Baker's semisweet squares chopped up, and milk chocolate chips. I used low-rent chocolate because it's all that''s readily available where I live without getting on the subway. And most importantly it tasted great anyway. I also like some big chocolate chunks in my cookies and didn't want just the thin layers of chocolate the article raves about.

Here's the link to the recipe.

I let the dough sit in the fridge for about 2 days.

Paul figured that 5 grains of the big sea-salt we had was perfect for the tops for the cookies. I scoffed. Then counted them out. It was worth the effort.

Even three days later, when we ate the last one, they were great.

I don't know what makes the texture so perfect. The combo of flours? The baking powder/soda ratio?
Alton Brown did an episode on cookies and I scrawled notes when he talked about what elements control the thickness/cakeyness of a cookie. Here's what I got from that:

Leaveners: Acidic batter rises higher. Soda is basic (not acidic).
More soda = thinner cookies.
More baking powder = thicker cookies.
Liquids: Eggs make arecipe puffy. Some egg can be replaced with milk to encourage cookie flatness.
Fats: Butter makes for a flatter cookie, compared to shortening.
Sugars: Brown Sugar encourages a puffier cookie. White sugar makes a cookie crispier.

Do it. I wasn't even a fan of chocolate chip cookies. Could take em or leave em. But not these.
Make that shit and eat that shit.
This means you.

Bakergeeking on the internet channel

2008-11-20T20:42:00.000-08:00

Cake Wrecks is a great blog full of great images of awful cakes, all made by professionals - or, at least, crappy decorators with the gall to charge. My biggest fear is finding my wedding cakes here. Or the vagina cakes.

Baking Bites has great tidbits explaining what the hell cream of tartar is, baking gadgets, book reviews, recipes...a good variety of stuff and really helpful, semi-geeky info.

AND they reviewed the microwave cake recipe I wrote about in the summer. They had a better experience than I, but my pictures of this are funnier.

NY Times came out with an instant bread classic 2 years ago when they printed a no-knead bread recipe. It's been updated. Follow the links in the article to read the initial recipe. It's effortless. I know several bakers like me who love it. And here's some related porn.

and last but not least, something I'd emulate if I had a bakery. or a place to put a sign that implied I had a bakery. Here's a Flickr set of pictures of an ever-changing bakery sign in St. Cloud. Flip through them and they read like off-measure haikus, or espionage code.

Egg-Free, Dairy-Free, But Really Good Chocolate Cake

2008-11-19T16:57:00.000-08:00

1:I asked my boss what I could make her for her birthday. She asked for something eggless. As usual I went to Allrecipes.com to research. Great site. That's where I found this recipe.

2: I know, the frosting looks grainy. It tasted great and didn't feel grainy, but I didn't do something right and it has that look. Don't blame this recipe. These cupcakes were moist, fluffy, cakey. So good.

3: The reason we're here today
Mix the dry, set aside:
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Mix liquids in a different bowl:
2/3 cup vegetable oil
2 cups water
2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 oz melted unsweetened chocolate (I added this. Otherwise this recipe would be a complete copy)

Mix wet and dry stuff. Mix it well.

350 degrees, about 25 min, depending on your baking pan choices.

4: I wish I had a picture of the bueautiful insides of these things. I can't figure out how this worked. They don't seem like a compromise when you eat them. Just really good cupcake. They don't make you think "oh, well, they're eggless".

5: For frosting I made a sort of ganache from semi-sweet chocolate and cream. I winged it. if not for the grainy look I'd post the formula. Maybe my proportions helped make it not-smooth.

6: Tasted great though, so screw it.

7: Right?

8: Right though?

9: We all make an imperfect frosting now and then, huh?

10: I sprinkled powdered sugar and little stars on top.

11: I mean usually things are perfect but once in a while there's a little error, or err, if you will.

12: They were great though.

13: We ate those shits at work!

Living Dead / Dead Alive

2008-10-20T17:49:00.000-07:00

Something in my kitchen. Something that looked dead. Like it had been dead a long time.

I hadn't fed that poor starter in almost 4 months.

I trolled it out of the fridge, let it warm up, and fed it.

Note the tape marking the height....

It was flatine for hours, but overnight it rose about an inch. In it's heyday it would double in a couple hours. I guess I'll let it live at room temp for a week or so and try feeding it every 3 or 4 days.

Weather finally permits bread baking. Come back to me, starter. I'll never treat you bad again.

Butterscotch Brownies - the best and easiest cookie I've ever made

2008-10-13T20:24:00.000-07:00

Holy crap these things are stupid easy and so fucking good. That good.
The satisfaction they gave was huge compared to the tiny effort.

The cookies are gone but in here is the tupperware that they sat in for 2 seconds.

The Cooky Book comes through again.
I was looking for something easy and fast, and landed on page 11.

They were so easy I didn't expect much, didn't bother taking pictures.

I sort of came to as I realized they were all gone. I usually intellectualize everything I bake...but these weresodamngoodijustatethemandthenatemorewithoutthought, didn't think about blogging at all.

SO I'll make them again and take pictures. Meanwhile - someone get up and try these.

1. EASY

2. Actually taste like butterscotch

3. Very little flour. These aren't fluffy or cakey. More on the buttery/sugary side, but think of them as half-cookie-half-candy and suddenly you're resigned to the bliss of the chewy thing melting under your teeth.

4. I was under the influence of nothing but the Cooky Book

I want more pictures here.
An image search for "butterscotch" turns up this

Melt

1/4 cup butter

mix in:

1 cup packed brown sugar

Let it cool, then add

1 egg

In a separate bowl mix the dry:

3/4 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt.

Add dry to the butter mixture, the add

3/4 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (or skip the nuts - I didn't have any)

Bake in a greased 8x8 pan, 25 min at 350.

Ohmygod, right? Have you eaten one yet?

Eat them shits!

Maybe it's just me. I'm a whore for anything butterscotch.

Adults Only Vagina Cakes

2008-10-08T19:02:00.000-07:00

I have dirty pictures of dirty cakes.

So scroll down only if you really want to see.

See what? Vagina cakes.

Paul's boss's girlfriend wanted them made for Paul's boss's birthday. He is the star of the Gazillionaire's Late Night Lounge - a hilarious and filthy show at South Street Seaport.

One was made for fisting, the other for eating. One was a chocolate cake with raspberry filling and a white frosting.

The other was a yellow cake with chocolate frosting.

I got to use two of my new icing tips.

My lettering is a little shaky.

Wedding Cake

2008-09-21T19:56:00.000-07:00

I was asked to make a commitment-ceremony cake. 2 cakes. One chocolate and one white/lemon. It was for Kristabelle and Amy. To feed 200 people.

The brides

It was a little nerve-wracking but I was very honored to be asked. Of course I said yes, warning them that I am not a trained decorator. Kris and her sister Angelica were ok with a homey big cake. I promised a great tasting creation.

Baking day was extremely hot and humid. I chilled the cakes overnight.

The ceremony and reception had a Hawaiian theme. I made cartoony hibiscus flowers out of white chocolate.

The chocolate cake is the recipe I have posted before. The white cake is the Rose Levy Berabaum's White Chocolate Whisper a (I add 2 egg yolks, a little more butter and white chocolate to keep it moister longer. I also added some lemon zest for a subtle flavor.

Everyone seemed happy. I was relieved. Here's me finessing.

Kubrick homage?

The happy couple. I hope they liked the cakes.

Real Mavericks Eat Cake

2008-09-17T14:34:00.000-07:00

Here's a maverick with a cake

This was on Mr. McCain's birthday back in 2005. Dude gets right to this baker's heart. He knows you must take time for cake, even on a day where some other stuff is going on.

There is so much change about to hit Washington that I can barely contain myself.

Burnt Sugar and Coconut Cake with Meringue Frosting

2008-09-14T12:50:00.000-07:00

Bill Edgington was in town, and he bought a bag of roasted coconut from this vendor on Broadway in Soho. I never noticed that the nuts guys sell coconut. It was delicious! Covered in cooked sugar, delicate....I was shocked at how good it was. I thought "I gotta make a cake like this".

Beware. This street coconut is hit and miss. I've bought it twice since then, from this guy and another vendor. It was awful both times. (But when it was good it was great.)

Burn the sugar

heat 1/2 cup sugar

in a heavy saucepan on medium heat. Stir it occasionally, until it melts, then turns a caramel color. Remove from heat and really slowly stir in

1/2 cup milk

It'll sputter at first so be careful. After adding all the milk return it to the heat, stirring occasionally until the mixture is again melted. Pour it into a heatproof glass 2-cup measure.

Pour in enough

Coconut milk to make a total volume of 1 1/4 cups. (Just buy a 14 oz can of coconut milk and you'll be covered.) Set this aside.

Make the cake

Mix the dry and set aside:

3 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup shredded cocnut

Beat til smooth:

1 cup butter (at room temp). Then slowly add:

1 1/4 cup sugar

2 teaspooons vanilla

Beat on medium speed for 5 minutes, then add

3 large eggs and one yolk, one at a time wile the mixer runs. On low speed add the dry stuff in 4 parts, alternating with the caramel, mixing well between each addition. After the last addition, just beat it until the mixture is smooth. (Don't go nuts.)

Bored? Pretty didactic, right? I guess that's baking for you. I have to admire cookbook writers. Just transcribing a single recipe is boring. Of course there's no way around it, but it's a bit of a chore. Plus I'm under-rested, cranky and impatient.
Here's something diverting.

In a separate bowl beat

4 egg whites until they make soft peaks, then add

1/4 cup sugar, slowly, and keep beating until it is thick and foamy with not-quite-stiff peaks. Fold the whites into the batter until just incorporated. Pour it into 2 prepped 9" pans.

Bake at 350 for 35 to 40 min.

Meringue frosting

Follow the recipe for meringue already posted here.

I frosted the cake with the meringue then toasted coconut and threw that on top.

This cake is very moist and tasty. It tastes like caramel. Not a subtle "oh, wait, yeah, I think i can sort of taste a caramel sort of thing" flavor. A good rich, freaking yummy caramel. The meringue worked well with the moist cake. Another happily gloppy cake. I'm on a gloppy cake run lately.

Mango Cake with Passion Fruit Goo and Whipped Cream

2008-08-28T21:26:00.000-07:00

Paul asked me to make this cake again because our friend Christopher was coming over. I love this cake but wanted to try something new with the frosting. This ended up a decadent foamy gooshy cloud of sweet and sour puckery cream love.

I made the
mango cake as in the recipe, but baked it in two 8.5 in. round pans. I cut them in half lengthwise, getting 4 very flat layers of cake.

I boiled down

32 oz. of passion fruit nectar as in the recipe, but stopped when it was about the consistency of boysenberry syrup. Just kidding - any syrup.

I mixed in

1 packet of unflavored gelatin and chilled it.

Instead of making the frosting, I whipped

1 pint of heavy cream with about

1 tablespoon of sugar and

1 teaspoon vanilla

On top of each cake layer I slathered on some whipped cream and drizzled on some passion fruit goo.

Layer. Slather. Goo.

Story of my life.

I wish.

Anyway it was the story of the cake. Then I mischievously slapped and smeared whipped cream on the sides of the cake, blurped more passion fruit on top, then, carried away, filled up the pastry bag and piped on some flooty bloopy squaggles.

First and foremost: this shit tasted great! Perfect textures. Light, foamy. Sweet, smooth and tart banging against each other perfectly. This may be my new favorite cake. But be warned it's not subtle. It was definitely sweet and decadent.

But look at that.

Right out of a cheap grocery store? Really? Or is it good? Good/bad?

Sigh. Whatevs. I've said I need a cake decorating class..........see how right I was?

But I have no apologies for the sloppy wonderment of this cross section. I don't like to toot my own horn, but God himself might have been guiding me with this one. I'm going to lick my monitor now.

TR2N

2008-08-22T19:39:00.000-07:00

Cornmeal Peach Bourbon Upside Down Cake

2008-08-03T19:13:00.001-07:00

I made this at our friend Natalie's house in the Catskills.
I love baking in her perfect kitchen in the woods.
Thanks, Natalie.

This one's not perfected. I haven't really nailed it but it's so good that I want to share it anyway. Paul found this in Martha Stewart Living and I tweaked it a little.
Her version.
Mine's below.

I'm a fan of Martha Stewart's recipes, even though I can't watch 5 min of her damn show. I'm far from a cultist and I know she's campy and has that ego but her recipes are consistently good. Very reliable. Sometimes just a little overly complex, but just sometimes and only a little.

This is meant for a 10" cast iron skillet or other pan that can work on stovetop and in oven. I only had a small pan so I divided the recipe by 3 and it still worked. This is adaptable.

Marth's version has lavender. I can't help but make a sour egg face when I think of it. So I skipped the lavender.

Heat oven to 350.
On the stove melt in the 10" pan on medium high heat:
3 tablespoons butter
Add
1/4 cup sugar
2 or 3 shots of bourbon
Let it bubble a little, let it start to brown.
Prep:
3 medium ripe peaches (about 1 1/4 pounds), skins on, pitted, and cut into
3/4-inch wedges
Lay on top of the sugar, with:
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans

Cook about 5 min, don't stir them around., then increase the heat and cook just til sugar almost burns. This will make it most tasty.
Take off the heat, make the batter in a separate bowl.

Mix up the dry:
1 cup coarse yellow cornmeal or polenta
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 teaspoons coarse salt

In yet another bowl (who does the dishes?) cream together:
1 stick butter, softened
3/4 cup sugar
Add and mix in one at a time:
3 large eggs
Then add:
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Add one half at a time, alternating with dry stuff:
1/2 cup heavy cream.

Does anyone ever have to say "mix well"? Isn't it more of a news item if you should not mix well? Mix this well, but from now on, just always do it unless it's a big news day and you're told not to.

Pour it over the peaches and sugar deliciousness.

Bake for about 20 min, until you know....poker...you know.

Pull it out of the oven, cool just a minute, then flip it onto a plate. Be strong. Rap on the bottom before you lift up the pan, and hopefully all the peaches nuts and sugar will come off without pulling or nudging.

First time I made this I didn't use bourbon or nuts. They're not in M's recipe. The cake itself is a sturdy but still fluffy, very buttery yellow cake. I loved it but wanted more fruit, so I thought to try completely covering the top with peaches.
Paul suggested the bourbon and I thought of nuts.

Both versions tasted great, but the second time it didn't look so great. I didn't brown the sugar as deeply as I should have, and I think covering the cake completely with a mild orange colored fruit made it look bland. I think some amount of fruit between version 1 and version 2 is called for.

Either way, it was still great. The cornmeal and peaches and burnt sugar and bourbon go really well together. Did I even need to spell that out? Were you wondering if that combination might not work well? No. You're not stupid.

Baking Plagiarism? Bagiarism?

2008-08-01T17:51:00.000-07:00

Is it plagiarism to use someone else's recipe? At my job I work with usage rights for digital images, so my brain can be full of digital copyright questions. If I use a Martha Stewart recipe and don't credit her, is it wrong to link to her recipe? Would it be different if I cut and pasted the recipe with no link? What if I said I made it up? Can anyone really copyright a recipe anyway, when each is an adaptation or variation on another?

White Cake - Yellow Cake - Pound Cake - Muffin - Scone - Biscuit - Cookie - Crust - Pastry -- Bread. It's chicken and egg.

I wonder this because all of my recipes came initially from someone else in books, articles, or websites. I think I'm doing enough by crediting the author. I also feel ok because I usually tweak the recipe a little, so I have a point to publishing it here. I'm not just repeating word for word. I wonder what people like Martha and Rose Levy Beranbaum think.

I really hope no one ever really considers protecting a recipe's copyright.
Baking is what it is because people share. Almost every baker first learned at home, taught by family. Sharing and experimentation are part of baking. What a drag if the creator of the red velvet cake held tight to the formula. A lot of northerners who love it wouldn't know about it. How DID the red velevet cake evolve anyway?

I hope I'm only thinking about this copyright mess because of my job. I'm crazy to even think someone would want to copyright recipes. Right?

Popped out a Quickie Cobbler

2008-07-27T20:33:00.000-07:00

Really fast. Made biscuit dough, with 1/3 cup sugar, and wove it on top of chopped peaches and mangos that were stirred with a tiny bit of sugar and left sitting a while. Baked quick but left a little regret because it heated up the apt, even though today was not so hot out.

Thus:

and:

Slapped some whipped cream on top. Stupendous. Fruit and cream and crusty dough.

We ate that peachy pile. Not a great picture, but good cobbler.

Mango Cupcakes with Passion Fruit Frosting

2008-07-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

Paul just blurted out one day "What about a mango cake with passion fruit frosting?" I was instantly into it. That was a few years ago and I've tried a few versions. This is the most recent and best.

I couldn't find any recipes for this, but I knew I wasn't the first to fruit-flavor a cake, so I found something to adapt.

I worked from an orange cake recipe. Since mango has no zest equivalent, like my sister, I reduced mango nectar, boiling it down until it got thick and tangy/bitter, like my soul. Not too thick, but a still wet gel like my mind. More feel here than measure, like my mom.

I reduced the passion fruit a little less because the flavor is intense anyway. Though next time I'd reduce it just as much as the mango. This way the flavor is intense, and you can mix more of it in the cake or frosting because it's dryer. Drier? Like my dad. The mango flavor in teh finished cake is always mellow and subtle, but really nice.

Mango Cake
Cream together:
2/3 cup butter or margarine, softened
1 1/3 cups sugar
Mix in:
2/3 cup reduced mango nectar

1/2 cup finely chopped ripe mango
1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
Add and mix in:
2 eggs
Mix the dry bits in a second bowl:
2 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
Then add dry bits to the wet. Stir up well.
Pour into cupcake/muffin pan (lined with cups, right?)
Bake at 375 for 10-15 min, until a poker comes out clean.
You know clean?

Passion Fruit Frosting
Mix together:
2 cups shortening
8 cups confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons clear imitation vanilla extract
2 tablespoons fluid ounces heavy cream
Then add slowly:
1/3-1/2 cup reduced passion fruit nectar

Stir as you go. Stop if frosting starts to get thin.
If it's still too thick and dry, stir in passion fruit nectar
mixing as you add it slowly, until it's a good frosting consistency.

Frost and eat!

I really do like these shits!

5 Minute Cake

2008-07-23T19:19:00.000-07:00

A lot can happen in five minutes. A lot could happen in five minutes. A lot of good and bad can happen in five minutes.

My friend Megan fwd'ed me an email today - with a 5 minute recipe for cake. I believe the person who sent it to her checks out this blog now and then.
Hell yes I tried it.
Now I feel that if I can just save one person, well....read on. I won't spoil the end. I just hope no one takes offense. I'm writing ion the public interest.
Here's the recipe, almost word for word:

5 MINUTE CHOCOLATE MUG CAKE

Mix in a coffee mug:
4 tablespoons cake flour (that’s plain flour, not self-raising)
4 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons baking cocoa
add and mix well:
1 egg
then add and mix well:
3 tablespoons milk
3 tablespoons oil
and lastly:
3 tablespoons chocolate chips(optional)
a small splash of vanilla

Put your mug in the microwave and cook for 3 minutes at 1000 watts.

Well, that's what the recipe says, but I haven't had a microwave with variable watt
settings since....I didn't even know that existed. I just cooked it.
The cake will rise over the top of the mug, but don’t be alarmed!

Allow to cool a little, and tip out onto a plate if desired.

I got started during commercials on Project Runway, and realized after the egg that I have no cocoa. Gaaah! Crap! So I substituted powdered sugar. Another dry powder, right?

Baking and microwaves don't usually mix. I was suspiscious but had to follow this through.
There it went...rising out of the cup just like they said it would.

And the finished product. The lumpier one was baked in a wide cup.

Then we took bites. Technically I didn't eat any, because I didn't swallow it. It's not that the funky flavor was "bad" though it had somehow obtained a plastic flavor. It was the texture that was maybe more disturbing.

Really firm. Sort of eggy...but eggs aren't usually this firm and rubbery. It was just weird. This is what microwaves do to baked goods. Ever nuke a roll? Comes out warm and soft then turns to stone in 3 minutes. Just hardens up. Paul ate all of his. I asked if I should make it again.
"No", he said.

I'd try this again but bake it in my toaster oven.
If anyone else tried this and had success let me know. Maybe it was the powdered sugar.

Lemon Bars with Meringue, boomerangs of fate

2008-07-05T18:07:00.000-07:00

Lori and Brian had us over for the 4th and Lori asked me to make lemon bars. I tried a new recipe, and tried a new cookbook: The Secrets of Baking by Sherry Yard. I love that book.
This recipe is lifted unchanged from the book, except for the meringue which I added. It's a little time consuming but you can make the curd andor the dough days in advance to break it up.
Beware: In fact, because you really have to chill the dough to work with it, it really is best to do it a day ahead anyway.

3 parts:
The Bar, The Lemon,The Meringue. The lemon curd can also be made ahead of time, so skip ahead to that part of the recipe if you want.

The Bar:
mix and set aside:
3 cups pastry flour (or regular flour if its all you have.....I guess....if its all you have.)
1 teaspoon salt
In a mixer, beat on low for about 30 sec:
3 sticks unsalted butter, soft
add to the butter and mix well:
2 cups powdered sugar
keep mixing:
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 large eggs (at room temp)
Stop mixing, scrape down the sides, and mix just a little, until the dough just comes together.
Remove from bowl, flatten a bit, wrap in plastic, and chill it for at least 4 hours.
The dough is very wet at this point. Just trust and believe. Chill it.

Baking the dough: Grease a 13"x9" pan, line the bottom with parchment, and grease that! I know!
Smash the dough flat. It'll be about 1/4 inch thick.
Chill 30 min.
Do 2 things to keep the dough from rising: Poke the dough with a fork, about every inch. Lay parchment on top, and fill it with pie weights or dry beans.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes
Take off parchment and weights and bake 10 more minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
Reduce oven to 325.
If you haven't already, make:

The Lemon Curd:

Set up a double boiler if you are hardcore or fill a medium saucepan 1/2 way with water and start it simmering. Then get a bowl that will sit on top of the pan, but not drop in. You'll mix and cook the curd at the same time. as the bowl gets steamed.

Mix:
3/4 cup sugar
1 tablespoon lemon zest
Mix in a food processor a few pulses or grind the zest into the sugar with a pestle or wooden spoon. Don't give me that look. Trust me. It matters and it gets pulverized fast so just do it.
Put lemon/sugar in the bowl we just talked about.

Whisk in:
4 large eggs
Whisk until sugar is dissolved (maybe 30 sec.).
Whisk.
Whisk.
Say it till it sounds weird.
Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk. Whisk.

When the sugar's dissolved whisk in
3/4 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup whole milk
Cook about 7 minutes and do not stop whisking. it's not that bad so don't roll your eyes. It may take a little longer. The curd thickens up. It's done when it has a sour cream consistency, and a temp. of 160.
Remove it from the heat.

Whisk in:
2 tablespoons flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

Store in the fridge or
If hot dough waits, pour it all on top and smooth it out.

Bake 15-20 minutes or until just set to the touch. If the curd stats to crack yank them out.
Look at this close call:

Cool and cut into bars.

The Meringue:

Mix well in a saucepan:
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tablepoons & 2 teaspoon water
1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar
Get it hot and bubbling

Manwhile, (manwhile?) whip to soft peaks:
1 egg white

When the sugar water almost hits the hardball stage, take it right to the eggwhites. With the mixer mixing (as it will), very slowly pour in the hot sugar water. Try not to hit the beaters too much. This cooks the eggs while setting them up. Whip until you get hard peaks (shut up).

Put them in a pastry bag and squeeze out onto lemon bars. If you don't have one, use a plastick baggy and cut a small hole in one of the corners. Make long snakey squiggles and piles. Or something.
I scorched mine with a gas torch given to us 2 years ago. I loved it. So fun and easy and the perfect thing to finish these off.
That torch? Did I mention it was a gift? A gift from.....yes......Lori and Brian.

Eat that sweet tart shit.

Biscuits

2008-06-27T19:20:00.000-07:00

I swear to god anyone can make great biscuits. So easy, takes 20 min of work, and you get such a yummy fricker in return. When people say "I can't bake" I just roll my eyes. Poor silly deluded silly sad silly people. They just haven't found the right recipe.

I love the kind of biscuits that have a salty crisp semi-crust and soft fluffy milky insides. When I first tried Popeye's biscuits in 1989 I launched into a biscuit obsession that still goes on. I started perfecting my own thing, with heavy inspiration from P's. After trying many variations these are the best for a good crust, fluff, and layers.

It's a slightly modified version of a recipe my friend Juan gave me.

Mix the dry:
2 cup flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Eat that shit.

Sourdough Starter Survives Abusive Pattern of Neglect

2008-06-27T18:48:00.000-07:00

The starter had been alive since I fermented it into life in April. This day it looked dead.

I let weeks go by without even looking at my starter. Maybe 3. Maybe 4. I didn't think about it, I wasn't too busy. It was forgotten. Taken for granted and dismissed.

Then I remembered the starter. I pulled it out of the refrigerator.

Really ugly. A little gory.

A thick layer of brown sour smelling liquid on top. The liquid had a skin. I poured it off and the batter underneath was flat and heavy.

I fed the starter.

The feeding made it look better. I put it in plastic and marked the height, hoping it would rise.

It doubled in less than an hour. It's still at full strength.

That crazy bastard. I have to make it into bread soon to celebrate.

Peppermint Fudge Brownies

2008-06-26T17:59:00.000-07:00

After some struggle, I finally hit on a successful chocolate mint baked good. I was glad - I really wanted to make something chocolate/mint for Leslie - a very cool woman at work. I had a mini-brainstorm, put the fan in the kitchen because it's a little hot out, and got busy.

I used a brownie recipe that has some personal history. My first boyfriend/husband/partner/significant other/lover(lovuh) in college, Russ Phipps (take a bow) was a chef at one of 2 good restaurants at the time (late 80's) in Fort Collins, Colorado, Cuisine! Cuisine!. There was a basket at the counter always full of these great brownies. He gave me the recipe, and its been my standard brownie formula since. This time though I added the melted chocolate (and the mint) (too many parenthetical phrases?) and I'm glad I did. It made them chewier and more dense and moist. That texture worked well with the mint.

Cream together:

2 sticks softened butter

2 cups sugar

add:

3 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup melted bittersweet chocolate (cooled)

mix in:

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup cocoa powder

Mix it well. Pour into a 12x12 pan (greased then dusted with cocoa). You can try a dif size, these are pretty flexible. I get a good 1/2" height when I use my 12x12.

Dribble on some mint glaze:

About 1 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract

Just enough water to get it to a thick but dribbly texture, like wall paint, or thinnish pancake batter.

I didn't measure how much I put on, but look at the pics. I didn't coat the surface, more like Jackson Pollocked it.

It depends on how much mint you want. Don't use more than half of the mint glaze, and keep what's left.

Bake 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes.

Let them cool a little, then dribble with more melted bittersweet chocolate (about 1/3 cup) and more of the mint glaze.

Eat that shit!

I made a second batch last night because a friend was coming over. Pretty dang good I must say.

Baking in a New York City Summer

2008-06-22T19:16:00.000-07:00

It doesn't happen much. No central AC here and brutal swampy heat, so my baking will taper off for a while very soon.
This is the view from my apt during an early nasty heatwave in June. I wish it was clearer. I don't even want to make toast when the air's this hot. I don't want to displace the energy it takes to butter bread. I don't want to leave the air-conditioned bedroom until October. Fire hydrants get opened up on the block, all the neighbors spill out on the sidewalks. Not pretty inside or out, and even less so if the oven is cranked to 350 for an hour. I'll keep popping stuff out as much as I can........

Baking Gone Wah-Wah

2008-06-18T19:40:00.000-07:00

I haven't posted lately because of a string of baking misses. Nothing very photogenic or tasty happening. It's partly due to experimenting: missing success by aiming too high (how's that for rationalization?).
But only partly.

Quick Puff Pastry: It's ridiculously simple, and gets it's airy flakiness from large pockets of solid butter left in the dough. In the hot oven these turn to steam and create the air pockets. Laziness rewarded - it doesn't pay to mix it all up too well and make the butter bits too tiny. I was too lazy. I left the butter in chunks that were too big. When baked it left puddles of butter on the pan and the dough was greasy. Not great. No pics.

Chocolate Cake with Mint Frosting:
Approved by the American Dental Association

I wanted to make something for a woman at work who likes chocolate and mint. I made my choc cake. I tried making a meringue frosting. Came out great - thick and foamy and sturdy. I added mint extract, and suddenly it made me think of toothpaste. I held back and haven't tried another mint frosting recipe. It wasn't terrible, just seemed wrong. Could mint frosting ever NOT evoke toothpaste?

Buttercreams: I need a class. I tried making some buttercream recipes out of the Cake Bible, trying recipes where sugar syrup is cooked then mixed into whipped egg whites or yolks and butter. I created thin greasy sugar shit. Wish I had pictures of that. I finally had success reverting to an uncooked frosting recipe from the Domino powdered sugar box that I tweaked a little. I want to expand my frosting horizons but need help.

LemonLime Bars:

These tasted real good. I found an easy recipe online somewhere and made them one night. But the lemon and lime curd looked grainy and they're darn shiny - made for crappy pictures though they tasted real good. Did I just say that?
It's like someone who's great to be with in person but looks like a dick in pictures......

Then the heatwave hit.

2008-05-09T22:19:00.000-07:00

The Betty Crocker Cooky Book

2008-05-05T21:03:00.000-07:00

60's and 70's food photos made me want to start baking years ago. The Betty Crocker Cooky Book from 1963 was a big inspiration.

I remember the photos, illustrations, and recipes from when I was a kid.

The first section is the Cookie Primer with one bright mugshot of each cookie, on the same page as the recipe. This is the source for all the cookie archetypes: Snickerdoodles, Spritz cookies, Russian teacakes, Peanut Butter cookies. It covers a large variety of bar cookies, rolled, filled and drop cookies. It's my rosetta stone for cookies.

I can turn to this book now because it was reissued a few years ago with no changes to any of it. It must have a following bigger than me. I know of one or two others who remember staring at these pictures as a kid.

Peanut Butter Cookies

2008-05-05T19:37:00.000-07:00

Sunday a craving for peanut butter cookies hit. I turned to my trusty and loved Cooky Book. I melted and drizzled semisweet chocolate chips on top, since they were laying around. And we were a little stoned, so...
Oh, I kid. We weren't. Yes we were. A little. No we weren't. We don't do that.

Peanut Butter Cookies

Oven to 375.
mix:
1/2 cup shortnin'
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 egg
mix in a separate bowl:
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon soda
1/4 teaspoon salt.

I think next time I'd reduce the sugar maybe, and maybe increase the peanut butter..to uh...I'd try 3/4 cup. They seem extra sweet to me - but still damn good.

Mix dry bits with wet bits.
Roll into 1" balls.

Flatten with a fork.

That little tine design. Always loved that.

Bake 10 - 12 min. These are even better when almost burnt.

sill-cooling

Then like I said I melted some chocolate chips and drizzled it on top. Works real well.

Those shits were good. Thanks Betty.

TBites! Green Tea frosting on Yellow Cupcakes

2008-04-27T19:17:00.000-07:00

Paul suggested I fiddle with Green Tea and Chai Tea as flavors for cakes/frostings. This is part of what came of it. I looked at some recipes online and tweaked them, to get this frosting. Stronger macha taste and less cream cheese distraction than other recipes I found.

Now the Rose Levy Beranbaum fandom continues. This time for her Cake Bible. For the cake, I did nothing but use her recipe for All Occasion Downy Yellow Butter Cake. Easy, reliable, unfuckupable. Moist. Nothing to change. I hope it's not bad kharma to type it out here......

Cake vivisection

The Cake:
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix:
6 large yolks
1/4 cupmilk
2 1/4 teaspoons vanilla
in another bowl mix:
3 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon plus
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoons salt
mix the dry ingredients then add:
12 tablespoons soft butter
3/4 cup milk
Mix on medium speed for 1-2 minutes.
Add egg goo in 3 parts, mixing well between.
Bake 2 - 9"layers for 25-30 min (grease and flour the pans!!!!).
Cupcakes: 14 minutes (I'm sorry I yelled before.)

These were good. Rich. Green. I sprinkled ground pistachios on top.

The Frosting:

In mixer, blend well:

8 oz. cream cheese

1 stick butter, softened

1 teasoon vanilla

Then add:

2 tablesoons macha (green tea) powder

1 tablespoon milk

Sift, then add in 3rds:

2 boxes (16 oz. each) powdered sugar.

You may need to add more milk as you add the sugar if it gets too stiff. Add by the teaspoon, mixing well to make sure it don't get too thin.

Use less sugar of you like it less sweet. Taste is as you go.

Someone said the cupcakes looked like green poops. What are you going to do?

Oatmeal Muffins

2008-04-21T18:05:00.000-07:00

Muffins suck for breakfast. Just have a piece of cake. That's what they are basically. I mean, as breakfast goes, they're dessert. They make your gut heavy, then they make you sugar crash.

Oh, but not these. These taste real good and leave you feeling good.

These were concocted when we were trying to stick to a strict, no-simple-carbs-or-processed-sugar diet. We are off that wagon, but I learned some things about food, and still pop these out because they're a great breakfast staple (and I've added some sweetener).

Heat oven to 375 degrees
Mix in a bowl:
3 cup oatmeal*
1/4 cup agave syrup (or sugar or honey)**
1 cup buttermilk
1 cup apple sauce
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 teaspoons cinnamon
Let is sit for about 10 min, then vigorously stir in:
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Then, wasting no time, gently stir in:
1 cup fruit (berries, bananas, apples...whatevs)

Put into greased muffin pan. They won't rise much, so fill the cups up.

Don't use paper liners, they stick too much. Beware - make sure your muffin pan is clean. My muffins were plagued by a nasty weird taste for a while. Fish? Baking soda? What the...? I finally noticed that my pan has tiny rust spots. Hard to see but we could totally taste it. Disgusting.
In the pics you will notice I used paper liners. Do as I say not as I do. Daddy (me. I kid) hasn't bought a new muffin pan yet so he has to avoid the rust. Trashy.

Bake 18 min. or until a poker comes out clean.

Eat those shits!

*If I was still striving to avoid simple carbs I'd only use steel cut oatmeal, but that crap is harsh. now I use a combo of instant (unflavored) and 'old fashioned'. Complex carbs speed up your metabolism because you have to work to digest them, and that gives you energy. The more instant your oatmeal, the more processed it is, and the less benefit from complex carbs. But they are much more pleasant to eat, so I split the dif.
**If I was still striving to avoid sugar, I would not have this item at all, and rely on the applesauce for the sweet. I opt for agave syrup because it has a lower glycemic index then most sweeteners. If you don't have it, any sweetener will do.

I try a different fruit each time. These have bananas. I dropped a teaspoon of peanut butter on top of some before baking.

Now that's the shit!

Normally I despise the idea of making health-conscious baked treats. Takes me back to the moment I bit into a chocolate chip cookie as a kid only to find the choc chips were raisins. What a bait-n-switch. A wolf in sheep's clothing. I normally feel that if someone needs a treat, nothing is worse than a treat that promises then denies the decadence and narcotic effect of sugar and flour. But on a weekday morning when my brain has to work, I'm glad I know how to modulate some ingredients so that I can have a home-made, portable, tasty little thing that won't drag me down.

India Rose Cake

2008-04-15T20:05:00.000-07:00

Our friends Lori and Brian Jackson just had a baby. India Rose.

My boyfriend Paul thought I should make them an India Rose Cake - a spice cake with a lightly rose flavored glaze. So I did.

This spice/chiffon cake recipe is great! Very light airy texture but rich spice flavor. I got it from one of those little cookbook - mini-magazine things at the grocery checkout line. This is from State Fair Cakes. They look hokey and awful, those little booklets, but they have the best recipes. I almost double the flavoring they recommend for this cake. Here's what I do.

The Cake:
Mix in a Bowl:
2 cups all purpose flour (or 2 1/4 cup cake flour) sifted
1 1/2 cup sugar
2 teapoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon groud nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon allspice
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Mix all that up, the add
3/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
7 egg yolks

Mix it thoroughly.

Separately mix (use electric mixer)
7 egg whites and
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

Until you get stiff peaks. Fold egg yolk goo into the egg whites gradually. Be gentle on the foam and stop as soon as it's blended.
Pour into ungreased tube pan.
Bake at 325 for 55 min.

I love the way naked cake looks.

The Glaze:
I made strong
Rose tea, and pured it slowly into
2 cups powdered sugar
until it was pourable but not watery.
I colored it pink. You might walk the same road one day so don't judge.
(Sub. water for the tea and add vanilla if you want. Or use a different tea as the liquid/flavor.)

Eat that shit!

Sourdough in Harlem

2008-04-15T19:30:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge fan of Rose Levy Beranbaum and her Bread Bible. I have some issues with the way she writes, but she got me through 2 rounds of making sourdough bread from my own starter and I am ecstatic.
Her website is great. It has a Q&A section where she and some other readers actually provide answers. I wrote, totally lost about how to keep my starter alive, and I got 2 replies in no time - one from Rose. They got me back on track and my starter still lives. I'm a huge fan!
I have nothing to add to all the sourdough info out there. I'm too new to it to have digested it and regurgitate it. (Aside from the pineapple juice trick for helping the starter.)

So pictures.

You start with 2 tablespoons of starter and expand it in stages. It goes from this:

To this, in a day:

It takes a friggin day and a half to make this, so I did 3 loaves at once.

Flour and cornmeal on/in everything

So pretty. Came out a little flat but tasted great. Actually sour and subtle. Great crust.
We gave some of these away.

The one on the top right we ate.
We ate that shit!

Chocolate Cake & Frosting

2008-04-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

This is the best, most reliably scrumptious, and easy chocolate cake recipe I've ever made over and over again. It never fails and is almost brainless. It's a great staple. It's a recipe from AllRecipes.com, just barely changed here (I added more chocolate like some reviewers recommended).
The cake is very moist. On the dense side but not too heavy, and doesn't stiffen up in the fridge for a day or two.
The frosting is brainless too but has to chill a while in the middle of mixing it all. It's a ganache and I add powdered sugar. I think my ganache recipe could be thicker, and that I could make a ganache that would be thick enough to spread without adding sugar. I'm working on this....but meanwhile this is a damn tasty frosting.
I made cupcakes and one 6" cake, and drizzled melted semisweet chocolate on top after they were frosted.

The Frosting has to be made a few hours ahead...or the day or night before:
Combine:
12 oz choc melted
1 1/3 cup heavy cream heated
Mix very well while they are still hot. Chill a few hours until it sets. I like starting with half bittersweet and half semi sweet because I add sugar later. This often seems a bit thin to me, I'm thinking next time I will increase the chocolate by 3 or 4 oz and see what happens.
Later, if the chilled chocolate is too stiff to stir, let it sit at rooom temp for a bit. After it loosens up and you can stir it, add:
1-2 tsp vanilla
Like I said I usually need to add some body to the ganache so I mix in
powdered sugar (sifted)
until it gets thick enough to hold up.
The Cake:

Oven to 350
Mix up the dry and set aside:
2 1/4 cup flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
In a separate bowl, cream together:
1/2 cup butter
2 1/2 cup brown sugar
add bit by bit, mixing as you go:
3 eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
5 or 6 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted
Add in 2 parts:
1 cup sour cream
alternating with the dry stuff until it's all well mixed. Then mix in:
1 cup boiling water

Bake approx 35 minutes in oiled/floured pans.

Look at them.

Eat them!

Kiwi Cake

2008-04-04T22:34:00.000-07:00

I'm sick of apples and berries cost an arm and a leg, so I found myself staring at kiwis the other day in the grocery store.
I made a quick, down and dirty single layer cake with them. Real easy. It's just slightly dense, and I think it'd work just as well as a 2 layer cake, though the recipe should probably be doubled for that. This was really good I must say, though next time I might try putting more kiwi in the cake batter. Just to see.

My pictures are kind of down and dirty looking. We were eating it right off the rack like feral kiwi-cake-eating beasts.

Preheat oven: 375 degerees

Finely mash or blend 5 kiwis then put them in a strainer over a bowl. Push the kiwi through the strainer so you get liquid in the bowl and are left with a thick gel-ish goo in the strainer. You just need to get about 1/2 to 1 cup thinner liquid out of the mashed fruit. I didn't work too hard to separate solid from liquid. The liquid I got in the bowl was a little thick but worked fine....

In a different bowl mix:

3/8 cup vegetable oil
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs

Then mix in:

1/2 cup plain yogurt
all of the mashed kiwi solids (what's left in the strainer)

In a separate bowl mix:

1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Add the flour mixture to the oil/sugar/yogurt mixture. Mix all really well.
Pour into a greased 9"x9" pan (or another equivalent size)
Bake 30 min, or til knife poked in comes out clean.
After it cools a little remove it from the pan, poke it with a few holes with a knife and drizzle the whole thing with the kiwi liquid. It'll slowly absorb a lot of the liquid and leave a really nice tart kiwi goo (the best word for it) on top. I had to spread the liquid on in 2 or 3 coats, giving each a few min to soak in.

For the glaze:
I just sprinkled about 1/4 cup of powdered sugar on top of the kiwi goo sitting on the cake (adjust to taste). I didn't mix it in. The sugar melted into the kiwi, the flavors mixed on their own, leaving some nice sugarry areas and some nice very tart areas that bounce nicely against each other when you're eating.

Eat that shit!

Cheez-It Cookies

2008-04-02T19:53:00.000-07:00

I adapted a recipe I've found in several places for potato chip cookies, using Cheez-Its for the chips. The cheese tang goes well with these. They are very sugary and buttery. Definitely a sweet cookie with the Cheez-It playing subtle backup, not clashing like you might think.

Sophistication.

Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix this all together. Thoroughly mix in one item at a time moving down the list.

1 cup softened butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup crushed cheezits.

Roll into teaspoon sized balls. Roll the balls in sugar. Place on ungreased cookie sheet and stick a Cheez-it in the top of each.
Bake 8 minutes.
Let it cool. Eat that shit.

Sourdough Bread

2008-03-30T19:15:00.000-07:00

Last night and today I turned my starter into bread. What a fucking process. Bread-making is never quick, but this was especially involved. And completely worth it. Like with the starter, I turned to the Beranbaum's Bread Bible, but I only tweaked the process because I couldn't be home all day. Beranbaum is pretty wordy and sometimes confusing, but she also gives lots of info that's interesting, especially if you want to build your knowledge base.

Here's a quick step by step of what worked for me:

**Update - Since posting this I've played with the process and found some ways to make it a bit easier. Suggestions for short-cutting the process are at this link.

1- Take 2 tablespoons starter and add 1/3 cup bread flour and 5 teaspoons water. Mix well and knead 2 min. Put in oiled glass container covered. Let double in size - about 6-8 hrs.
2- Take 1/4 cup of the new starter mixture (from step 1), add 2/3 cup bread flour and 3 1/2 tablespoons water. Mix & knead 2 min. Put in oiled glass container covered with lightly greased plastic wrap. Let it double in size, about 6 hrs.

Refrigerate it now for up to 20 hrs. if you need a break. If you do that, set the dough out at room temp for an hour when you are ready to resume.

3- Mix 1 1/4 cup bread flour and 2/3 cup water. Knead 3 min and let rest 20 min.
4- Mix in 2/3 cup of the starter mixture for 2 min, and add 1 teaspoon salt. Knead 3 min. It should be a little sticky.
5- Put it in an oiled container, at least 1 quart in size. Let rise 30 min .
6- Transfer to floured counter. Stretch it into a rectangle, fold it over on itself, like a letter being folded for an envelope. Don't smash it down. Turn 90 degrees and fold again.
7- Return to oiled container and let rise 4-5 hours or until doubled to about 4 cups volume.
8- Gently roll dough onto floured counter and shape into a ball. try not to deflate it. Carefully place seam side up in a basket or colander line with floured towel. Let rise 3-4 hours until almost double.
9- Preheat oven to 475, with baking stone on a rack if you have one, and a pan on the bottom of the oven.
10- Carefully roll bread onto a baking sheet dusted with cornmeal.
11- Put it on the baking sheet and throw 5 icecubes on the tray on the bottom of the oven. The steam will make for a nice crust.
12- After 5 min reduce heat to 450. After 10 more min rotate bread and slip onto baking stone Bake 10-15 more min.
13- Let it cool then eat that shit up.

Starter Successsssssss

2008-03-29T22:32:00.000-07:00

After using organic Rye flour and pineapple juice for the first 2 days, I wound up with a successful sourdough starter. It took a couple more days than the formula said it would, but it came to life, eventually doubling in size just an hour or 2 after a daily feeding!

After a feeding it would be smashed down, as high as the bottom of the tape.

Here's day 5 after a few hours of rising. And day 6 after a few rising hours.

I'm in the middle of making it into actual bread dough and will bake it tomorrow......can't wait.
It smells great. Like white wine and apples. Sour but subtle.

Here's the formula I used to create the sourdough starter.

Be compulsive about using very clean utensils.
Day 1: Mix 1 cup organic rye flour and 1/2 cup pineapple juice. Keep in a glass container if possible and mark the level of the dough so you can monitor progress. Cover tightly and leave at room temp for 48 hrs.
Day 2: Just leave it. It shouldn't have changed at all.
Day 3: Remove half of the starter and replace with 1/4 cup organic rye flour, 1/4 cup bread flour, and 1/4 cup pineapple juice. Mix well, return to container and cover.
Day 4: Remove half the starter and replace with 1/2 cup bread flour and 1/4 cup water at room temp. Mix well, return to container and cover.
Repeat Day 4 instructions every 24 hours. After a few days you will see that it inflates a little more each day. It will also start to smell. It may smell cheesy, citrusy wine-y. Not everyone likes that fermenting smell, but it is a good sign.
You can consider the starter "active" and ready to be made into bread when it increases by 3 times in 24 hours. It may even rise higher, then collapse within a day. That's fine as long as it comes back after feeding.

If you won't make bread right away feed it once more, let it sit for about an hour til it doubles in size, then put it in the fridge. At this point I'm in new territory. I think it will live for weeks if fed at least 3 times a week, as in Day 4 above.

Like starter formulas there are millions of sourdough bread recipes out there. I don't have a favorite, this is too new to me, but you can find several to play with.

Starter

2008-03-25T18:29:00.000-07:00

I've received so much advice from baking blogs that I'm starting this to pay back into the pot. I sought out other bakers' advice recently after a failed attempt to make my own sourdough starter from just flour and water, harvesting naturally occurring yeast from the air and the flour. Doesn't that sound fun? Seriously. My friend Megan sent me a link to a post about it and I was immediately into it. There is a lot of advice about starting a starter. It really taps into the geek/baker brain.

I've killed a few starters but I'm in my 4th attempt now and I think it's working. I'll share what I've learned and what's working for me. If I can save just one starter..........

I think the best bread, sourdough or not, is made with just flour, yeast and water, and maybe salt. It gets flavor from fermenting flour basically, so at some point the dough has to just sit for hours. It takes some planning and some patience but it is so freaking yummy.

Starter basics:

A starter is bread dough that ferments ahead of time, then gets mixed with more fresh four and water and yeast to make bread.

A sourdough starter is made from just four and water. With measured feedings over about 5 days the dormant yeast on the flour can be prompted to life.

It can be kept alive, meaning the yeast is active and bubbly, for a long time by feeding it daily (throwing out half and replacing with fresh flour and water).

Some formulas make a wet gloppy starter, some make a stiffer dough. There are tons of formulas out there. I'm following the formula in The Bread Bible by Rose levy Beranbaum, and tweaking it.

My first 2 attempts looked great on day 3, bubbly and swollen, but then they died, going flat.
This fairly common. It wasn't yeast making the bubbles, but a bacteria that sometimes takes hold and puts out gas just for a day or two that makes the dough rise. That bacteria also inhibits yeast.

Here's my starter inflated with bacteria gas. Oh, great.

After this I learned 2 Crucial tips:

Substitute Pineapple juice for water for the first 2 days. It raises the acidity and prevents a bacteria from growing that can inhibit yeast.

Organic Rye flour has more yeast on/in it, so it helps to use it for the first 2 feedings. You can switch to bread flour after that.

I think it may be working.
We'll see.