Wednesday, July 28, 2010
I'm a bit apprehensive as I type this and soon you'll understand why. When my mother came home yesterday she brought along a small bag of peaches from her best friend's backyard. She told me that she would be out of town for the next two days and knowing that most of my clandestine baking happens while she's gone, she commissioned me to make a peach cobbler. Nothing fancy, no individual ramekins: just one simple cobbler.
Well I guess I don't take directions well unless they're part of a recipe that promises something delicious at the end. I convinced myself that if I made an alternative to cobbler that was simple, yet delicious enough to win over my mother, I would be in the clear. So I began my search for the perfect simple peach recipe. I found my answer in Dorie Greenspan's Dimply Plum (Well, Anything) Cake. I've always been an obedient daughter, but I suppose baking must bring out my inner rebel, because I had the audacity to make miniature cakes as well.
The cake smelled delicious sitting in the oven and I was so sure of my success. The first downhill turn was when I pulled the cakes out (the 6" cake and the 3" mini cakes) at 20 minutes and found them a little too dark along the edges. I tried to stay hopeful as I proceeded with picture taking and when I finally shut off my camera, I grabbed a slice and took a bite straight off the prop fork. Dry. Well, at least, not moist enough for my liking. Nothing too spectacular in terms of taste, but I'll also admit that the peaches from her friend didn't taste so good on their own to begin with.
Even still, I was disappointed and consequently worried about how my mother will receive the not-so-cobblery cakes when she returns. Whenever I run into a recipe I don't favor, especially from a source as reliable as Dorie Greenspan, my first assumption is that the fault is my own. Can someone please let me know if the cake is meant to be slightly dry? Am I missing out on something?
I'll be sure to give it a try again tomorrow morning and hope for the best, but my expectations aren't high.
You can find the recipe here.
* Just as I went to retrieve the link for the recipe, I skimmed through the recipe commentary over at Bake-En and am instilled with new hope. "Dorie says that the first day the cake is like corn bread and the 2nd and 3rd days it's soft and moist. Perhaps I'll fall in love with it tomorrow." This is somewhat reassuring and now I am a little more excited for what breakfast might reveal. Perhaps it's the juices of the fruit permeating through the cake that makes it more moist over time...but for now that's just speculation. I'll find out for sure tomorrow. I knew Dorie wouldn't let me down so hard...
Meanwhile below is a Before & After project I took on, my first really. I saw this worn-out, shabby chic end table outside of a neighbor's house as I drove to work one morning. When it was still there on my way home from work the next day, I quickly pulled over and timidly went to go knock on the door and inquire about it. Fortunately for me, the homeowner walked right out to retrieve her child's toys outside and when I asked her about it, she gladly let me have it for free. I giddily placed it in my trunk and drove the half a block to my house where I immediately got started. After smoothing it down with a power sander, I vacuumed it and wiped it down. Then the next day I spray painted it bright white. Dozens of adorable color combinations flooded my mind, but for my first project I decided to keep it simple and clean...and easy to coordinate. It took me years of admiring Before & After projects for me to finally tackle one myself. Now I won't hesitate to pull over when I see a promising find. You can click here and here to see the "before" photos.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
It's so difficult to brainstorm products and prices for people that you know. Not only did I have to come up with something that appeals to their tastes and that they would actually buy (which entails that they either cannot make it themselves or conveniently buy it elsewhere). I remembered often hearing the women mention red velvet cakes before. It seemed perfect, it wasn't a cultural staple, so it wasn't something that most of the women would make on their own. It was also not too simple, as many of the women were already well-seasoned in making their own quick breads, so banana bread for sale was out of the question. Red velvet was the perfect option the more I thought about it.
Then there was the price to consider. After researching prices at most well established bakeries, I found that even a small 6 inch cake can run up over $30. Considering the population of the church, I realized that this would not do. Even with the price above $20 I could already imagine their polite "No Thank You"s. I figured the price had to be low, a low amount of funds is better than no funds at all and I was hoping that the low price would encourage more orders. So, I sold 6 inch red velvet cakes for....$15 dollars. No lie. And for a moment it even pained me to do it, but it all turned out for the better in the end. The cake was very well received and on our first day of taking orders we sold 10 cakes, totaling up to $150 raised on our first go.
This of course means that this Friday, I will be in the church kitchen baking up ten red velvet cakes. And although we'll continue taking orders for more as the weeks go by (I have several requests to make a sugar-free version) I assure you that by the time I get back to school, I will be running out the door if my friends so much as request a Red-Velvet-Anything.
But for now, I give you this cake recipe. The only adaptation I made was altering the prescribed one teaspoon of cocoa powder to two tablespoons. I know, I know there is so much controversy over doing this. However, I had made a half recipe earlier in the week as a batch of mini-cupcakes for an order of 6-dozen (2 dozen lemon with cream cheese, 2 dozen vanilla with chocolate ganache, and 2 dozen red velvet) and the flavor never seemed to develop. To make a six inch cake, I only needed to use half the recipe, but I added a tablespoon of cocoa powder instead and after the cake cooled and I had sliced it and taken my bite of the scraps I immediately screamed for my sister to come down to the kitchen. Even right out of the oven, without maturing, the flavor was so full and complex. That extra hit of cocoa gave the taste so much body without actually being too obviously chocolate, because believe me I am NOT a chocolate fan. Just keep in mind that the recipe posted below makes a three-layer, 9 inch cake. You could make half and end up with a good sized 6 inch or use the other half for cupcakes. All up to you.
*Also, I'm considering making those 6 inch cakes into three-layers instead of two. Well maybe if I ever make it again for myself I'll try it out.
Southern Red Velvet Cake (adapted from Food Network)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon fine salt
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
2 eggs, room temperature
1 cup buttermilk, at room temperature
red food coloring (as much as desired)
1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly butter and flour 3 (9 by 1 1/2-inch round) cake pans.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In another large bowl, whisk together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, food coloring, vinegar, and vanilla.
Using a standing mixer, mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just combined and a smooth batter is formed.
Divide the cake batter evenly among the prepared cake pans. Place the pans in the oven evenly spaced apart. Bake, rotating the pans halfway through the cooking, until the cake pulls away from the side of the pans, and a toothpick inserted in the center of the cakes comes out clean, about 30 minutes.
Remove the cakes from the oven and run a knife around the edges to loosen them from the sides of the pans. One at a time, invert the cakes onto a plate and then re-invert them onto a cooling rack, rounded-sides up. Let cool completely.
Cream Cheese Frosting
1 pound cream cheese, softened 4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup), softened 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In a standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or with a hand-held electric mixer in a large bowl, mix the cream cheese, sugar, and butter on low speed until incorporated. Increase the speed to high, and mix until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. (Occasionally turn the mixer off, and scrape the down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.)
Reduce the speed of the mixer to low. Add the vanilla, raise the speed to high and mix briefly until fluffy (scrape down the bowl occasionally). Store in the refrigerator until somewhat stiff, before using. May be stored in the refrigerator for 3 days.
Assembly
Frost the cake. Place 1 layer, rounded-side down, in the middle of a rotating cake stand. Using a palette knife or offset spatula spread some of the cream cheese frosting over the top of the cake. (Spread enough frosting to make a 1/4 to 1/2-inch layer.) Carefully set another layer on top, rounded-side down, and repeat. Top with the remaining layer and cover the entire cake with the remaining frosting.
Saturday, February 20, 2010
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Ate at Va de Vi in Walnut Creek a few nights ago with my mom. The tapas style dishes were to die for, but it was the dessert sampler that truly made my nigh: miniature versions of the vanilla and orange bavarian custard, the huckleberry bread pudding, the profiteroles, and the Guittard chocolate souffle. Of course, due to the fact that the lighting in most restaurants is too dim for pictures decent enough for sharing, the only picture I have to offer is of the dessert we brought home for my sister to enjoy: a full size vanilla orange bavarian custard with caramelized bananas and brown butter cake.Time is short, so today I regretfully leave you with little more than this picture.
Friday, October 24, 2008
Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy. Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture, just until combined. Carefully stir in apples. Spoon 2/3 of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop dulce de leche by heaping Tablespoons over batter. Drag a butter knife through dulce de leche to swirl through the batter. Drop remaining batter over dulce de leche. Bake 25 to 30 minutes, or until browned and firm to touch. Let cool completely. 2 tablespoons butter Prepare icing: In a small saucepan, heat butter over medium until it begins to brown. Remove from heat. Add to a bowl with powdered sugar, vanilla and half/half. Beat on high speed with electric mixer until creamy. Drizzle and spread over bars, and chill until icing is set.
This morning began with a request for a fresh batch of homemade pancakes and soon after the requests began to pile up. My first mission was a coupon treasure hunt at Costco and more miscellaneous grocery shopping at Lucky. Then a request for chocolate fudge sometime this weekend...and a suggestion for sweet potato fudge (still doing some research on that one). Then a bread pudding for my mother's best friend, another batch of pancake batter for my mom to use after I leave on Sunday, maybe some brownies because my mom's boyfriend ran out of box mixes. Not that I had the heart to turn any of these requests down, any excuse to do some baking is enough to catch my attention. But first I had to do what I wanted.
I have been waiting to try this recipe all week. Now they were originally meant to be "Dulce de Leche Apple Bars", but I picked up an adorable circular paper baking mold yesterday at Sur la Table and thought that it would make the perfect size little apple cake. Unfortunately, I must've been into what I was baking that I didn't consider that the batter might overflow. I realized this too late and when I peeked into the oven to see for myself, my susupicious were confirmed. Overflow it had. But I thought it added a certain imperfect charm and it was delicious nonetheless.
My mother and I both agreed that it would do just fine sans the browned butter icing and we would do just fine without all that extra sugar. And being the fruit lovers that we are, we also agreed that next time adding more fruit than the recipe called for wouldn't hurt.
Dulce de leche Apple Cake with Browned Butter Icing
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped, peeled apples
1/2 cup dulce de leche
Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x9-inch square baking pan.
Browned Butter Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 to 2 tablespoons half and half cream 
Saturday, September 13, 2008
This weekend my mom asked me to bake another bread pudding-yet again. Considering that it would've been my fourth bread pudding within the span of a month, I honestly told her that I would bake anything but. So I listed to her some possibilities and she quickly decided upon a carrot cake. Although I had been hoping to try a pie recipe sometime soon, I was just as content to take my first shot at a layered cake.
I did run into a few minor problems, the cake stuck to the bottom of the pan, bits and pieces of cake remained stuck to the bottom when I forced it out. But on a positive note, that gives me an excuse to buy a new foolproof cake pan next weekend. Hehe.
A few changes I will make next time: 1) Replace the 2 cups of white sugar with 1 cup white sugar and 1 cup brown sugar for a richer cake. 2) My sister suggested that a little cinnamon in the frosting would take the cake to the next level (and after we test-tasted a little cinnamon sprinkled on the frosting leftover on the handmixer, I agreed. haha).
Carrot Cake
4 eggs
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
2 cups white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3 cups grated carrots
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup butter, softened
8 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.
In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack and cool completely.
To Make Frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake. Sprinkle with additional chopped pecans, if desired.
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