Week 3: Apple Cake (for Chris)

It seems that in all families there is a dessert that is coveted. In my family, it is the banana(nananana who knows when to stop!?) cream pie. The only people who love it are my dad and one of my aunts. Both of them happen to be in-laws. Unfortunately, this means that my grandma rarely, if ever, makes banana cream pie. I don't like it. I don't really like bananas. The only thing that I like about it is the meringue. I used to sit on my grandpa's lap and pick the meringue off his pie when I was little and since I was the only granddaughter (at the time) he let me. I'm still just as spoiled.

The apple cake comes to us from my friend Chris. His wife, Laura, and I used to work at the library together when I was in high school and part of undergrad. He requested apple cake, so I made it. Erica suggested this recipe and it was really simple. It's originally from Smitten Kitchen (one of my favorite blogs). 

The story that goes with the cake.  Laura told me that her mom used to make an apple cake. However, it was one of Laura's siblings that was the real lover of the cake. When that sibling moved away, Laura's mom stopped making the cake. Except Chris loved the apple cake too. Now, he gets no apple cake unless he requests it. (I think I got that story right.) Hence, the apple cake request. 

The picture isn't awesome. I took it quickly one morning before shipping it off to get eaten. I'm working on getting some better pictures in general.

Apple Sharlotka

Butter or nonstick spray, for greasing pan
6 large, tart apples, such as Granny Smiths
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 grams) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour
Ground cinnamon, to finish
Powdered sugar, also to finish

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line the bottom of a 9-inch springform pan with parchment paper. 

Butter the paper and the sides of the pan. Peel, halve and core your apples, then chop them into medium-sized chunks. Pile the cut apples directly in the prepared pan. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, using an electric mixer or whisk, beat eggs with sugar until thick and ribbons form on the surface of the beaten eggs. Beat in vanilla, then stir in flour with a spoon until just combined. 

Pour over apples in pan, using a spoon or spatula to press the batter so that it covers all exposed apples and seeps into the apples near the bottom. Bake in preheated oven for 55 to 60 minutes, or until a tester comes out free of batter. Cool in pan for 10 minutes on rack, then flip out onto another rack, peel off the parchment paper, and flip it back onto a serving platter. Dust lightly with ground cinnamon.

Serve warm or cooled, dusted with powdered sugar.

Week 2: Brownies (for Josh)

Continuing with my goal of one new thing each week, I reached out to my friends and family to get recommendations as to what I should make. I promised to share whatever I made with whomever suggested it.

I'm excited to start making some of the recipes, especially since some of them will require some digging. Anyone know what a lemon-chip cookie is? Lemon with chocolate chips? Lemon with white chocolate chips? Is there something out there called a lemon chip? We will soon find out. 

I got into the kitchen today to start making these brownies and I instantly remembered why I love to bake so much. I was melting chocolate chips over a double boiler and these bits of chocolate and some butter (of course) were turning into this beautiful, smooth chocolatey liquid. Then it all came together into a bowl of brownie batter that made me a little nervous. It didn't look like enough for a 9x13 pan. What if it didn't rise? Are brownies supposed to rise? They didn't...

Then the ganache. I'm not sure I can really call it a ganache, but I'm going to anyway because I like the way it sounds. Ganache. Sounds like heaven. What can be better then mixing butter and sugar and chocolate? Not much. But that is what I did. Again, all these ingredients come together into this beautiful, rich liquid that I just want to spoon into my mouth. Once it was on the brownies, I licked the spoon and immediately put the pot in the sink. Otherwise it was going to be licked clean.

Another reason that I love baking so much...the exact measures. Especially with this recipe, each ingredient had the regular measure (1 cup, etc) and the weight measure. It made me happy. I got to pull out the kitchen scale and measure out everything. Did you know that 200 grams of sugar isn't quite 1 cup? I didn't either! If you don't have a kitchen scale, go get one. My grandma likes to use hers to weigh eggs. My mom likes to use it to separate meat after buying it in bulk. So many uses. With baking you have to be exact. Adding too much of something can throw the entire thing off. Your cake won't rise or your bread will be dense. Baking has all of these elements that can be controlled. That is probably why I did so much baking while I was in school. When my thesis was spiraling out of control, I could still mix things together and get a batch of chocolate chip cookies. My roommates really benefited from my stress baking last year. Now, I can bake for the sheer joy of it. 

Andes Mint Brownies with Mint Chocolate Icing (Ganache)

from zoomyummy.com

1 cup (140 grams) all-purpose flour

1/4 cup (25 grams) cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 stick (110 grams) butter

8 oz (240 grams) bitter-sweet or semi-sweet chocolate

1 cup (200 grams) sugar

3 eggs

Preheat the oven to 350. Butter a 9x13 pan and set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Chop the chocolate roughly or use chocolate chips. Place the chocolate and the butter into a heatproof blow and set it over a pot of simmering water. The bottom of the bowl shouldn't be touching the water since what we want to do here is just gently melt these two ingredients.

Heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth, for about 3 minutes. Then remove the bowl from the pot. Add sugar and mix to combine. Then add the eggs and, again, mix to combine. Finally, add the flour mixture and mix until just moistened (do not overmix.)

Pour the batter into the pan. Smooth out the top. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the batter/brownies comes out clean. 

Cool for at  least 30 minutes before putting on the ganache.

Ganache/icing recipe is the same as the ice cream cake that I made in August, here.

Happy (Belated) Mother’s Day (Lime Yogurt Cake)

If you were to ask me what my favorite holiday was, I’d answer this: Mother’s Day.

Christmas comes a close second.

It’s all about the food.

Mother’s Day begins a few weeks before the actual day when my Mom and I start emailing each other recipes and tentative menus for the big day. Each year, Mom hosts Mother’s Day brunch for both sides of the family. This year, that meant we cooked for 14. After the menu has been finalized, we start the cooking. On Saturday night, Mom and I get together and divvy out the recipes. Sometimes Aunt B joins in and helps, but the last few years have found her absent for various reasons…vacations to Florida are just so tiring. :) Anyways, I do the cheese blintz and this year I got to make scones as well. Between Saturday night and Sunday morning, Mom makes French Toast Casserole, Egg Strata, Monkey Bread, Baked Spiced Fruit and this year added Zippy Cheese Artichoke Oven-Omelet. Aunt Sue and Uncle Frank provide the fresh fruit and this year brought chocolate covered strawberries as well.

That is why Mother’s Day is my favorite.

The scones were both fantastic and a mess. I made blueberry scones and raspberry white chocolate scones. The first were the fantastic ones. There were some issues with oven temperatures or something and the bottoms of the raspberry white chocolate scones burned. They were not salvageable. We pried them off the bottom of the pan, cut the burned parts off and then put them in a bowl to nibble on while we finished the cooking.

All of this cooking culminates in the family coming over and eating and eating and eating some more. Such deliciousness hasn’t been seen in a year and I love it. I manage to stop myself from gorging by thinking about all the delicious leftovers I’m going to have for a few days.

This year I decided that I should make dinner as well. Mom spends all her time cleaning and cooking and hostessing brunch, why should she cook dinner as well?

Whitnie gave me the idea of chicken alfredo a few weeks before the big event. I have some ethical problems eating beef (read The Omnivore’s Dilemma, In Defense of Food, and Meat: A Love Story for the reasons) so I wanted to go with chicken. I did a homemade alfredo sauce that was really easy and everyone seemed to enjoy it. Then, dessert.

The best part of any meal really is the dessert part. In my food blog wanderings I found a recipe for lime yogurt cake with blackberry sauce. I’m not sure how I feel about blackberries yet so I decided to modify the recipe a little bit and made it with raspberry sauce. It was quite delicious and gone in just a few minutes.

Also, I want a springform pan.

Yogurt Lime Cake with Raspberry Sauce
from SmittenKitchen.com

Cake
1 cup whole milk plain unsweetened yogurt (I used delicious Trader's Point Yogurt...yummmy)
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 cup sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup lime juice
2 eggs
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt

Sauce
12 ounces fresh blackberries (frozen should work as well, but you should start with half the water)
1/4 cup water
3 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Make the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease the sides of a 9-inch round cake pan or springform pan with oil and line the bottom with parchment paper if the pan is not springform.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the yogurt, oil, sugar, lime zest and juice. Add the eggs one by one, whisking well after each addition. Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together, right over your yogurt batter. Stir with a spoon until just combined.

Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the pan to loosen. If you’re using the springform pan, unclasp the sides. Otherwise, flip the cake onto a plate and flip it back on the rack. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Make sauce: Combine blackberries, water, sugar and lime juice in blender or food processor. Purée until very smooth, then press through a fine mesh strainer to remove the seeds. Cover and refrigerate until cold.