Tag Archives: cake

November 2, 2018 · 4:18 PM

Bay Leaf Pound Cake with Orange Glaze

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Happy Friday! It seems that adding Dorie to the Cook the Book Fridays mix is keeping me on task (so far). Now that our cooking/blogging schedule is so busy, the fear of falling hopelessly behind is motivating!

I have been falling a bit behind with My Paris Kitchen, in part because we have a dessert on the schedule each month. I haven’t been making the desserts for several reasons, but a big one is that I have been “dieting” this year (I don’t like the term dieting, it implies that have been severely cutting back on calories; rather I have been focusing on getting fit and shedding extra pounds at a healthy, sustainable rate). Now that I am transitioning to a phase of maintaining my new current weight, I want to learn to enjoy treats and desserts in moderation. I have a serious problem with self control when there are fresh-baked treats in the house! But I can’t imagine a world where I can’t enjoy an occasional treat.

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Bay Leaf Pound Cake with Orange Glaze was a good choice for easing back into baking and treat-making. It was easy to whip together and easy to eat. The cake is flavored with orange zest, vanilla, and bay leaves. The simple glaze gets its flavor from orange juice and Cointreau. The orange added a fresh brightness, and the bay leaves added a subtle, but distinct flavor that I really enjoyed.

The day I made the cake, my daughter kept gazing at it longingly as it cooled. I assured her she could have a piece when she was done working with her tutor. She enjoyed her slice immensely!

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Altitude Adjustments

Regular readers know that I live at a higher altitude (4500 feet) and usually need to make minor adjustments when I bake a cake. These are the adjustments I made to Bay Leaf Pound Cake with Orange Glaze:

1/8 teaspoon less baking powder
Added 1 tablespoon milk (higher altitudes can cause cakes to dry out and I live in a dry climate, so I always add a little extra liquid)

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Tagged as baking, cake, CooktheBookFridays, MyParisKitchen

February 16, 2018 · 3:54 PM

Carrot Cake

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Happy Friday! I love baking and baked goods, but I don’t bake very often. My small family just doesn’t need to have too many tempting treats lying around. So I was very excited when Cook the Book Fridays gave me the perfect excuse to bake this week with Carrot Cake.

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The recipe as it is written is for a giant layer cake that serves 12 to 16 people. Since I didn’t have a birthday party or other event to bake for, I had to pare things down. I cut the recipe in half and baked cupcakes! Not only did I bake cupcakes, I also took the opportunity to use my mini bundt pan. I got 18 cupcakes out of the half recipe, though I probably should have filled the mini bundt pan with a little less batter per cake.

The frosting is a mix of cream cheese and mascarpone with small amounts of powdered sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest.

My cupcakes turned out really well. The cake is moist and tender, with just the right amount of spice, and the frosting is decadent but not too sweet. They seem to keep well; they were just as good (if not better) on the second day.

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Altitude Adjustments: I made a few small adjustments for my altitude of 4500 feet:

Since the full recipe uses an uneven number of eggs (5), when I cut the recipe in half I rounded up to 3 eggs. This provides a little extra moisture and structure for the cake.
I also added an extra tablespoon of buttermilk for even more extra moisture. My climate is dry, so I always add a little extra liquid when I bake.
I reduced amount of baking powder and baking soda slightly. I took an 1/8 teaspoon out of the baking powder, and when I measured the baking soda, I used just a smidgen less than a half teaspoon.

If you would like to try your hand at making these cupcakes (or the whole, giant cake!), you can find the recipe in David Lebovitz’s book, My Paris Kitchen.

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Tagged as baking, cake, cooking, CooktheBookFridays

June 28, 2016 · 3:58 PM

Rose Fraisier

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Please tell me I’m not the only one who likes to bake their own birthday cake. I don’t get many chances to make a big cake, so when the opportunity arises, I consider it a birthday gift to myself. This year it was extra fun because I went over to my sister’s house and she helped me make the cake.

This month, Tuesdays with Dorie presented me with the perfect cake for our family birthday party. Rose Fraisier is a grand cake with exotic ingredients. The secret ingredients are rose extract and rose syrup.

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Rose Fraisier is not the easiest cake to make. I don’t believe the average home baker could end up with the picture-perfect result shown in the book without special equipment. My sister had a cake ring, which helped with lining up the strawberries and piping in the filling, but we still had imperfect results and a near disaster.

After assembling the cake, we debated whether to remove the cake ring or leave it on while the cake chilled. We were concerned the cake ring would be too difficult to remove if we chilled the cake first. So, we took off the ring. The filling and strawberries immediately began oozing out the sides of the cake! While I held in the filling with my hands and an offset spatula, my sister got the brilliant idea to wrap the cake in waxed paper to hold everything in. The cake chilled with it’s waxed paper collar, and when it was time to serve we removed it. Crisis averted!

I partly blame myself for the oozing filling. I had some problems with the gelatin (my own fault!) and not very much made it into the pastry cream mixture. But I mostly blame the challenging recipe.

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All that effort and angst was worth it! The cake was super delicious and it was a big hit at the party. The rose flavoring added just a hint of unexpected flavor, and I absolutely loved the pastry cream filling. Would I make it again? Probably not, but I would consider a simplified version because the flavors were so good.

My dad and niece photobombed my cake:

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If you are interested in trying your hand at making Rose Fraisier, Dorie Greenspan has posted the recipe on her blog: Rose Fraisier Recipe. You can also find it in her book, Baking Chez Moi.

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Tagged as baking, cake, rose, strawberry, tuesdays with dorie

May 26, 2015 · 2:24 PM

TWD: Rhubarb Upside-Down Brown Sugar Cake

Happy Tuesday! I hope those of you in the United States enjoyed your Memorial Day weekend. We had unseasonably rainy weather, so we didn’t get out as much as we had hoped. It was kind of like a typical Memorial Day weekend in the Pacific Northwest!

For Tuesdays with Dorie this week, we made a delicious cake called Rhubarb Upside-Down Brown Sugar Cake. I made it for my parents last weekend when they were here to babysit.

This cake is exactly what the name suggests: an upside-down cake, with rhubarb in the fruit layer and a brown sugar-based cake. What makes this cake so good is that the rhubarb is sauteed in lightly caramelized sugar before being placed in the bottom of the cake pan.

I went the simple route when serving my cake. I did not use the optional glaze, nor did I adorn the cake in any way. Dorie’s suggestions of whipped cream or crème fraîche and sliced strawberries would be wonderful. Vanilla ice cream would be good too.

This cake was a huge hit! My parents love rhubarb desserts, so my Mom plans on making this one again. My daughter scarfed her serving down. I loved the flavor of the brown sugar cake with the sweet-tart rhubarb. The cake was moist, but light. A winner!

Altitude Adjustments

I made two minor adjustments to the cake layer for my altitude and dry climate:

Reduced baking powder by 1/8 teaspoon
Added 1 tablespoon water

They must have worked, because the cake was wonderful!

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Tagged as baking, cake, cooking, rhubarb, tuesdays with dorie

January 27, 2015 · 2:02 PM

TWD: Brown-Butter-and-Vanilla-Bean Weekend Cake

It’s time for another Tuesdays with Dorie recipe from Baking Chez Moi! I was really looking forward to this one: Brown-Butter-and-Vanilla-Bean Weekend Cake. I love simple vanilla-flavored cakes, so this sounded right up my alley.

What makes this recipe special is the brown butter and the vanilla bean. Sure, it would be good with “unbrowned” butter and vanilla extract, but the inclusion of these two ingredients really adds oomph and complexity to the flavor.

As expected, I loved this cake! The flavor, the texture, everything about it. The tender but sturdy crumb was surrounded by a lightly crunchy crust. While I loved this cake on it’s own, it would be wonderful as a base for strawberry shortcake, or any recipe calling for pound cake.

Altitude Adjustments

I live at an elevation of about 4500 feet, so I usually have to adjust cake recipes so they rise properly. The adjustments I made seemed to work well. Here’s what I did:

Reduced the baking powder by 1/8 teaspoon
Added an extra tablespoon of cream
Added a tablespoon of 1% milk

Note: I did not use the optional rum. If I had, I probably would not have added as much extra liquid.

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Tagged as baking, cake, cooking, high-altitude baking, tuesdays with dorie, vanilla

December 30, 2014 · 11:49 AM

TWD: Gingerbread Buche de Noel

Happy Tuesdays with Dorie! Just in time for Christmas, the group made a fanciful Christmas dessert called Gingerbread Buche de Noel. These log-shaped cakes are very traditional in Europe, and pastry chefs in Paris unveil their creations for the year with fanfare. Dorie calls hers a “Franco-American buche de Noel”, with American flavors and the traditional European shape. I made mine for Christmas dinner.

There are quite a few steps to making this dessert. First, make the pecan praline that is used in both the filling and to adorn the outside of the cake. Next make the gingerbread sponge cake, then the filling. Finally, when you are ready to assemble the cake, make the marshmallow frosting.

I learned a couple of new techniques while making my buche de Noel. First of all, the cake layer had a technique I have never used before. The first step is to warm the eggs and sugar over simmering water before whipping them. It must help get nice volume. Next, I have never made marshmallow frosting before. It requires a candy thermometer and techniques similar to making marshmallows. It made a lovely, light, spreadable frosting.

I enjoyed the flavors of this decadent Christmas dessert, but sponge cake ended up a bit dry. I actually blame my kitchen scale for this. I cut the recipe in half, relying heavily on my scale to do so. Unfortunately, the scale was on it’s last legs and I had trouble getting accurate measurements. I am sure something was off, resulting in my dry cake. I did get a new kitchen scale as a Christmas gift (yay!), so this won’t be a problem in the future.

Other than the dry cake, I thought the cake was delicious. I loved the marshmallow frosting and would like to try it on a different cake some time. My daughter inhaled her serving, so I think she liked it!

If you would like to try making Gingerbread Buche de Noel, you can find the recipe (and/or listen to Dorie talk about it!) here: Dorie on NPR.

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Tagged as baking, cake, cooking, TWD

November 7, 2014 · 5:08 PM

FFWD: Jerusalem Artichoke Soup + Apple Cake

Happy Friday! I hope you all had a good week. Things are settling back to normal around here and I made two French Fridays with Dorie recipes!

Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Parsley Coulis

This week the group made Jerusalem Artichoke Soup with Parsley Coulis. You may be thinking that we just made something with Jerusalem artichokes. Well, yes we did, last month. Now that we are getting down to the last few dozen recipes from the book, we are being strategic about which recipes we do, to make sure we don’t miss certain ingredients when they are in season. Also, certain “odd” ingredients (like Jerusalem artichokes, for example) have been hard sells, and we are finally having to bite the bullet and make those recipes. So, two Jerusalem artichoke recipes in two months.

This soup was actually quite similar to the Celery-Celery Soup we made last month. Same techniques, just a variation in ingredients. This one had butter, two large onions, a bit of celery, on leek, garlic, Jerusalem artichokes, and chicken broth. We made a parsley coulis (parsley pureed with olive oil and salt) to drizzle over the finished soup.

What a pleasant surprise! After the so-so results from the Celery-Celery Soup and the Roasted Jerusalem Artichokes, I didn’t have high expectations. But Jerusalem Artichoke Soup had a lovely flavor that both my husband and I enjoyed very much. The parsley coulis and a dollop of heavy cream finished off the soup very nicely.

Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake

This past week I also did a make-up recipe from way back when French Fridays first started: Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake. This is a simple cake chock-full of apples. There are almost more apples than batter!

Dorie recommends using four different kinds of apples, to get varying textures and flavors. I took her advice and I loved the results. She calls for four “large” apples, but I used one large and three that were smaller. Some people have had trouble having too many apples and not enough batter, and I feel that using a few smaller apples helped with this.

Why did I wait so long to make this delicious cake? It’s easy enough to make at the spur of the moment, and a perfect way to enjoy apples at their peak. The touch of rum in the batter really added a nice flavor. I love simple cakes, and this one was a winner!

If you would like to try Marie-Hélène’s Apple Cake, you can find the recipe here. The recipe for the soup can be found in the book Around My French Table by Dorie Greenspan.

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Tagged as apples, baking, cake, cooking, French Fridays, Jerusalem artichokes

August 1, 2014 · 11:20 AM

Gâteau Basque

Happy Friday! Believe it or not, today marks the last day of summer vacation for us. My daughter’s school district began a new school calendar last year and school now starts in early August. Summer went so fast! We have a few fun things planned today (lunch at a favorite restaurant and a trip to the Discovery Museum) to mark the occasion.

I am running a week behind on French Fridays with Dorie due to a fun vacation and other out-of-town activities. I had actually hoped to get this post written before I left for my vacation, but it didn’t work out.

We only have a few desserts left to do, so we have been spreading them out a bit. The group recently tackled Gâteau Basque, a specialty of the Basque region of France (and I suppose it’s common in the Basque regions of Spain too…).

I am always amazed at the wonderful and different ways to use a few basic ingredients: flour, butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla. This time they came together as a soft cookie-like shortbread cake with a sweet filling of cherry jam.

I didn’t get a lot of help eating this one. My daughter enjoyed her piece quite a bit. My mother-in-law ate a piece while babysitting (I never heard if she liked it or not). My husband usually doesn’t consider a dessert without chocolate worth eating, so he didn’t have any.

Good thing I liked this cake! I loved the buttery, vanilla-y cake layers. The jam I chose was a little too sweet for my taste, but I enjoyed the mix of flavors. While the cherry jam is traditional, this would be wonderful with other jams too, particularly apricot or strawberry.

This post participates in French Fridays with Dorie, an online cooking group cooking our way through Dorie Greenspan’s wonderful book Around My French Table. If you would like to try making Gâteau Basque you can find it in Dorie’s book, or here.

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Tagged as cake, cooking, dessert, French Fridays

April 25, 2014 · 5:59 PM

Green-as-Spring Veal Beef Stew + Visitandine

Happy Friday! I’m not feeling like the words are going to flow easily today, so we’ll see how this goes…

For French Fridays with Dorie this week I am doing yet another double post. This week’s recipe was a green stew called Green-as-Spring Veal Stew, except I used beef. I also made a recipe from earlier this month, a simple cake called Visitandine.

Green-as-Spring ~~Veal~~ Beef Stew

Green-as-Spring Veal Stew was unlike anything I had made before. It calls for veal stew meat, but I used grass-fed beef chuck roast instead, which I cut into 2-inch cubes. The main reason I made the substitution is that I had the chuck roast in the freezer just waiting to be used. It sounds like several FFWD participants made substitutions for the veal – I can’t wait to see what the others used and how it turned out!

So, back to the recipe… First, the stew meat is boiled for just a minute or two, then drained and rinsed. This rids the meat of any impurities that might cloud the sauce – very clever! Next, the meat is simmered in broth with a variety of veggies and seasonings until it is tender. When the meat is done, it is removed from the broth, and the veggies and seasonings are discarded. Here’s where it gets interesting (and how it gets green): After the broth is reduced a bit, a bunch of fresh greens and herbs are added (arugula, spinach, dill, parsley, and tarragon). After cooking briefly the whole thing is pureed (minus the meat!). Whisk in some creme fraiche and squeeze in a bit of lemon juice, and the sauce done!

I liked this a lot! I was concerned that the flavor of the beef would be too bold for the sauce, but it was not at all. The sauce was fresh-tasting and delicious! I can imagine using it for many different meats, including chicken. It’s also a good way to sneak spinach and arugula to wary eaters!

If you are curious what other meats were used, check out the “LYL” on the FFWD site: LYL: green as spring veal stew.

Visitandine

I am always amazed at how many wonderful things can be made from just a few simple ingredients: eggs, flour, sugar, and butter. Visitandine is a perfect example. This simple cake is easy to make and easy to eat!

This cake is made with whipped egg whites, and the recipe is similar to Coconut Friands and Financiers. Because it is a simple, vanilla-flavored cake, it is very versatile and can be served many ways.

I made this for Easter dessert and served it with whipped cream and strawberries. Kind-of like an unlayered shortcake. While I enjoyed it served this way, I liked it even better the next day eaten out-of-hand as a snacking cake. I loved letting the simple flavors shine on their own.

If you are looking for a last-minute dessert made with ingredients you have on hand, give this delicious cake a try!

I guess the words flowed OK…maybe too well!

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Tagged as baking, beef, cake, cooking, dessert, French Fridays, stew, veal

January 20, 2012 · 11:58 AM

Quatre-Quarts

Is it really Friday already? This week has flown by! Being Friday, you know what that means: French Fridays with Dorie.

This week’s recipe is a simple cake called Quatre-Quarts, which translates directly to “four-fourths”. Similar in concept to an American pound cake, the cake uses equal amounts of eggs, flour, sugar, and butter.

Cakes have been my nemesis since I moved to Reno over 11 years ago. Growing up in sea-level Seattle I never had to be concerned with my altitude while baking. Reno is apparently at a high enough altitude (~4400 feet) to affect the baking of cakes. I suddenly had cakes that were not rising properly, sinking in the middle, spilling over the pan, and the texture was off. The richer the cake, the more trouble I had.

I received the book High Altitude Baking, which explains a lot of the science behind baking and altitude and also gives suggestions for adjusting recipes. For years I attempted small adjustments to my recipes with mixed results. Whenever I did any Internet searches for help with high altitude baking, most people said they simply added an extra egg to their recipe. I resisted trying this because it seemed too easy, but a year or so ago I started adding an extra egg to cake recipes and it worked! The extra egg changes the texture a little bit, but cakes rise beautifully and the texture is way better than what I was getting without the extra egg.

If you live at a higher altitude, do you adjust your cake recipes? If so, what method do you use?

Now, back to this week’s cake… I debated whether or not to follow the recipe as written or to add the extra egg. In the end, I decided to add the egg. The result was a lovely, simple cake very similar to a pound cake, but lighter in texture.

I really liked this cake. Dorie mentions that it is a common after-school snack cake, so my daughter enjoyed a piece when she got home from school. We ate it plain, but the cake would also be lovely dressed up a bit. Strawberries and whipped cream would be good!

My daughter is notorious for helping herself to cakes and other baked goods left unattended. This cake became a victim. Luckily it happened after my pictures were taken!