AMIELIA'S APRIL OFFERING!

Strawberry Cloud Cream Cake

You can make this without the lattice band but I like to go all out. Recipes are from “The Cake Bible” except for the ganache, which is from a Colette Peters cake-decorating book. This is definitely worth the time and many steps it takes you. Hey, this is how we like to spend our time anyway, right?












Golden Luxury Butter Cake:
6 ounces white chocolate
6 large egg yolks
1C. milk
1 1/2 t. vanilla
3C. sifted cake flour
1C. and 3T. sugar
1 T. + 1 1/2 t. baking powder
3/4 t. salt
9 T. unsalted butter, softened
2 9-inch by 1 1/2 inch pans, greased w/shortening and flour

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees
• Melt the white chocolate, set aside
• In a medium bowl lightly combine the yolks, 1/4 C. of the milk and vanilla
• In a large mixing bowl combine the dry ingredients and mix on low speed for 30 seconds to blend.
• Add the butter and remaining 3/4 C. milk. Mix on low speed until dry ingredients are moistened. Increase to medium speed and beat for 1 1/2 minutes.
• Gradually add the egg mixture in three batches beating for 20 seconds after each addition.
• Add the melted white chocolate and beat to incorporate.
• Scrape the batter into pans and smooth surface w/spatula. The pans will be a little more than 1/2 full.
• Bake 25-35 minutes until toothpick comes out clean from center and top springs back from pressing lightly in the center.
• Allow cake to cool in pan for 10 min. then invert onto cooling racks.

Strawberry Fruit Cloud Cream: Mixing Strawberry Puree and Whipped Cream
20 ounces frozen strawberries
2 t. lemon juice, freshly squeezed
2 C. heavy cream
7 Tablespoons sugar

• Refrigerate your mixing bowl and beater while making puree.

Strawberry Puree:
• In a fine strainer/colander suspended over a deep bowl allow the berries to thaw. This can take a couple hours so plan ahead. This will drain juice from berries; press them if necessary (usually is, I use a potato masher) to extract juice (and remove seeds if you care about that.) You should have close to 1/1/4 C. juice.
• Puree what is left of the berries in blender or processor. You should have 1C.of puree, and set aside.
• In a small saucepan (or microwave on high power, using 4C. heat proof glass to allow for bubbling) boil the juice only until reduced to 1/4C.
• Mix together the puree, juice reduction, lemon juice and sugar until all the sugar is dissolved. Refrigerate until cool.
• In the chilled bowl, beat the cream until it mounds softly when dropped from a spoon. Add the puree and beat just until stiff peaks form when the beater is raised.

Chocolate Ganache:
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
8 ounces heavy cream.
• Place chocolate in large metal or glass bowl. Heat the cream in saucepan just to the boiling point. Pour cream over chocolate making sure all chocolate is covered. Cover bowl and let stand for 5-10 minutes. Whisk chocolate until dark and shiny, this can be used immediately for a glaze over the cake if you want but I like more of a frosting so I let it cool until desired consistency for icing a cake.

When the cake is cooled, frost tops of both layers (not the sides) with ganache, use cloud cream for filling between layers and frost sides of cake with cloud cream. Top with cloud cream design and then add lattice band.

For Chocolate Lattice band (if you wanna get fancy):
• You will need: disposable pastry bag*, wax paper cut 29 inches X 3inches high
• Melt 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
• Fill a disposable pastry bag and snip a tiny bit from the corner, *if you don’t have a pastry bag, use zip lock bag, seal, and snip one bottom corner off. Allow the chocolate to thicken a little so it will fall smoothly from the back, you can add a drop of Glycerin after melting for a more fluid look.
• Holding the bag about 4 inches above wax paper, pipe chocolate in a fluid line making a lattice, filigree or loopy design of your choice and work quickly. Let the chocolate dull so it is still pliable but not hard. Wrap around the cake and refrigerate until chocolate is firm and carefully peel off the wax paper.

EASTER CAKE

Easter cake part II! From Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (thanks Schnick- best gift ever!)I ran out of sugar an hour before the brunch and had to use confectioners to make the frosting and it did hold up tho not as well as last years. Moral of this story? NEVER RUN OUT OF SUGAR.

KAT'S MARCH DOTM

In the end, I went for a tried-n-true old timey recipe: Lemon Bars.
My friend Ingrid turned me on to these almost 15 years ago, and this is the best recipe I've found since. It's a light, perfect spring/summer dessert classic, and I promise you won't be disappointed.

march madness mea culpa

i am running very, very, very late with my March recipe card, but it will soon be on its way! there's been an existential recipe war going on in my head, between tried-n-true recipes or new, experimental ones. also, i am lazy.

SUSAN'S COFFEECAKE (DOTM FEB 07)

I made it!! I really need to stress something here. I know there are many flashy blogs showcasing glorious creations, artistic acheivments in butter, eggs and sugar. I am adicted to and troll them regularly.I get so wrapped up in them I forget you can have simple glories in the kitchen with as much impact as a fancy schmancy architectural masterpiece. (Anyone see the Departed? Remember the pastry in the date scene?) This is so simple and so delicious I felt like a pioneer woman. I made this in minutes. A picture was taken only of the top, as it was devoured so quickly and with such fervor the need to photograph it sliced seemed frivolus when compared to the need to consume it. People raved. You may not even be able to tell what it is. "We need to get a pic of it sliced " I recall saying and then sat down to enjoy my second piece and promptly forgot. The reason this cake is so delish? The crumbly top! The tender yellow cake! You know those Drake's coffecakes? This is where they go when they die. This is the real deal, the reason those folks at Drake's tried to recreate it in a "to go" form. The next day the topping was even more sublime, crunchier and I got nostalgic devouring it as Marty and I squared off on who would take some to work. In order to spread the word on this baby I sent it with him. People must know it can be theirs as well. I promised to myself I would I either physically memorize the measurements or pull a Martha and keep it pre sifted and at the ready in zip bags. Maybe add some seasonal flourishes (bluberries?) maybe not. Maybe just KeepItSimpleStupid I URGE you guys to scroll down and make this cake. It will take a half hour and you will be rewarded, trust me.

Can we expand this?

I'm craving cobblers and crisps and all of that lately. Any family recipes for those lying around?

RICOTTA CHEESE PIE OR ITALIAN STYLE CHEESECAKE OR DAMN GOOD PIE

So this is literally one of the first things I ever baked. I have not had it in many years and my recent pie obsession got me thinking back and I am so very glad I remembered it. It's unbelievable the next day after a nice sit in the fridge. sorry no pic of it, made at my Oscar party (which almost no one came to thanks to a snowstorm- haha more for me-it has been my breakfast the past two days..!). It can have a top crust or not..I was raised on top crust but the one I made was one crust. Just play around with it but don't let it go- I am telling you it is comfort pie, try it.

Sophie Lang's (my Dad's mom, but he also made a mean one) Ricotta Pie:

For the crust
3 c. flour
3/4 c. butter
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. lemon rind

Filling
1 lb. Ricotta cheese
4 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
Dash of cinnamon or nutmeg
1 pie shell (unbaked)

Beat all ingredients together and pour into unbaked pie shell. Bake at 450 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake until knife inserted comes out clean, as for a custard pie.

I added some lemon juice, increased the sugar a bit cos I actually made mine with low fat (LAME, I had it on hand) but I encourage you to use whole.

SAVORY LEEK AND MUSTARD PIE

I am giving you
my favorite savory pie recipe. It's so simple, but the ultimate delicious.
I have brought this pie to many many pot lucks and received the praise that
I am always secretly seeking at such events.
Xo THE WHIPPER (Eve)

Leek and Mustard Pie (from the Greens)

4 to 5 cups leeks, cut into 1/4" rings
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 c white wine or water
1/2 tsp salt
Peeper to taste
2 eggs
1 cup crème fraiche (or cream or half and half)
3 tablespoons of good quality mustard
3 oz gruyere cheese
3 ounces 2 tablespoons chives, cut into narrow rounds.

Your favorite crust partially pre-baked.

Pre heat oven to 375. Wash leeks and set them aside. Melt butter in wide
skillet med heat. Add leeks w/ water that clings to them, stir for 2-3 min.
Add wine/water and salt, cover reduce heat and cook slowly till leeks are
tender, 10 to 15 min. Check after 7 and add more liquid if ness. In bowl
beat eggs. Add crème, mustard, leeks and cheese. Pour into crust. Scatter
chives on top. Bake this baby till it's golden brown about 35/ 40 min.

Lime Pie, oh my.

Nicole has made a request I can't refuse...an entry on our favorite pies.
As much of a dessert fiend as I am, I've never been much of a pie gal, honestly, save for ONE kind: key lime pie.
I love it because it's sweet and tart and most importantly, requires minimal baking, making it almost foolproof. I learned a very basic recipe from an old college boyfriend (who, incidentally, Nicole ALSO dated... but that's a hilarious story for another time) about ten years ago. I ended up making it for my husband shortly after we met, and it blew his mind as he is British and they don't have key lime pies across the Atlantic. They have gross things like dried fruit and custard "spotted dicks" and "Christmas puddings' that are filled with prunes and barf syrup that he makes me eat once a year. But I digress...

Though many associate this pie with Florida, I personally think of Red Hook, Brooklyn, where I discovered Steve's Authentic Key Lime Pies. If you've never tried his pies, and you live in the area, get over there, you won't regret it. And if you're not local, you're in luck- cuz you can order one here!

I'm going to refer to my own recipe as a Lime Pie, as I don't always find actual key limes and have to resort to using regular limes. Either way, I think both work well.

Here's the basic recipe I follow:

For crust:
Take about a cup of crushed graham cracker and mix with half a cup of melted, unsalted butter.
Mush together until you get a workable crust consistency and pat into pie pan, forming a bottom and side crust. Bake until golden and firm, roughly 5-7 minutes at 350 degrees.
Once is has cooled down, pour in the filling.

The filling:
1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
5 (large) egg yolks
1/2 cup of fresh squeezed lime juice (maybe 8-10 limes?)

First blend condensed milk with the yolks, careful not to overblend.
Once thoroughly mixed in, you can add the lime juice. Add more lime juice to taste, as some people want it milder and others, like me, like it really tarty.

Pour filling into cooled pie shell, refrigerate to set, at least 2 hours.
Optional: before refrigerating, I like to zest some lime peel on top. Serve with a small dollop of fresh whipped cream. Or keep it lo-fi and plain, which I prefer. I don't like lime pies that are covered in a solid layer of whipped fluff. It's too rich and buries the sharpness of the lime juice, which is the whole point of the pie, duh.

I don't own many fancy kitchen gadgets, but I highly recommend investing in one of those lime/lemon squeezers. They're so handy, for drinks, salads, juicing for this pie, fish, etc. We use ours constantly. It looks like this:


Also, if you're not into your stomach curdling and performing spastic somersaults, don't eat with coffee. And don't worry...you won't get salmonella poisoning unless you let your raw yolks hang out at room temperature for an inordinate amount of time. Enjoy! xo kat

The Accidental Muffin

Have you ever experienced that "Oh shit, I'm supposed to bring a dish to the party but I'm too lazy to go to the store" moment? Well, that's the way this recipe came about and I want to share it with you. And please don't let the half-assedness of my last-minute recipe quest deter you, because these suckers are actually really good.

It all came together for Nicole and Agatha'a President's Day Dessert Party at Daddy's. I had to create something sweet and edible from what I had sitting around at home. Not much...so I ultimately winged it with the ingredients, largely basing my decisions on how good the batter tasted. It was very scientific.

Behold the result:


This is the closest I've come to an actual recipe. I made it again this week, and found it's very similar to the Dessert Party original (that ended up being a freak surprise hit with everyone). Here's how it breaks down:

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, melted. Don't put less than this, as the butter is key. If anything, put a little too much.
• 2 cups all purpose flour, sifted.
• 2/3 cup dark brown sugar.
• 1/4 cup (any kind of) milk, plus more to moisten dough if necessary.
  
• 1 egg.
• Just under 1 teaspoon baking powder.
• 1 teaspoon salt.

* For the special chocolate bit on top, I used a fancy chocolate raspberry truffle bar, broken into pieces. Any fancy/high quality chocolate bar will be good.

I sifted the flour into a big bowl (using a large tea strainer as I don't actually own a sifter), then added all the rest of the ingredients. The brown sugar was really hard so I put it in a bowl with some of the milk and microwaved it until it was syrupy, then added it to the rest of the batter.

Once the batter was thoroughly mixed, nice and sticky and cookie-dough thick, I put dollops into a greased (or nonstick) muffin tin, filling about 2/3 of the way up. Then I took a bit of chocolate, about the size of a quarter, and placed it in the middle of each muffin cookie, slightly pressing it in. I baked at 375 for 11-12 minutes.

The muffins should be soft but firm to the touch, or you can do that clean toothpick/fork/knife test to be sure. Don't wait for it to turn golden, as color means nothing. It will always look....tan.
Be careful not to overcook or it will become dry, hard, and somewhat weaponized. I personally always try to slightly under cook desserts because I prefer too moist to too dry.

The chocolate will still be very melty when you pull it out of the oven, which is lovely...but if you need to travel with it, just throw it in the fridge for a half hour and it will solidify nicely. I'm sure putting pieces of banana, apples, nuts, etc would also work well if you don't want chocolate.

These are not overly sweet and are really good with milk, coffee, tea, or as we found out the night of the Dessert Party, hot toddies! Enjoy! xo kat

Punch Down's February Valentine

Ooh la la- here is our February recipe card from Punch Down! From the perfect calligraphic envelope lettering to the overall valentine hotness to all of us now owning a tried-n-true coffeecake recipe...amazing! My scanner doesn't do the glitter hearts and red foil justice, but there's no mistaking the brilliance:

January DOTMC recipe!

Behold, Hottie Biscotti's recipe...
It must look crazy and black and gloopy and amazing. I can't wait to make it! I put it against a black background, to show the lovely deckled edges better...hope that's alright.

Creative Cupcakes

Ms. Melang sent out a link to Chocylit's Cupcake Bakeshop website. I was so thrilled, because over the holidays, I made Chocylit's chocolate cupcake with peanut butter filling and chocolate ganache frosting. They are so amazing! I think the whole site is so inspiring an has the most creative cupcake recipes around. I highly recommend checking it out...and baking them....and eating them!

October and December DOTMCs

I made your stuff!

Well, actually, I made Nicole's pumpkin cheesecake for my family's Christmas dessert. I didn't have Christmas with them, so that was my "please don't be angry with me" offering. I guess it worked because everyone really liked it. They saved me a little and I had it the next day, and it was delicious. Here are a couple photos (I gave it to my mom when it came out of the oven so she could refrigerate it overnight, so it's still in the pan).



Agatha's Cranberry Pistachio Brownies were altered into Cranberry Walnut Brownies because I live in a town that doesn't seem to sell unsalted pistachios anywhere and also, I had some walnuts already. I did find fresh cranberries though, even though it seems like places assume that we don't want to cook with cranberries after the holidays and therefore these places were not offered any brownies.

I made these for a dinner party I had to go to and they went over amazingly well, really dense and rich. Everyone raved about them. Chocolate and cranberries are my new favorite thing.



I figured out that DOTMC is extremely useful when all of your friends are sort of needy and only invite you to their parties so you'll bring something to eat. Instead of being like "Ohhhh noooo, which of the thousand cookbooks and/or cooking magazines lying around should I look through to find an appropriate recipe"* you can just grab the postcard and it's done. Month appropriate and pre-tested.

Also, I just opened the jam, and it is so delicious that I have to save it for weekends to make it last longer.

*I also usually say "F you! I'm not your sugary buttery monkey! Go to a bakery and find some other patsy to make your sweets for you!" But by the end of that, I already have my apron on and they know I'm bluffing.

January recipe on the way!

OK folks, don't fret! Your January recipes are on their way across the country! I had a slight printer malfunction (booo printer!) that set me back a week. Thanks for your patience!

CREAMY CENTERS

Hey All as we wait for Kim's no doubt delectable DOTMC postcard I will post for you here the cupcakes Agatha and I made for my 32nd Bday party!! We originally planned elaborate Pomegranate garnish and a deep crimson Pomegranate center but I am one busy girl and time was TIGHT, so here we have
White cake
Pom buttercream center
Key Lime buttercream tops with Black Sprinkles

Thanks for the pics, Kat!

DECEMBER DOTMC PISTACHIO BROWNIES

Adorable DOTMC recipe from Agatha!

My Freakish Favorite of two-thousand sick

Below you will see pictures of the first thing I (and Agatha!) made together in 2006..Almost a year ago - My 31st birthday cake. It was a crepe cake (31 layers of crepes!!) and a very uhh ambitious cake to try and pull off for big party. We even got together the night previous to it's debut to practice our crepe skills. I wanted to show you all how both beautiful and marvelously clumsy it was. Even though it barely stayed together and was a semi-sucessful improvisation, (save for the gorgeous caramelized hazelnuts and draped sugar gracing it's top which as you can see are perfect, kisses to Agatha) it was so much fun to make and transport and share with all my friends. Tell me DOTMC'ers, what did you most enjoy creating this past year?

Apple Pear Upside-Down Cake success!

I'm in grad school, and I work full time, and I complain about both a lot, but school just ended for me last week for the semester, and I went baking crazy. I thought it would be a good time to actually make the DOTMC recipes, since every person I know seems to be having a Christmas party and they all decide without my input that I'll be bringing something homemade.

Well, my mom was no exception. She had one of those ladies wearing pearls and expensive Christmas sweaters jams, and I thought an apple pear upside-down cake would be a perfect choice and would mask the fact that I wasn't wearing a festive rhinestone "reindeer leaping" brooch. So I made Molly's recipe! It's pictured below on the appropriate gold-edged holiday plate that I was amazed my roommate owned!



I couldn't get a great picture.

I didn't have an oven-proof skillet that was big enough, and both my bundt and tube pans were nowhere to be found, probably lent to someone. So I used this great stoneware deep dish pie plate that I have, and it worked great! It was the absolute perfect size. When I poured in the batter over the fruit, it literally came up to the very edge of the pie plate. It turned out easily, fell apart a little, but still looked good.

Here's where I become a jerk. I never actually got to eat any of the cake. The sweater ladies devoured it with graceful aplomb and oohed and ahhed so much that I doubt it was just out of politeness. It smelled delicious though and my house still smells good the day after.

Tip that I found out - both the pan for the cake and the pan that I used to cook the fruit and sugar needed to be soaked for a few hours before I could wash them, as the sugar hardens almost instantly upon cooling. But after they sat there in soapy water, washing them took two seconds.

I'm making Nicole's pumpkin cheesecake for my family's Christmas dinner, but even though I can't actually attend said dinner, I'll make sure I nab a piece before I send it along, this time.

Thoughts on Food Mills?

SO, my mom gave me a Foley Food Mill for my birthday, and I immediately made applesauce. My mom's applesauce is the greatest in the world, she makes it constantly, and I was determined to recreate. She swears by the mill, but I had trouble with it. It took a really really long time and a lot of effort to push the apples through. I cooked them (quartered, with the skins on) for about an hour, but I still had to get my huge boyfriend to help me because my arm was so tired swinging that mill handle around.

The end result tasted good (although I realize that I should have only used one cinnamon stick instead of two), but I want to make it a faster process. Any suggestions or ideas for how to wrangle a food mill into submission?

RECIPE

As far as the recipe goes, I looked in a bunch of Martha books, and all of her recipes listed mace and a thousand other spices to put in, but in teeny print at the bottom of the recipe, it would say "Homemade applesauce really doesn't need more than apples and water. All of these ingredients are optional."

My mom concurs, so I just went with 12 gala apples, half a cup of water, a tablespoon of sugar (which I realize now is not necessary at all), and two cinnamon sticks (but I only needed one). I simmered them, stirring often, for an hour, and then I processed them in batches in the food mill, removing the skins after.

It came out to be a delicious red color, without the gross oversweet storebought taste that I despise. Also, my house smelled awesome and my roommate gave me a million dollars. In hugs. Ok, in smiles. Ok, she just ate the applesauce happily.

GOBBLE GOBBLE!

Now for the post-Thanksgiving round-up:
Miss Lemon Melang and Johnnycake Grits were kind enough to host a Thanksgiving feast for some of us lucky locals in NY this year. There was food galore...as far as the eye could see. There were great people in attendance, including DOTMC's Dawn and Punch Down, and a ridiculously cute cat named Zidane, who I may or may not have planned to kidnap by the end of the evening. Luckily for the loft's tenants, my husbands over-indulgences with booze from the night before finally caught up with him, and so our suddenly hastened exit thwarted any of my catnapping (as in stealing, not sleeping) plans. I mean, wtf, dude? The ONE time alcohol affects my British (read: HIGH TOLERANCE LEVEL) husband!
But I digress...
Lemon Melang and Dawn, in a heartwarming display of racial tolerance and the unifying qualities of good food, dressed as a Native American goddess and pilgrim, respectively:


After the food was assembled and prepared, Melang and Grits prepared us for our meal with a prayer verse from the holy book of Roky Ericson:

That ruled.
Then we dug in!
My contribution to the vegetarian dinner was my mom's killer yam + marshmallow bake. But because I'm a generally ignorant meat-eater, I failed to recognize that my old-school marshmallows were not of the veg-friendly persuasion. I always thought it was just a gross rumor that the gelatin used to make them were made from sundry meat/bone parts. Duh, duh, duh. Ah well, for those of us who still didn't mind, it tasted pretty good. Here's a pic of my offending fluff:


That said, can anyone recommend a place to get non-sketchy/veg marshmallows so I don't mortify myself at a dinner party again?

DOTMC MISS NOVEMBER

Behold the exquisite recipe that is Molly Schnick's DOTMC offering. I got it in the mail and immediately thought "oh those two sweet little squirrels I always see across the street in the park must be getting married, because surely they are the only creatures magical enough to conjure such autumnal beauty". It was such a treat to open. Also I must confess to you all I have a tendency to shirk fall fruits. I know it's lame!! I shy away from crumbles and compotes...glance forlornly at pears...Apple pie is really as deep as I get. This recipe will motivate me to get over my FFF (Fall fruit fear).
Next up is Agatha!!! And I don't know if you all heard but we have a NEW MEMBER, Marcee! Welcome to the kooky world of DOTMC.

If I May...

I need to give out-of-control-mad-props to our very own Lemon Melang for creating two of the most well-crafted, delicious cakes I've had the privilege of scarfing down.
Created exclusively for her man- who will heretofore be referred to as Johnnycake Grits, the cakes consisted of one ELECTRIC GUITAR and one 45 RECORD!
Behold:



Can you even believe your eyes?? And they were DELICIOUS! The guitar was covered in a buttercream frosting that met all my personal standards of how the ideal buttercream frosting should taste. It was smooth, but not too slick or oily. Buttery, but vanilla was totally in effect. In short, I literally creamed myself. I pulled Miss Melang aside then and there, blathering on and on about it while simultaneously licking my blue frosting-tinted fingers...just ask her. That lady is grace under fire.

Then the 45 cake...whoa. Serious ganache, kids. I'm talking rich, intense, chocolately ganache goodness. I was beside myself. I still am, clearly.
Hopefully, Lemon Melang will share some of her secrets with us... maybe she could post some kind of PowerPoint presentation about the whole thing...from concept, to design, to baking, then decorating. This is really serious.
I know other DOTM ladies were in attendance last night...will you all post your own rapturous experience from her cakes on here too, so I'm not the only one spazzing out?

Vanilla bean question...

Does anyone have a view on vanilla bean origin? I've been pretty consistently wedded to Madagascar beans as they always seem to be much more fragrant than Tahitian beans. When I was in LA, I could occasionally find some Mexican beans which were as good as Madagascar ones, but much cheaper...

Anyone else have a view?

Kabocha squash pie...

So remember how I was all sad a couple weeks ago when I'd gotten a nasty, rotten kabocha squash? Thankfully, my local squash dealer redeemed himself last week with a perfectly nice one...

This recipe of Pichet Ong's, a kabocha squash pie with ginger vanilla bean butterscotch sauce is one of my all time favorites. I made one this past week and took it into the office - guess it was well received as it disappeared in a record 4 minutes and netted me a marriage proposal (!) which I politely declined.

Anyhow, it's a little bit fussy for everyday baking, but worth the effort...

My Birthday Cake Wish

My birthday is on November 20th, and the reason this is important is because it gives everybody ample time to make this cake for me:



Here's the recipe.

That's right, I require a cake to look like a vegetable garden. Consider this a challenge.



Sometimes I feel like Martha just gets bored.

Little Miss Cupcake Sedaris

I love Amy Sedaris. She is hilaaaaaarious. She's adorable, as is her brother, and we have the same birthday! Some of you might already know that she does some cookin' and bakin' on the side, but I wanted to share her cupcake recipe, right out of her new book, "I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence."

This particular recipe was named for her bunny rabbit, Tattletail. Bunnies and cupcakes?? Ain't nothin more precious.

the following is an excerpt from her book:

TATTLETAIL'S VANILLA CUPCAKES:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. You will need: Unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, baking powder, salt, flour, milk.

Put 1 & 1/2 sticks of butter in mixer and beat at medium speed until somewhat smooth. Pour in 1 & 1/2 cups of sugar and beat well. Add 2 eggs. I like to crack the eggs on the side of the bowl while it is moving, which can be really stupid. I like to take chances. Yes, I have had to throw away my batter because I lost eggshells in the mix. Yes, it was a waste of food and yes, I know how expensive butter is, but what can I say? I'm a daredevil. Mix well. Add: 2 teaspoons of pure vanilla, 2 & 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder, 1/4 teaspoon of salt, 2 & 1/2 cups of flour, and 1 & 1/4 cups of milk. Beat until it looks like it is supposed to and pour into individual baking cups, until they are about two-thirds full. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown. Should produce 24 cupcakes; I get 18 because I'm doing something wrong, although my cupcakes were voted second best in the city by New York magazine.

TATTLETAIL'S VANILLA BUTTERCREAM FROSTING:

In a bowl, combine 1 box (1 pound) of confectioners' sugar, 1 stick of unsalted butter, 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup of milk or light cream and beat for a while. Really whip it, don't be afraid to get in there. I occasionally add food coloring and sometimes substitute pure almond extract for vanilla.

If you do choose to add pure almond extract instead of vanilla, you're on your own. I don't know the measurement for it, but I do know it's less than the amount of vanilla you would add.

HAPPY MODAY DOTMCer's

Hey all I have a few things to say this morning, well... 4 minutes into the afternoon now. First a confession. I have just consumed one banana and two pieces of Dove dark chocolate, nibble here, nibble there. I urge anyone who has such things at their disposal to try this- it totally changed my mood from Monday to MMMMmmmmonday-as goofy as that sounds. But you know what they say, 'in Goofy there is truth'...um okay next I made a super decadent instant dessert the other week which I saw last year in a Food and Wine issue focusing on chefs of Spain. SO EASY. SO SUBLIME. Sliced baguette, olive oiled. Slightly toast. Remove. Place a couple squares best dark chocolate on top, sprinkle with sea salt. More toasting..just a couple min- long enough for the choc to get shiny but not spread. I tell you this was incr-edible. I think I will make it a last minute dessert staple perfect for stumbling home after midnight or an easy option for a crowd at parties. Okay, so every Mon I troll the internet for food blogs and this am I found a woman right up our alley
Check it. Also as I have already sent everyone a postcard for our inaugural DOTMC month.I will now post it for all to see!!! Hazzah!

Persian Ice Cream Delight!

The weather has been cooling down and soon most people will be less inclined to eat cold desserts like ice cream (even though winter never stopped me from inhaling a pint in one sitting). So before it gets too frosty, I'd like to share the basic recipe for the heaven that is Persian ice cream, or "bastani."
Pronouce it out loud: BASS (as in sea bass), TAN (as in George Hamilton), KNEE.
BASTANI! There, now you're more cosmopolitan than ever!

To describe it simply- it is essentially vanilla (or french vanilla) ice cream blended with saffron and rosewater, with some frozen bits of cream broken in pieces and speckled throughout. It's often garnished with (unsalted) pistachios and eaten alone, in a cone, or sandwiched between waffle cookie wafers (see pic).
I'm not so crazy about the pistachios, personally, and they're certainly optional... it's really the little gems of frozen cream that makes the dessert especially divine.

Here is the best recipe I've found so far:

1 pt heavy (whipping) cream
2 Tbsp rose water
Pinch of saffron diluted in 1 Tbsp hot water, cooled
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 gallon vanilla ice cream, slightly softened
1/2 cup halved pistachio nuts

1. Beat cream with mixer until stiff peaks form when beaters are lifted. Spread 1/2 in. thick in a flat dish; freeze 2 hours or until hard.
2. Mix rose water, saffron water and cardamom in a cup; set aside.
3. Cut frozen cream in small pieces. Place in a bowl. Add ice cream, nuts and rose-water mixture; fold with a large spatula to mix. Return to freezer; freeze at least 2 hours before serving.

It's so good, I promise! And I will be adding more (family) recipes for Persian desserts as well. My mom (rules!) is such an amazing cook, but she abhors using measuring devices...there are seriously no measuring cups/spoons anywhere in her kitchen. Consequently, getting an exact recipe can be difficult, as repeating her "use the second line on your finger to know how much water to use" method doesn't translate well for everyone...but I'm working on transcribing them all, so hang in there. They're worth the wait!

Cinnamon endorsement.

Since we're barrelling full steam into apple pie / spiced things season, I thought I'd mention that my favorite cinnamon is the extra fancy vietnamese cassia from Penzey's (link is here).

I hear you thinking "but Richard, aren't all cinnamons alike?" To which I answer "Dude, you have no idea - this stuff is killer." Because it's so strong, they actually recommend you cut back versus what you'd usually use - but I say heck with that. Cinnamon blowout!

There's a small Penzey's outlet in Grand Central Terminal, for those in the NYC area.

From a hotel room in Moscow,
Richard

Are You Hungry Tonight?

To further the gross dessert recipe photos, I scanned some pages from "Are You Hungry Tonight? Elvis' Favorite Recipes" (given to me as a gift). I included a non-dessert one so you could get a sample of the grossness of the food photos paired with random, silhouetted photos of Elvis eating and making odd gestures. The last recipe in the book is for "The Royal Wedding Cake" The recipe has not been modified in anyway. It permits you to recreate the entire original six-tiered, pale-pink marvel serving 500 guests! I mean my mom decorated cakes from our home growing up in Utah and I helped her deliver and assemble many giant, Mormon gaudy cakes to giant, Mormon families but I can only imagine, it takes 20 pounds of cake flour!

To add to the hilarity of how gross the food photos are the book is © 1992, they don't even have the excuse of being vintage. The editor may live in TN but she could have hired a decent food photographer, it's Elvis you're representing!

my cake decorating on flickr

Some of you have seen these before but I wanted to share my cake decorating set on my flickr, I love baking but I really love cake decorating and making pretty flowers with icing, or you know, Lenny Briscoe in a panda suit...

my cake decorating

AND...I've just been asked to make another baby shower cake, any ideas for decorating would be welcome as I haven't decided what to do yet, it's a co-ed shower. I thought of just decorating a really shitty diaper or a crying baby but maybe I should stick to baby animals, storks and choo-choo trains.

In the spirit of gross food...

I'm sure you've all seen this a zillion times, but this got me through a bunch of days at my boring job:

Weight Watchers Recipe Cards

It's got this one:




And now I'm kind of wishing I hadn't blown my cover on this, because wouldn't it be awesome if for my month (EFFING FEBRUARY SUCKAS!!!), I sent out a postcard of one of those babies? What if after Richard and Brooks's emails that are like "I make things out of pure love and zen and actual pieces of rainbow," I was like "Yeah, I'm really into Weight Watchers, circa 1973." I'm trying to imagine how that would pan out. Would I be deleted from the blog? The myspace profile? THE EMAIL CONTACT LIST? Or would you trust me, make it, and try the melon mousse?

What if what I actually send out is eerily similar, just with some sort of neat looking glaze over it? Oh, the power we have!! You'll just have to trust me.

Apples

This is from the Chez Panisse desserts book. I made it the other day. It's not only delicious, it is super easy. Plus it's fun to say Tarte Tatin over and over again.

Apple Tarte Tatin
One 10 inch cirlce of frozen chilled puff pastry or pie crust, rolled
1/8 inch thick. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, 6 tablespoons sugar, 1
2/3 to 2 pounds McIntosh apples. Optional: a pinch of cinnamon

Melt the butter in a 9 inch black iron frying pan over medium to high
heat and immediately add the sugar, stirring constantly. Cook until is
tis golden caramel color, being careful to removet he pan from the
heat before the caramel is too dark because the caramel will continue
to cook from the heat of the pan.

Quarter, core and peel the apples, slice each quarter in half
lenghtwise, and toss with the cinnamon if you are using it.make a ring
of apples over the caramel in the frying pan, rounded sides down and
narrower tips toward the center. make another ring of apples in the
center. you may have to cut off the tips to make them fit. Set the
pastry on top of the fruit, let it stand until softened and push it
down between the fruit and the side of the pan.

Bake in a preheated 400 degree oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the
apples and pastry are cooked. test with the point of a knife. remove
from the oven and let stand for a minute or twoto firm. Set a serving
plate upside down on top of the pan. Holding the plate as tight as you
can against the pan, flip them over quickly.

Serve warm witha glass of Sauternes, or garnished with creme fraiche
or vanilla ice cream.

Gooseberry almond tart.

As promised, here's a little something to get started on... May not be the most useful recipe of all time as 1) gooseberry season is over, and 2) it's a tad involved for everyday baking, but this concoction turned out better than I could have hoped. You could always substitute some other pleasantly tart/sweet jam instead of gooseberry. Hope y'all will enjoy...

* * *

Gooseberry and Almond Cream Tart

Gooseberry Jam

2.25 lb fresh gooseberries
3.75 cups granulated sugar
Juice of 2 lemons

Wash the gooseberries, and remove any stems and blossoms. In a non-reactive fairly heavy pan, mix the gooseberries, sugar, and lemon juice, and stir up a bit, mashing the berries a little. Bring the mixture to a boil, and remove from the heat. Pour into a ceramic bowl, and cover with a piece of parchment paper to prevent from oxidizing - refrigerate overnight.

The next day, pour back into the heavy pan and bring to a boil again, cooking for about 10-12 minutes, stirring a bit. Skim off any foam. Return to a boil, and make sure it gets to 221 degrees F, at which point the jam should set properly. Pour the jam into sterilized jars and seal.

Tart Pastry

1.25 cups flour
0.5 cup confectioners' sugar
0.25 tsp salt
0.5 cup cold unsalted butter, cut into bits
2 large egg yolks
1 tbsp. heavy cream
1 tsp almond extract (good for this tart, but optional otherwise)

Combine the dry ingredients in a food processor, pulsing a bit to mix. Add the butter and pulse until it's totally cut up and mixed into the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, beat the egg yolks and cream until just mixed together, and pour into the food processor. Run it until the dough comes together in a ball. Gather the dough together and place it on a piece of plastic wrap, forming into a 6 inch disk. Wrap up the disk in the plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to overnight until firm.

When firm, roll out on a lightly floured surface until about 12-13 inches in diameter. Roll up onto the outside of the rolling pin, and unroll it into a 9-inch tart shell pan. Fold over the excess dough on top of itself into the inside of the pan, leaving a bit sticking up over the edge of the pan, creating a double thick part running around the edge of the pan. Run a knife around the edge of the tart pan, trimming the excess off flush with the top of the pan. Freeze the crust for 30 minutes until firm.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Line the frozen crust with aluminum foil and fill it with uncooked rice, dried beans, or ceramic pie weights. Bake the crust in the pan on a cookie sheet for 15 minutes. Carefully lift out the foil and weights, and return the crust to the oven. Turn down the heat to 350 degrees F, and bake about 5-7 minutes longer until the crust looks dry and is a little golden brown. Take it out of the oven and allow it to cool on a rack.

Almond Cream

1 stick plus 3 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup confectioners' sugar
1 1/3 cup finely ground blanched almonds
7 tbsp flour
3 eggs

Combine the butter and sugar in a mixer, and beat until it's fairly smooth. Add the eggs and continue beating for a few minutes. Mix the flour and almonds together in another bowl with your fingertips, and then pour into the mixer with the sugar, butter, and eggs until fully combined.

Crunchy Almond Topping

1 large egg white
2 tbsp granulated sugar
a few shakes of ground cinnamon
a bit less than that of ground nutmeg
4 oz of slivered almonds (either blanched or unblanched ok)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk the egg white in a bowl until white and frothy (this will take a bit of whisking). Add the sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, and whisk together. Mix in the almonds and coat them in the mixture. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil, and spread the topping in roughly one layer (or a bit more, just try to avoid big piles), and bake for about 10 minutes, checking constantly that the the almonds don't burn. Take them out when they look just golden brown, and allow to cool on the sheet. Peel off the almonds onto a plate.

Constructing the tart:

Pour about 7 oz of the almond cream into the bottom of the tart crust, and even it out with an offset spatula. Bake the filled tart at 350 degrees F for about 8-12 minutes until the edges of the tart are golden brown and the almond cream is puffed a little and firm. Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Take 1 jar of the gooseberry jam, and spread over top of the almond cream with an offset spatula, and then sprinkle with the crunchy almond topping.

(Cobbled together from Christine Ferber's "Mes Confitures" and "Mes Tartes", "Essentials of Baking" from Williams Sonoma, and "Pastries from the La Brea Bakery" by Nancy Silverton)

Cupcake Compulsion

Ok- anyone who knows me knows I have an unhealthy (mentally and physically) obsession with cupcakes (have you seen the cupcake blog link to the right?). I don't know what it's all about. It's just a small cake... but I crave them all the time. And I'm really particular about how the frosting should be. I like all kinds, but for my favorite- the basic buttercream, I only like the sugar-grainy kind. Cause if it's too buttery and smooth, I feel like I'm eating sweet crisco. I need the full-on sugar-grit overkill. BUT! It also has to have the vanilla flavor... otherwise, it's just sugar paste.

I think my favorite place in NY for cupcakes is Sugar Sweet Sunshine. They know their frostings! Plus they have all the other goodies like banana-nilla-wafer pudding, carrot cake, etc. They serve good coffee and have a nice, comfy atmosphere with plenty of seating. They also make my favorite cupcake- golden cake with buttercream frosting (boring, I know) perfectly. Theirs is as good as Magnolia's, but less dense and rich. So I'm less likely to get in the fetal position after eating one. That way, I can eat more. Yay! Everyone wins!

In fact, after our wedding last year, my husband and I invited all our friends to one of our favorite bars in the Lower East Side, and served lots and lots of assorted cupcakes, instead of cake, from Sugar Sweet Sunshine! Everyone was stoked and I ate four, for the record. See them here- the big bag of my wedding cupcakes:



Anyways, I came across this great food site: SMITTEN KITCHEN.
It's pretty great. And it's not all desserts...they have some nice savory stuff on there too (Molly!). But one of their last entries had me pressing my face against the computer monitor...check it out:
"All Better Now"

Yuck or Yum: Part 1

A small part of the research I'm doing for my art history thesis involves post-WW2 images of women in advertisements. Through this one website, called The Cultural Archive (scroll to the bottom of the page to see listings), I've found a bevvy of great food ads from the 1950's. It's safe to say a lot of these food images were created long before "food styling" was incorporated in contemporary adverts, as it is particularly striking how gross some of this stuff looks.

Anyways, I thought I'd start a series, called Yuck or Yum? Here are some examples for your consideration:



Also...wtf is a Coronation Cake?? (click on each pic to blow up)

VINTAGE COOKBOOKS

I love them! I have lost a bunch, unfortunately, moving too many times. So now I am rebuilding my collection. I found this one in Richmond VA at a HUGE antique store. They also had gorgeous aluminum cake caddys (is that what you call them?) and I am still kicking myself for not bringing one back, oh well next time. So anyway this one here, features recipes with "SPRY". I have never heard of SPRY, it's like CRISCO, I guess, which is actually something I used to use in baking, but now fear. Look on the cover how that one lady is gripping the other's arm-".....that marvelous chocolate cake". How funny is that? It looks so maniacal. I would totally do that! "Do you remember those cookies you made last year...do you!?.. THEY CHANGED MY LIFE...do you hear me?" I especially love the images (duh) in vinatge cookbooks, don't those doughnuts look amazing? It makes me actually want to make doughnuts- and that is crazy. I have this one at home "101 CAKES", it's small like a flip book and I tried to find it to post from but could not-it's so beautiful and has the craziest shit in it. It has a house cake- a big cake that looks like a house.(!?) A bridge cake- for your weekly bridge party, silly. All types of random event cakes. (Which is brilliant-I am so into that idea of cake for any/no occasion. "Quit my job cake", "Monday's suck cake","Best Friend is Upset cake")The pics in that one are amazing- the frostings are so billowy and perfect, I wanna sleep on these cakes. I remember my Dad's copy of Joy of Cooking, the line drawings in there made cooking seem so appealing, especially the dessert and drinks sections- those were my faves-still are ha! I imagined being a grown up and having parties with long tables full of desserts right out of a 1950's cocktail party.



I think what I love most about these books are the lifestyle they represent to me. Was there once time enough in life for "250 Refrigerator Desserts"? I mean I know the 50's were a big sham. The facade of the american dream hiding all the seediness and corruption and complacency- but when I flip through these books, I see works of pastel art, chrome kitchens and delighted faces, the promise that I can create something in my kitchen, present it to my pals and be psyched as they delight in it ahhhhhh..Ok time to make the doughnuts

i need a sweet tooth

Did you guys know I'm super savory. I am glad I have a long time to plan my desert b/c I am not a sweet toother!

Baking Binge!!!

When fall arrives, I immediately go into a baking binge! Does this happen to anyone else? I am in between jobs and basically spend most of my time and what little cash I have on baking ingredients. This morning I baked a loaf of banana bread ( I use the recipe from the New Best Recipe Cookbook) and some mini-plum tortes. I made a 9 inch plum torte two days ago, and today I wanted to use the rest of the plums I gathered, but I didn't have enough to make a full torte. So I halved the recipe and put the mix into muffin tins and placed 1/2 plum on top of each yummy mini. (I love Italian plums and was lucky enough to pick a sackful from someone's tree....wooohooo!)