The Barefoot Kitchen Witch

Tuesdays With Dorie (and Sunday With Julia - no, not THAT Julia, MY Julia): Perfection Pound Cake as Birthday Cake

Long enough post title for you?

 

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie challenge was to make the Traditional Madeleines found on pages 166-168 of "Baking, From My Home to Yours," and was chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home.   We were also given the option of choosing one of the past TWD recipes if we didn't have the correct pan to make the madeleines. 

And so for two reasons, I didn't make the madeleines.  First off, I don't have the right pan, and though I could pretty easily get one, there was reason number two - my daughter's birthday party and the requisite cake for that.  So, in my merry two-birds-with-one-stone killer way, I picked the Perfection Pound Cake, which was chosen back in January, long before I was a member.

Pound Cake, as Dorie mentions in the "Playing Around" section of the recipe, "lends itself to variations minor and major."  And that's exactly what happened with mine.  I had asked the soon-to-be Birthday Girl what kind of cake she wanted.  Asked her several times, in fact, because I know how often her mind can change.  Ultimately it boiled down to these three requests:  Strawberry cake, Purple on the outside, with Pink flowers on it.

Purple on the outside was simple enough - just color some fondant and that would be that.

Pink flowers - nothing I couldn't accomplish with some pink royal icing.

And the strawberry cake?

I used Dorie's Perfection Pound Cake recipe - tripled, because there would be at least 14 people, if not more, and I generally make about twice what I realistically need because I'm insecure that way.

To the cake, I added some orange zest, because, well, I've been using lemon (and lime) a lot lately, and I needed a change in citrus. 

And I sliced about 3 pounds of strawberries or so and macerated them briefly in some sugar.

And so here's how it all went down....

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour or 2  1/4 cups cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

2 sticks (8 oz) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 9 x 5 inch loaf pan or an 8  1/2 x 4  1/2 inch loaf pan.  Put the pan on an insulated baking sheet or on two regular baking sheets stacked one on top of the other. 

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until pale and fluffy, a full 5 minutes.   

(Add in the orange zest.)  Scrape down the bowl and beater and reduce the mixer speed to medium.  Add the eggs one at a time,

beating for 1 to 2 minutes after each egg goes in.  As you're working, scrape down the bowl and beater often.  Mix in the vanilla extract.  Reduce the mixer speeed to low and add the flour, mixing only until it is incorporated--don't overmix.  In fact, you might want to fold in the last of the flour, or even all fo it, by hand with a rubber spatula. 

Scrape the batter into the buttered pan and smooth the top.

(And scatter the strawberries on top and press lightly into the batter

Put the cake into the oven to bake, and check on it after about 45 minutes.  If it's browning too quickly, cover it loosely with a foil tent.  If you're using a 9x5 pan, you'll need to bake the cake for 70-75 minutes; the smaller pan needs about 90 minutes.  The cake is properly baked when a thin knife inserted deep into the center comes out clean. 

(The heart-shaped pans ranged in bake time from about an hour to an hour and a half.)

Remove the cake from the oven, transfer the pan to a rack and let rest for 30 minutes.

Run a blunt knjife betwene the cake and the sides of the pan and turn the cake out, then turn it right side up on the rack and cool to room temperature.

So those are my Perfection Pound Cakes - with strawberries pressed into the tops.  They smelled phenomenal, and I had to fight my family off in order to keep the cakes safe for Julia's party.

Once the cakes were cool, it was time for the construction.  I couldn't exactly level the surfaces of the cakes, because I'd end up slicing away a lot of the all-important strawberries.  And I could have put the strawberries in the bottom of the pan...and I had thought about it...but I forgot until I'd filled the first pan, so I just pressed them on top.

I also didn't want to cover the whole thing with fondant because - again - the strawberries.  They looked so yummy...I couldn't hide them.

First, I sliced each cake in half, so I'd have two layers per cake...and I slathered seedless strawberry jam in between the layers.

I also wanted to enhance the appearance of the strawberries, so I melted down some apricot preserves and glazed them with that.  Nice and moist and shiny.

Then I wrapped ribbons of fondant I'd colored with "aster mauve" and "delphinium blue" around the edges of each layer.

And to all that, I added some fondant ribbons and royal icing leaves and flowers, and this was how it looked:

Later on, after we'd sung "Happy Birthday" and Julia had blown out the candles, I started to cut the cake.

And in that momentary silence, my little Birthday Princess said,

"I don't want any cake.  I just want ice cream...I don't really like cake."

~~~~~

Everyone else seemed to like it.  And of course I'd made way too much, but I gave everyone a chunk of it to bring home, and this was all that was left:

So Happy 4th Birthday, Julia! 

Next year you get pie.

A Closer Look at Meringue

Just because.

TWD: Florida Pie

This week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe was selected by Dianne of Dianne's Dishes, and I have to say I was SO glad to see that she had picked Dorie's "Florida Pie."  I love lime, love coconut, love cold and tart anything, so I was really looking forward to making this one.

The pie was pretty easy to put together, however I got distracted by one of my kids (can't remember which, so I can't blame one in particular) and as a result my meringue was overbeaten and kind of dry.  It sort of resembled polyfil - that fluffy stuff you find inside pillows and stuffed animals.  So the top of my pie didn't have smooth, elegant swoops of meringue as much as it had sweepings from the groomer's floor after she'd trimmed the coat of a white poodle.

   

See?

But enough of that.  It still tasted really, really good.

Ingredients:

1 9-inch graham cracker crust (page 235), fully baked and cooled, or a store-bought crust
1 1/3 cups heavy cream
1 1/2 cups shredded sweetened coconut
4 large eggs, seperated
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup fresh Key (or regular) lime juice (from about 5 regular limes)
1/4 cup of sugar

Getting Ready:

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Put the pie plate on a baking sheet lined with parchment of a silicone mat.  (I used a springform pan for some reason.  I think I like to make things just a bit more complicated than they need to be.)

Put the cream and 1 cup of the coconut in a small saucepan and bring it to a boil over medium-low heat, stirring almost constantly. 

Continue to cook and stir until the cream is reduced by half and the mixture is slightly thickened.

Scrape the coconut cream into a bowl and set it aside while you prepare the lime filling.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl beat the egg yolks at high speed until thick and pale.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in the condensed milk.  Still on low, add half of the lime juice.  When it is incorporated, add the reaming juice, again mixing until it is blended.  Spread the coconut cream in the bottom of the graham cracker crust,

and pour over the lime filling.

Bake the pie for 12 minutes.  Transfer the pie to a cooling rack and cool for 15 minutes, then freeze the pie for at least 1 hour.

To Finish the Pie with Meringue:

Put the 4 egg whites and the sugar in a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan and heat over medium-low heat, whisking all the while, until the whites are hot to the touch.  Transfer the whites to a stand mixer, fitted with the whisk attachment, or use a hand mixer in a large bowl, and beat the whites at high speed until they reach room temperature and hold firm peaks.  (Don't overbeat or you'll end up with poodle hair!)  Using a rubber spatula, fold the remaining 1/2 cup coconut into the meringue.

Spread the meringue over the top of the pie, and run the pie under the broiler until the top of the meringue is golden brown.  (Keep an eye on it - if you get called away, for instance, by your daughter who wants to get out of the bath NOW, bribe her to stay put until you take the pie out of the oven.  It burns quickly, and some of your golden brown will become blackened black.) 

 

(Or, if you've got a blowtorch, you can use it to brown the meringue.)  Return the pie to the freezer for another 30 minutes or for up to 3 hours before serving.

Dorie also suggest you let the pie sit at room temp for about half an hour before serving, so it will be cold but not frozen solid when you serve it.

My taste-testers were Bill and Alex - Julia was in bed early for a variety of reasons. 

Alex also helped out with some slice-of-pie shots...

Alex, to his credit, tried to like the pie.  He likes pie, he likes citrus, and he likes coconut.  But despite his open-mindedness, he just does not like white creamy foods.  He didn't like the meringue (because he's not a fan of poodle fur on food), so we scraped that off.  And he had several bites of the pie and then, very reluctantly, he admitted he didn't really like it.  I know it's a texture thing with him.  But at least he tried it.

Bill LOVED this pie.  And as for me?  I loved it.  And it would be really delicious without the coconut, if you're not a fan.  But I love the chewy layer of coconut on top of the crust, and the icy cold lime filling is lovely.  I think I'd like to intensify the lime flavor next time around - maybe some lime zest in the filling.  Florida Pie would be perfect on a very warm summer evening.  Outside.   On the deck.  I will definitely make this one again.  Yum!

Oh - and don't forget to go check out how all the other Tuesdays With Dorie bakers did with this one!

TWD: Not This Week - Sorry!

Sorry, I didn't make the Peanut Butter Torte - this week's Tuesdays With Dorie challenge.  I have too much else on my plate right now and just couldn't squeeze it in. 

But go check out all the other members (listed on the TWD site) and take a look at all of their mouth-watering renditions!

See you next time!

Tuesdays With Dorie: Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake

Since I've joined Tuesdays With Dorie - and this is only my fourth week as an official participant - I've gained approximately 700 pounds and the eternal devotion of my sugar-addicted children.  I just hope the other members have worked out some sort of group discount rate with a reputable weight loss program.  Maybe...Tuesdays With Dorie...and Thursdays With Jenny...or something along those lines.  Just curious.

Anyway, all of my own self-control issues aside, this is a really interesting cake.  The crunch of the polenta and the fig seeds...

the fragrance of the lemon zest...

and the seductive sweetness from the honey...

are all woven together in a moist, golden crumb. 

The cake is, at first glance, rather plain, and my initial urge was to figure out how to add to it.  How to pretty it up.  But then...even though I came up with a few lovely ideas...I couldn't do it.  Not the soft dollop of chantilly cream and a few thin and crunchy curls of lemon zest...not a scoop of lemon sorbet...not even a dusting of confectioners' sugar.  They would have looked nice...but really, this cake doesn't need them. 

And speaking of "this cake" - the Fluted Polenta and Ricotta Cake for this week's post was chosen by Caitlin of Engineer Baker and can be found in Dorie Greenspan's Baking From My Home to Yours on pgs 200-201.

I made mine Sunday morning, ably assisted by my petite sous baker, Julia. 

The cake was easy to put together, and though the recipe calls for a 10  1/2 inch tart pan, I used my trusty 8" model plus a 6" springform pan and things worked out just fine. 

Let's make a cake, shall we?   

Ingredients:

About 16 moist, plump dried Mission or Kadota figs, stemmed

1 cup medium-grain polenta or yellow cornmeal

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup ricotta

1/3 cup tepid water

3/4 cup sugar

3/4 cup honey

grated zest of 1 lemon

1 stick (8 T) unsalted butter, melted and cooled, plus 1 T, cut into bits and chilled

2 large eggs

Hang on...I'm missing something.  Oh yes...forgot to put the lemon zest in the picture.

That's better.

Getting Ready:  Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.  Butter a 10  1/2-inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom and put it on a baking sheet lined with parchment or a silicone mat.

Check that the figs are, indeed, moist and plump.  If they are the least bit hard, toss them into a small pan of boiling water and steep for a minute, then drain and pat dry. 

If the figs are large (bigger than a bite), snip them in half.

Whisk the polenta, flour, baking powder and salt together.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the ricotta and water together on low speed until very smooth. 

With the mixer at medium speed, add the sugar, honey and lemon zest

and beat until light. 

Beat in the melted butter, then add the eggs one at a time, beating until the mixture is smooth.  Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they are fully incorporated. 

You'll have a sleek, smooth, pourable batter.

Pour about one third of the batter into the pan and scatter over the figs. 

Pour in the rest of the batter, smooth the top with a rubber spatula, if necessary, and dot the batter evenly with the chilled bits of butter.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.

The cake should be honey brown and pulling away just a little from the sides of the pan, and the butter will have left light-colored circles in the top.  Transfer the cake to a rack and remove the sides of the pan after about 5 minutes.  Cool to warm, or cool completely.

And that's all she wrote.

Now, I will say that the butter didn't exactly leave light colored circles...but I also didn't cut the butter in uniformly tiny bits.  My bits were rather haphazard, both in size and placement atop the cake.  So maybe, if I wanted to do anything different, I would improve my butter bit technique. 

But I don't really think it's a huge deal.

I used the 6" cake (Julia's cake) as the tasting cake, because I wanted to use the larger one for my slice-of-the-cake photos. 

I had a small piece, and gave each of the kids a small piece.  Once they were in the dining room with theirs, and I was still chewing my small portion, I quickly sliced another thin wedge for myself and, yes, I gobbled it down shamelessly.

The kids seemed to enjoy the cake, too.

In order to stop myself from eating the rest of the small cake, I quickly sliced it up into wedges, arranged the slices on a pretty little plate, and race-walked them across the street to share with our friends.   Based on the response, I think they'll remain our friends for a while.

I left the final photos (with the bigger cake) for Monday, and it was nice to have a legitimate reason to cut a standard-sized slice of cake

and,

after photographing it from various angles

and with various props,

eat the whole thing myself.

 

I think I'm gonna have to bring some of that large cake across the street, too.

I could use the exercise. 

Tuesdays With Dorie: Bill's Big Carrot Cake

Yum.  I absolutely love this cake.  It's moist and chewy with raisins and coconut and shredded carrots, and the frosting is smooth and creamy...and cream-cheesey...with a nice zing from the lemon juice.   

When I saw that Amanda of slow like honey had chosen Bill's Big Carrot Cake for this week's Tuesdays With Dorie recipe, I was delighted.  I love carrot cake, and so does my husband who, coincidentally, is named Bill.  It was kismet.

I actually made the cake last week (rather than at the last minute on Monday as I'd done with my first two TWD challenges).  My husband brews beer, and several of his beer-brewing squad were coming over last Thursday to brew up about 20+ gallons.  Bill was making spicy fish tacos for lunch, and what better to follow the inferno of a Red Thai Curry Paste (which I have to post here some time - it's so good) than something sweet and moist and soothing.

I made mini cakes because I have 12 mini-springform pans that I haven't used in ages, and this seemed the perfect time to trot them out. 

And, since my mini cakes would be photographed, I decided (and I sort of blame Mari of Mevrouw Cupcake and her girly pink reversable cake plate for this) that I needed some cute interesting little inexpensive plates on which to display my mini cakes and other subsequent baked goods.  So I also went shopping at The Christmas Tree Shop and got as many cute and pretty and interesting little plates as I could carry in the shopping basket.  All I can say is it's a good thing I didn't grab a shopping cart when I walked into the store.  I'd still be washing the price tags off 'em.

Anyway, armed with springform pans and cute plates and a mission to feed a lot of people,  I got out some carrots and started shredding....

The recipe is below, with my own notes typed in italics and embraced by parentheses.

"Bill's Big Carrot Cake"

Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Yields 10 servings

Ingredients:

For the cake:

2 cups all purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

¾ teaspoon salt

3 c grated carrots (about 9 carrots, you can grate them in food processor fitted w/ a shredding a blade or use a box grater)  (I used a microplane to grate them, and I didn't use all 9 carrots to reach 3 cups.  My kids ate the extras.)

1 cup coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans  (I had almost enough pecans, but no walnuts, so I used sliced almonds with the pecans.)

1 cup shredded coconut (sweetened or unsweetened)

 

½ cup moist, plump raisins (dark or golden) or dried cranberries (I had both dark AND golden, so I used half and half)

2 cups sugar

1 cup canola oil

4 large eggs

Getting ready:

Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter three 9-x-2-inch round cake pans, flour the insides, and tap out the excess. Put the two pans on one baking sheet and one on another.  (I buttered and floured 12 mini springform pans, but I only ended up using 10 of them.  5 on one baking sheet, 5 on the other.)

To make the cake:

Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.

In another bowl, stir together the carrots, chopped nuts, coconut, and raisins.

Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the sugar and oil together on a medium speed until smooth.

Add the eggs one by one and continue to beat until the batter is even smoother.

Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture, mixing only until the dry ingredients disappear.

Gently mix the chunky ingredients.

Divide the batter among the baking pans.

Bake for 40-50 minutes, rotating the pans from top to bottom and front to back at the midway point, until a thin knife inserted into the centers comes out clean.  The cakes will have just started to come away from the sides of the pans.

Transfer the cakes to cooling racks and cool for about 5 minutes, then run a knife around the sides of the cakes and unmold them. Invert and cool to room temperature right side up.