by Rachel Sally

Of Late

 It’s been a little quiet around here lately.

When I first started this blog, the most daunting hurdle that I thought I would have to overcome would be baking: when would I find the time, what different combinations could I possibly think of, and who would clean up all my messes eat all of the (sometimes) yummy results?
Well, that fear was unfounded. Not only do I have a long list of “things to make” saved onto my phone (I swear, there is no chance I’ll be able to make everything that I want to, no matter how old I live to be.), but I have sooo many already made recipes to share with y’all, and here I am, lacking in the posting department! Turns out, I have plenty of time to make things and (usually) photograph them, but when it comes to documenting it on the good ole Internet, I prefer eating them all instead of writing about them.

Chard stalks


So what has been going on in my kitchen?  What recipes do you have to look forward to?
I’ve been…
Freezing stocks of fresh local produce for the winter.

Making flops. Yuck.  
An idea that didn’t pan out


Cooking a lot of savory, as always.

Tian

 
Staying cool with frozen almond milk.

Making one ingredient ice cream.
Painting my nails.


Eating hundreds of blueberries.
Making cakes, unphotographed cookies, and experimenting with raw goodies (More explanation about why will be saved for a later post).

Raw

Saying goodbye to this one.  This was tough.
Playing with, introducing, and being chewed on by this one. Don’t let the pink nose fool you.

Meet Kasha the Menace

Generally, I’ve been enjoying the summer and the bounty of this wonderful season.  I hope you all are, too.
Go make this cake, in all of its lemony, raspberry-y goodness, and share it with someone you love.  I did.
P.S. I’ve noticed that of all who read my blog, my very own family members read it the least!  Sheesh.  The irony is lost on me.  Seriously, guys.


Lemon and Raspberry Cake
Adapted from King Arthur Flour and userealbutter
For the cake:
Fluffy Vanilla Cake

ingredients:
1 2/3 cups sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted, softened butter
4 large eggs whites plus 1 whole large egg (save the yolks!)
1 cup buttermilk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup cake flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease and flour 2 8-inch pans.  Set aside.  In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar and salt until fluffy.  Add in the egg whites and the egg, and mix to combine.  Add in the buttermilk and vanilla.  Now add in the flour and the baking powder (I didn’t sift and it was quite alright) and mix until homogeneous.  Pour into pans and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until light golden and springy to the touch.
For the filling:
Lemon Curd:
ingredients:
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
5 egg yolks
pat of butter (2-4 tablespoons, approximately)
3/4 cup fresh lemon juice
zest of 1-2 lemons
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
directions:
Put water and sugar and cornstarch in a large sauce pan.  Bring to a boil.  Whisk the egg yolks together in another bowl.  Add in 1 cup of the hot sugar-cornstarch mixture, slowly, and whisk vigorously to temper the eggs.  Dump back into the pot and bring back to a boil, whisking all the while.  Once it comes to a boil, remove from heat and stir in the lemon juice and zest, as well as the vanilla extract.  Once everything is incorporated, stir in the butter until the curd is silky smooth.
For the frosting:
American-Style Cream Cheese Buttercream
ingredients:
6 tablespoons butter, softened
6 ounces cream cheese, softened
4 ounces mascarpone cheese, softened (can be replaced with more cream cheese)
2-3 cups confectioner’s sugar, depending on your preference
up to 1/2 cup heavy cream, cold, depending on consistency
splash vanilla extract
directions:
Beat cream cheese, butter, and mascarpone together until just incorporated.  Begin to add the powdered sugar.  Once it is sweetened to your liking, add in enough heavy cream to make the icing a spreadable consistency.  Stir in vanilla.
To assemble:
few handfuls of good raspberries
Place one cake layer on a plate, and level it out, if needed.  Pipe a line of frosting around the edge of the cake to prevent a spillage of curd.  Fill with curd (you will have lots of extra curd: fear not, it keeps beautifully and there are millions of uses for it), layer on some raspberries, and top with other cake.  Frost cake with the icing, and decorate with the prettiest, most photogenic berries.

Enjoy!

by Rachel Sally

Pas Beaucoup

«Aimer, ce n’est pas se regarder l’un l’autre, c’est regarder ensemble dans la même direction.»
-Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, extrait du Terre des Hommes


Comme c’est belle, non?
Ça c’est tout pour aujourd’hui.  Bien, cela et cette galette simple.

Un mariage tellement beau


Les bleuets si doux


Une pêche parfait


Finalement, ensemble.

 

Galette aux amandes, pêches, et bleuets
Ingredients:
1/2 recipe of all-butter (I’m serious. No crisco crap.) pie dough (enough for a single crust)
1 punnet blueberries
5 or so small peaches
1/4-1/3 cup sugar, depending on how sweet your fruits are
handful of sliced almonds
3 tablespoons almond flour
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Chill your pie dough in the fridge.  Meanwhile, slice up your peaches thinly, and toss them with the blueberries and sugar.  Remove pie dough from fridge and roll it out thinly into a large circle.  Pile the fruit in the middle, and gently fold up the sides of the galette (it doesn’t have to be perfect).  Sprinkle with the almond flour and almonds, and bake for 45-50 minutes, or until the fruit is bubbling and the crust is golden brown.


by Rachel Sally

Du Beurre Noisette

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. You know those blackened, wizened, and wrinkly bananas that no one wants to eat?


They’re the sweetest and most flavorful bananas of all the land.  I swear.
They may not be the most beautiful nor the most appealing, especially if one intends on eating them straight up, but in a baked good, they put other bananas to shame with their sublimely sweet and intense flavor.
The process of banana aging is simple: the sugars in the banana flesh begin to break down, as do the aromatics (benzene compounds and esters), creating a more concentrated sweet, banana-y flavor, and a very mushy and brown banana.  
Not that any of that matters.  What does matter is that instead of throwing those bananas away, you promise to let them rot ripen and become a dark, dark brown, then stick them in your freezer for the next time you crave banana bread, cake, or muffins.  Simply pull them out an hour or so before you want to use them and put them in a warm spot to thaw.  Then you can squeeze the super awesome, mushy, melted flesh out of the wrinkly skins. So appetizing. It feels like squishing a giant slug. Mmmm baby.
While I’m on the subject of banana baked goods, and though I know many people before me have said this, everyone has got to stop declaring them moist.  That word seems wrong to describe a cake or bread… It feels voyeuristic and… crude.  Ick.  


Anyways.  This banana cake was a hit among my coworkers.  It’s soft, tender, and super buttery, thanks to the brown butter and brown sugar base, both of which help lock in the banana juices. (Is banana juices any better than moisture?  Methinks not.)  I topped it off with my favorite glaze that can be used for just about anything, from doughnuts to cakes to quick breads to eating straight out of the pan.  Again, featured prominently, is du beurre noisette (brown butter), whose nuttiness is perfectly balanced with a touch of maple syrup.
This cake has so many ingredients that might work themselves into the name that I couldn’t possibly use them all (brown butter-brown sugar-buttermilk-walnut-
coconut banana bundt with a brown butter maple glaze?  Too much of a mouthful), so I decided to keep it simple.  So, here’s the recipe for my brimming banana bundt!  It’s super moist.

In my haste to get to the lab, I forgot to take pictures with a real camera.  So instead, I have shaky iPhone pictures taken while hastily driving to work.   


Brimming Banana Bundt
Inspired and guided by the great Dorie Greenspan
Ingredients:
4 super ripe bananas, mashed
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks, or 3/4 of a cup, or 12 ounces) unsalted butter
1 tightly packed cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
Big pinch sea salt
Generous tablespoon vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 2/3 cup flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch each of ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon, and allspice
Handful of shredded coconut (optional)
Generous handful (or two: up to one cup) of walnuts (also optional)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Grease and flour a 10 cup bundt pan.
Place butter into a saucepan on medium heat and allow to brown, scraping all the lovely bits off the bottom of the pan as you go.  
Meanwhile, place sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  
Once the butter is properly brown and nutty smelling, add the mashed bananas to the pan and allow to cook for a minute or two.
Pour the buttered up bananas into the bowl with the sugars, and mix on medium speed until all the sugar is incorporated into the butter. 
Add in the eggs, and mix until combined. 
Add the vanilla, salt, spices, and buttermilk. Mixture will be super runny. 
Dump in the flour and baking soda all at once, and mix until the batter thickens and holds a ribbon. 
Stir in the walnuts and coconut, if desired.  
Bake for 60-70 minutes, or until a skewer sent all the way to the middle of the cake comes out with just a few straggling crumbs. 
Invert out of pan after 10 minutes of cooling in the pan and allow to cool.
Brown Butter Maple Glaze
(good for everything. Seriously)
Ingredients:
1/2 stick (4 tablespoons, 1/4 of a cup, 4 ounces) butter
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1 1/2 tablespoons heavy cream, or more as needed
Directions:Brown butter in a saucepan. 
Once brown, dump in the sugar and whisk, creating what I like to call a “sugar roux”. 
Once a creamy paste has formed, add in the maple syrup and stir. 
Add in enough heavy cream so that the mixture is pourable (this can also be replaced, wonderfully, when it is available, with apple cider, which creates a beautiful autumnal glaze).
Pour over cooled cake.

by Rachel Sally

Cookie Monster

I’m about to say something that I’m sure many bakers would consider sacrilege… Whatever.
I don’t like baking cookies.

I know.


 


     

 

 

 

Somehow, I can justify the amount of work that goes into a pie or a huge cake, but the act of making cookies (I have to scoop out all those little portions of dough?! And not eat them all?! AND work in batches instead of shoving everything into my oven and doing a hail Mary?!) is overwhelming and somewhat irritating.  
What can I say, I’m fickle.  I like the drama of big desserts: sure, there is a magnetic pull when warm cookies emerge from the oven, slightly melty and begging to be dipped in cold milk, but I am a cake or pie girl meself.  Chaqu’un a son goût. (To each his own.)
Anyways, somehow, even in this heat, and even with my slight aversion to baking cookies, I’ve managed to turn the oven on, get my butt in gear, and whip out a few batches.  
The first one I made for my best friend, Gwen, who’s out in Colorado working at a camp.  I miss her so so much, and I especially miss our “tea days,” which are basically excuses to lie in bed next to someone cuddly and warm and drink bucketfuls of tea… all day long.  In honor of those days, I made chai shortbread and dipped them in dark chocolate.


Secondly, I got around (finalement!) to making the ultimate chocolate chip cookie that was written about in the NYT a few years ago.  (Yeah, yeah, it’s been a while that I’ve been eyeing these babies, but I have a lot to do, okay?  This is one of the many recipes that sit on my radar for ages, waiting to be recycled from the cavernous depths of my subconscious into whichever part of my brain controls cravings.)  
David Leite, who first set out to find the “consummate” chocolate chip cookie, succeeded.  These cookies are good, and worth every minute of the resting period. Plus the dough is really good when you pinch off a little bit to test every few minutes hours during said 24 hours.  Ahem.
Make these.  Your view on chocolate chip cookies will be forever changed.  Also, sprinkle a teeeny bit of sea salt on top when they first come out of the oven.  You’ll thank me.  Ahem.

Chai Shortbread
Adapted from Dorie Greenspan
2 sticks softened, unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups flour
2 chai tea bags
pinch ginger
pinch all-spice
pinch cardamom
pinch cinnamon
pinch cloves
1 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup turbinado sugar (optional), for rolling
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, for dipping (optional)
Directions:
Cream butter, sugars, salt, and spices together until smooth and velvety.  Beat in vanilla and egg on low speed.  Now (slowly) add in flour, while mixing, until just combined.  Form logs and refrigerate, at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Remove the dough from the fridge, roll in turbinado sugar, if desired, and cut into 1/3 inch slices.  Bake for 15- 20 minutes, or until lightly golden.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  If desired, once cool, dip into melted chocolate and sprinkle with more turbinado sugar.

Head here for Leite’s amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe.  My only suggestion: sprinkle a little extra sea salt, either before or after baking, on top of each cookie.  It will send them over the top.  Also, it is vital to use good chocolate for these!  It is a key player and the main supporting actress.  (The dough, surprisingly, is the lead starlet in these cookies.)  I highly recommend these toffee-like, buttery cookies; they won’t let you down.

by Rachel Sally

Beat the Heat Up

It’s hot.

I don’t know if you’ve noticed or anything, but a heat wave has swept over America, roasting every square inch from east to west.

It it is as hot as a furnace in the sun. I love it. Kinda.
Though it’s cooling off to some extent, I thought that everyone would appreciate a list of heat wave emergency solutions…

Eat a Popsicle.

Eat gazpacho.

Eat entire watermelons out of your refrigerator.

Lie in your cool basement in front of a fan.

Lie in your underwear in front of said fan.

Sleep nekked.


Banish pants from your vocabulary and your closet. See also: turtlenecks, sweaters, sweatshirts, etc. 

Bake bread on the grill.

Drink sweet tea.

Pant.

Seek out air conditioning (air-con, for Koreans), because the people who run your household have not bothered providing it in any rooms except for theirs, at movie theaters, supermarkets, hospitals, and your friends’ houses.

Do not, and I repeat, do not turn on your oven at any point in time.  Not that you’re stupid enough to do so.

Swim.

Whine.

Make this ice cream.

It’s refreshing, cold, and easy to make. It tastes good, and it is super creamy. Perfect for this heat. 
Anyways, excuse me while I dissolve into a puddle of sweat and ice cream… Mmmm.

 Matcha Chocolate Chunk Ice Cream

Adapted from userealbutter
Ingredients:
6 egg yolks
3 cups whole milk (I used a mixture of half-and-half and 1%)
3/4 cup sugar
4 teaspoons matcha powder
Pinch of sea salt
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/3 to 1/2 cup heavy cream
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, cut up into chunks
Directions:
Whisk the yolks, sugar, milk, salt, and matcha together in a medium saucepan. Cook on medium heat until mixture thickens. Soft cornstarch over the top and blend with an immersion blender. Cook until mixture is custardy and thick: you should be able to draw a line on the back of a custard-covered spatula with your finger and have the track remain intact.  Remove from heat and cool.  Once cooled, mixture will be a bit congealed.  Whisk in the heavy cream to loosen it up a bit.  Freeze according to your ice cream maker’s instructions, and when it is almost done, add in (or fold in) your chocolate chunks.  Ice cream will harden if you store it in your freezer for a long time, but if you take it out and let it thaw for 5 minutes, scooping should be a breeze.

by Rachel Sally

Stoned

I’m referring to stoned fruits, of course: those token fruits of summer.  Juicy, sweet, ripe peaches, plums, nectarines, cherries, and apricots.

Now that summer has started and these fruits abound, I’m in heaven.  Seriously.  There is nothing better on a summer morning than some plain Greek yogurt with a sliced up white peach.  
Summer is a fruit lover’s dream.  Go to your local farmer’s market and take a look around: you’re sure to find some amazing fruits, right along with the towering piles of garlic scapes and swiss chard.  The other weekend, I picked up some beautiful red and green gooseberries and long, slender stalks of rhubarb, which I combined into an olive/pumpkin seed oil-polenta crumble.  It was divine… In fact, it was gone too quickly for me to photograph (ugh), but I’ll share the recipe anyways.  It’s a keeper, for those times when you might have some gooseberries and rhubarb lying around… Actually, it might be worth seeking out these seemingly esoteric ingredients.  Inquire around your local market, I’m sure you can get your greedy paws hands on some.
As for the tart(s) that are in the photos, they were quick almond-plum-nectarine tarts that I whipped up for a dinner guest.  Slightly sweet chantilly topped them off for a perfectly light summer dessert.  I was lucky that I took photos of them that very night, because the next morning not a crumb was left.  

Other than the aforementioned stone fruits, I’m looking forward to a summer bounty of beets, kale, tomatoes, raspberries, strawberries, blackberries, spicy carrots, an overwhelming amount of zucchini, melons, peppers, and squash.  I’m always somewhat surprised when I’m reminded of how bountiful the region where I live really is;  I’m always reminded to be thankful.  What are you looking forward to in your CSA baskets, grocery shopping carts, or gardens this summer?

Gooseberry, Rhubarb, and Polenta Crumble
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups red and green gooseberries
6 small stalks of rhubarb, cut into 1/2 inch long pieces
2/3 cup turbinado sugar
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1/4 cup stone-ground polenta
1/4 cup cornmeal
pinch of sea salt
1/3 cup+ oil (I used pumpkin seed and olive oil, and ended up needing just a splash more)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Toss the gooseberries and rhubarb with 1/3 cup turbinado sugar in an oven-proof dish.  Put them in the oven while you prepare the crumble.  Mix the flour, salt, sugar, and cornmeals in a bowl.  While stirring, add in the oil until the mixture comes together and has a texture like wettish sand.  Pull the fruit out of the oven and top with the crumble.  Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until the juices are bubbling at the sides and the crumble is slightly crisp.

Nectarine and Plum Almond Tart
Bits and pieces from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking
Ingredients:
1 recipe tart dough
4 ripe nectarines
3 ripe plums
6 tablespoons butter, softened
2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup blanched, ground almonds
2 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1 egg
splash vanilla extract
tiny splash almond extract
Directions:
Press your tart dough into your pan , prick with a fork, line with buttered foil, shiny side down, and freeze.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.  Bake tart dough for 15 minutes.  Pulse the butter and sugar in a food processor until the mixture is smooth.  Add the almonds, flour, and cornstarch and process, then add the egg.  Add the extracts and process for just 15 seconds.  Refrigerate.  Slice up your plums and nectarines into thin slices.  Remove the foil from the shells, pour in the almond cream, and arrange the slices as you desire.  Bake for 50-60 minutes, or until the almond cream has puffed up and become golden brown.  Let cool in pan, then remove to serve.  Serve with fresh chantilly if desired (whip cream with a touch of confectioner’s sugar until soft peaks form).  

by Rachel Sally

She’s A Rainbow

Last week, the class of 2012 graduated from my high school.  
This included my best friend, Mikala.  
Mikala, I’m so proud of you.  You’re moving up and out onto bigger and better things.  You have been an amazing friend for these four years (I still remember seeing you at CBC on that first, fateful day, and slowly inching closer and closer; how can I forget being “poked” by you?  I was so scared excited.)

I’m going to miss you like mad when you’re in California, but I’m sure that we’ll visit each other often.  I can’t imagine what it’s going to be like without you, but I know that you are going to enjoy yourself and have a great experience.  You’re an integral part of the fam- and my life- and you will be sorely missed. (Side note to others: is it just me who finds it so hard to contemplate life without a loved one, even when you know they’re moving on to be more successful and happy?  Maybe I’m just a wee bit bitter. Hm.)

Leaning tower of cake. Ugh.

Mikala’s graduation party was last Friday and her family asked me to make her cake.  I was also asked to make the “Elvis 2.0” for a baby shower for a couple who loves Elvis so much, they’re naming their baby girl after him (her name is Presley… Not Elvis).  This time, I made an eight layer banana cake, filled with peanut butter buttercream and frosted with nutella buttercream rather than cream cheese frosting.  To add to the over-the-top-ness, I made caramelized bacon and a banner in the shower’s theme colors (peacock).  Thus was the huge cake topped off.

As for Mikala’s cake, I made four (count ’em… four) sheet cakes, which I then carved into the shape of an M and layered twice.  As it turned out, I really only needed three sheet cakes.  Darn  it all.  Anyways, Mikala loves dark chocolate and raspberry, so I made a raspberry German buttercream for icing the chocolate cake.  The rest of the cake scraps became cake truffles, dipped in chocolate and rolled in toasted coconut.
D’aww

In addition, I used my homemade sprinkles to decorate the cake.  Love these lil guys.  Not only was I extremely proud of having accomplished making my own sprinkles, they also tasted much better than traditional machine-made ones.  I’m sure it’s because of my blood, sweat, and piping tears that went into them, plus the fact that I’m 99% sure I now have piping-induced carpel tunnel.  Kidding.  I’m a hypochondriac.  Also, now I can customize colors that I want for certain cakes!  Another insane fun way to induce my O.C.D.
Congratulations Mikala, and the class of 2012, wherever you may be, I’m so so proud of you.  


Chocolate Sheet Cake (x4 for a very large cake)
from the lovely Sweetapolita
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups flour
2 2/3 cups sugar
2 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup cocoa powder
1 3/4 teaspoons salt
150 mL canola oil
280 mL buttermilk
4 eggs
260 mL hot coffee
2 tablespoons vanilla
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Line a sheet pan (with a lip) with parchment paper, then spray with cooking spray to coat.  Whisk dry ingredients together.  Measure out all wet ingredients in a large measuring cup.  Whisk wet into dry ingredients, until fully combined.  Pour into sheet pan and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until only a few crumbs stick to a skewer and the cake is springy to touch.  Allow to cool on wire racks before cutting. (You can slide the parchment right off of the sheet pan onto a rack)

Raspberry German Buttercream
Adapted from Bravetart
(Makes a ton- about 10 cups. Feel free to downsize by 1.5)
Ingredients:
16 ounces milk (I used 1%)
8 ounces half-and-half (you could use full-fat cream, too)
15 ounces sugar
1 vanilla bean
2.25 ounces cornstarch
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
7 sticks butter
big pinch sea salt
14 ounces raspberry jam, or to taste (I used seedless and fruit-juice sweetened- no sugar)
pink or red food coloring, if desired
Directions:
Heat milks up to a simmer.  If you’re not lazy, like me, or have extra time, simmer with the vanilla bean (not the scrapings! Save those for later), and then let steep for an hour or more. If doing so, after the hour is up, scrape the insides of the beans clean of any milk goop, and discard.  Return milk to a simmer.  Meanwhile, whisk egg yolks, eggs, vanilla bean scrapings, cornstarch, and sugar together.  Ladle in a bit of the hot milk, whisking all the while.  Continue to add up to a cup and a half of the hot milk.  Pour the egg mixture back into the pan with the rest of the milk, and cook on medium heat until thick and “bubbl[ing] sluggishly.”  Remove from heat and pour into the bowl of a stand mixer.  Chill until cool, approximately an hour and a half to two hours.  Once cool, beat with the whisk attachment until somewhat fluffy.  Add your butter, one tablespoon at a time, until all is incorporated and the buttercream is thick, fluffy, and light.  Now, add in the raspberry jam and red food coloring and beat until combined.  Refrigerate until ready to use.  Before use, fluff it up a bit.

As for the sprinkles, I can do no better job than Bravetart.  Check her out to see her tutorial; she’s seriously awesome.

Only a minimal waste of baggies.  And time.
by Rachel Sally

Autant de Pêches

“Welcome to my herb garden…”


I planted my herb garden.  I’m very excited.  I have rosemary, basil, sage, French tarragon, oregano, marjoram, thyme, and what seems like endless lavender.  For some reason, I can’t stop singing “welcome to my herb garden” to the tune of this. (Warning: probably do not click if you are not within the age range of 14-32, or have a strong aversion to hiphop.  I’m not age discriminating, it’s for your own good.  Promise.)  
Okay, back to your regularly scheduled program: cake.

 

I don’t know if you’ve discerned this by now, but I lalalove peaches. And nectarines, because they’re the same fruit, minus that one itty-bitty fuzz gene. People always leave nectarines out of the discussion. It’s not their fault they don’t grow facial hair, people, it’s a mutation.  So don’t rub it in.
Anyways, my brother is a peach pie kinda guy (then again, who isn’t… Let’s be totally honest here), and he is always demanding asking for one.  His twenty-first birthday was a few weeks ago, in May, but he was in Korea, so we didn’t get to celebrate as a family.  I fancied the idea of a peach pie cake, but I wasn’t quite sure how I would pull it off, until I saw a recipe in Christina Tosi’s Momofuku Milk Bar for “pie crumb” and pie crumb frosting that I knew.  Eating a sweet, ripe peach with a dollop of tangy sour cream is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and whenever I do, it brings me back to a certain family vacation to Cape Cod, my mama slicing up white peaches and serving them to me with sour cream while my dad and brothers watched South Park in the other room (Did I mention that my family is dysfunctional?), so I knew I wanted to make a pie crumb frosting with sour cream for a tang.  I made a peach cake, filled with pie crumbs, peaches, and pie crumb frosting, and topped with more pie crumbs.  The slightly tart taste of the peaches and sour cream mixed with the buttery crumbs and sweet cake was top notch, if I do say so myself.  Because sour cream has a fat content similar to heavy cream, you can whip it into a pretty stable frosting.  I will definitely be using this more often to make cream cheesy frostings.  Christina Tosi is a genius: her pie crumbs are to die for.  I made a batch and a half because I knew I would need insurance against my raging snacking habit.  Yum.  

Peach Pie Cake
Bits and pieces from Momofuku Milk Bar
For the cake:
Ingredients:
2 cups pureed peaches
3 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 cup milk powder
3 ounces butter
3 small eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup buttermilk
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour 2 or 3 eight inch rounds.  Sift the flour, salt, milk powder, and baking powder together.  Beat the butter and sugar together, then beat in eggs one at a time.  Add in the peach puree and vanilla, and beat until combined.  Add in the dry ingredients, alternating with the buttermilk.  Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until springy and golden.
For the pie crumbs:

Ingredients:
320 g flour (2 1/4 cups)
27 g sugar (3 tablespoons)
5 g kosher salt (heaping teaspoon)
178 g butter, melted (1 1/2 sticks)
30 g water (2 1/4 tablespoons)
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer.  Add the butter and water slowly, on low speed, until the mixture clumps up.  Spread the clusters out on a parchment lined sheet pan and bake for 25 minutes, or until light golden.  

For the frosting:
(makes enough to frost and fill one four layer cake)
Ingredients:
12 ounces mascarpone
16 ounces sour cream
8 ounces (1 cup) heavy cream
3/4 cup pie crumbs
3/4 cup powdered sugar
Directions:
Blend all ingredients in an immersion blender until thick, creamy, and homogeneous.  The pie crumbs should be broken up into almost invisible pieces.  

To assemble:
Torte the layers.  Frost each with 1/3 cup frosting.  Top with pie crumbs and thinly sliced peaches.  Crumb coat the cake, then put it in the fridge to chill.  Frost with remaining icing, and decorate with pie crumbs.  
Là voilà! Un gâteau de la tarte aux pêches!
 
by Rachel Sally

Elvis

Happy father’s day to any and all dads out there, especially mine.  My dad is the best… Sorry everyone, but it’s true.  There is no contest.

I am a daddy’s girl, the little princess of my house.  I am openly admitting it… I’m not ashamed.  I am so grateful to have grown up with a dad who is so loving, caring, kind, and gentle.  He has the most generous soul and he is my rock- always has been.  I appreciate everything he’s given and taught me, done for me, and put up with from me; it’s not always easy being the father of a stubborn little diva.
Thank you, Daddy, for teaching me all that you have.  You’re the best man I will ever meet, of that I’m sure.  I love you more than words can describe; I will never be able to express how thankful and blessed I feel to have a dad like you.

We like cake, okay? 
I spent the entire day at my parents’
renewal of their vows like this,
plus or minus a few chocolate strawberries.

My dad loves peanut butter and jelly sandwiches like no one I have ever met.  Personally, I can do without them, but he could not live without peanut butter and perhaps some sandwich bread, too.  He also, no surprise here, loves peanut butter and banana sandwiches, akin to Elvis’ favorite meal.  I wanted to recreate a peanut butter banana sandwich in a cake for father’s day, so I made a brown butter banana cake (for the fried taste, reminiscent of buttery sandwich bread), filled with peanut butter cream cheese frosting and iced with homemade macadamia-hazelnut nutella cream cheese frosting (I’m sure the King would approve of a bit of nutella being added to the mix…).  Lawd have mercy this stuff is good.  This is not the kind of cake that demands intricate piping.  I opted for big, shaggy, home-style swirls instead, and I ended up liking the messy look.  I then affixed a little banner to the top of the cake, to give it a little more oomph: I love the way banners look, and you’re sure to see them pop up more soon.

I spent an entire week in France like this, 
plus or minus a few tartes au citron. 

 This one’s for you, Dad.  I love you.

                

 

The “Elvis” Cake
Makes 1 6×2 layer cake, or one 10 inch layer, adapted from Smitten Kitchen
For the Brown Butter Banana cake:
Ingredients:
11 tablespoons butter
1 cup cake flour
3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
pinch sea salt
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup packed light brown
3 tablespoons yogurt
3 small eggs
2 large bananas, mashed (around 1 cup)
Hearty splash vanilla extract
Directions:  
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour two 6-inch rounds, or one 10-inch round.
Brown the butter in a large saucepan, being sure to scrape up all the yummy brown bits at the bottom of the pan.  While it browns, ready the bowl of a stand mixer in an ice bath.  Once the butter is brown, pour it and all of the brown goodness into the bowl, and let chill.  Once hardened, cream the butter with the sugars.  Sift the flours, baking soda and powder, and salt together.  Mix in the eggs to the butter and sugar one by one, making sure they are incorporated.  Mix in the yogurt, bananas, and vanilla, then, with the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture.  Once it is all homogeneous, beat on high speed for 20 seconds.  Pour into prepared pans and bake for 25-30 minutes, if using 6-inch pans.  For a ten inch pan, it will take slightly longer.  The cakes will be deeply tanned and springy when done.
Macadamia-Hazelnut Nutella:
Ingredients:
1/2 cup macadamia nuts (mine were salted, but if yours aren’t, add a big pinch of sea salt)
1/2 cup hazelnuts, skins removed and still warm (you can just warm them up in a pan if they’re pre-peeled)
5 ounces melted bittersweet chocolate
1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/4 cup cocoa powder
Directions:
Blend the nuts in a food processor until a smooth paste forms, about 5-7 minutes.  It’s a long time, I know.  You can’t use a wimpy food processor here.  Once the nuts have formed a butter, add in the chocolate, sugar, and cocoa powder and mix until well blended.  Try not to eat all of it at once, and by that I mean save at least 1/2 cup for the frosting of the cake.  Eat the rest, fa sho.
Cream Cheese Frosting/Filling Base:
Ingredients:
12 ounces cream cheese
3/4 cup confectioner’s sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Blend with an immersion blender (Seriously people, you need one of these in your life, STAT.) until thick, creamy, and well-mixed.
For the Filling:
Take 1 1/2 cups of the cream cheese mixture, and stir in 2/3 cup of creamy peanut butter.
For the Frosting:
Blend the rest of the frosting with 1/2-2/3 cup of the nutella.
To assemble:
Cut each layer in half, and fill with one third of the peanut butter.  Seeing as the frosting is a bit thin, and hard to smooth, I recommend dumping the entire thing on top and swirling it around the cake sides with an offset spatula, creating large, home-style swirls as you go.
Shoutout to Momz too! You’re ma girl. Love you forever.

 

by Rachel Sally

Strides for Sarah

Today’s will be a quick post because I have a more substantial one coming up tomorrow.
Last week, a project of a friend of mine, Rachel, came to fruition.  It was a 5K run/walk benefit to raise money for Camp Good Days, in memory of her cousin, Sarah, who recently lost a valiant battle with brain cancer. 

It took a tremendous amount of work and effort for her to put the fundraiser together, and she did an awesome job.
I ran in the race… And managed to pee my pants. Yes, you read that right.  I had to “go” so badly that in the middle of the race, well, yeah.  Now that more than fifty percent of my readers have closed the window and vowed never to read my blog again out of disgust, I will leave the rest of ye loyal followers with some delicious recipes that I whipped up to bring to the benefit’s snack table: blueberry lime coconut cupcakes, SprinkleBakes’ swirl cookies (she is amaaazzzinnnggg), and a “Hot Chocolate” cake. 


Sigh.  A flop.

Oh and also, a flop in the kitchen (lime tarts) turned on its head into a frozen treat.
Here’s to Sarah and her entire family, and here’s to Rachel, for working so hard on an inspiring event.  xx


Lime Curd
Makes 2 cups, adapted from userealbutter
Ingredients: 
2 cups water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
4 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup  fresh lime juice
1 tbsp lime zest
Directions:
Bring the water to a boil in a large saucepan.  Whisk in the cornstarch and sugar together, then whisk that mixture into the water.  Bring back to a boil.  It will be very thick and gooey. Add part of the hot mixture to the egg yolks, whisking constantly, to temper.  Then mix the egg yolk mixture back into the rest of the cornstarch-sugar goo.  Whisking constantly, bring back to a boil.  Then remove from heat, stir in butter, juice, and zest.  Cover with plastic wrap, making sure to press the plastic against the surface to prevent a skin, and chill until you need it.  

Blueberry-Lime Coconut Cupcakes
Makes around 12 regular size cupcakes (I, the genius that I am, managed to get a yield of 11 by filling a couple cakes too much)
Ingredients:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
Big pinch sea salt
1/2 cup sugar
zest of one lime
1/4 cup sour cream or yogurt
2 small eggs or 1 extra large
1/3 cup neutral oil
1/3-1/2 cup shredded sweetened coconut (depends how frisky you’re feelin’)
1/2-3/4 cup blueberries (Same goes here as for the coconut)
Directions:
Line a regular muffin tin with liners. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Rub the zest of the lime with the sugar until fragrant.  Mix all the other ingredients, except the blueberries and coconut, (Dump n’ run!) together until homogeneous.  Then stir in the coconut and gently fold in the blueberries.  Fill each cupcake liner up approximately 2/3 of the way full (use an ice cream scoop for uniformity…).  Bake for 25-30 minutes, checking for doneness around 20 minutes.  Cupcakes are done when they spring back from a light touch.  

Coconut-Lime Cream Cheese Frosting
Enough to frost 12-ish cupcakes
Ingredients:
8 ounces cream cheese
2 tablespoons butter, softened
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 1/2 cup confectioner’s sugar
1/3 cup lime curd
Directions: 
Beat all ingredients except the curd and sugar together until fluffy, then slowly add in sugar until incorporated.  Mix in the curd.

“Hot Chocolate” Cake
Makes 1 3×8 layer cake
For the cake: (adapted from Sweetapolita)
1 3/4 cups flour
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
big pinch sea salt
2 eggs
1 cup hot black coffee
1 cup buttermilk
1/3 cup neutral oil
healthy splash vanilla extract
Directions: 
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter and flour three 8-inch pans.
Mix everything together in a stand mixer with a paddle attachment. Divide evenly into the pans, and bake for 30-35 minutes (check around 25!).  Cake will be springy when done.
For the frosting and filling:
Ingredients:
7.5 ounces egg whites (it’s okay to go over)
7.5 ounces sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
24 ounces butter, cut up into small pieces and at room temperature
3/4 cup Ovaltine
2 ounces melted and cooled bittersweet chocolate
Directions:
Heat egg whites, sugar, and salt in a double boiler until they reach 145 degrees F.  Remove from heat and beat until thick, glossy, and cool (bowl should be neutral to the touch).  using the paddle attachment, slowly add in the butter in pieces until all is incorporated.  Remove all but 2.5 cups of the buttercream and place in another bowl.  With the remaining buttercream, mix in the Ovaltine and melted chocolate.  Fill the layers with the Ovaltine buttercream, and frost the outside with the regular buttercream.  

Lime Meringue Pie Frozen Yogurt
Ingredients:
190 grams (1 1/2 cups) graham cracker crumbs
20 grams (1/4 cup) milk powder (optional)
25 grams (2 Tbsp.) sugar
3 grams (3/4 tsp.) kosher salt
55 grams (4 Tbsp. or 1/2 stick) butter, melted, or as needed
55 grams (1/4 cup) heavy cream
The rest of the lime curd (or just use the whole batch, and don’t make the cupcakes.)

3/4 cup sugar
2 1/4 cups Greek yogurt 

1/2 cup heavy cream
Directions:
Pulse the first 5 ingredients together in a food processor.  Spread on a baking sheet and bake at 350 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes.  Remove, let cool, and break into chunks.  Mix the other portion of heavy cream, the Greek yogurt, and the sugar, and let sit for a little while so the sugar can mingle with the dairy.  Then freeze in an ice cream maker, until frozen but ever so slightly soft.  Fold in the lime curd and graham crust.  When you stick it in your freezer to store, be sure to place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface to prevent ice crystals from forming.


Be prepared for some layer cakes coming up in the near future! Weeeee!  


I wish the sprinkles stuck on a bit better.