Wednesday, February 23, 2011

TWD: Toasted Almond Scones

How do I love thee? Let me count the ways...
I love your Toasted Almonds
I love your Ground Almonds
I love your Chopped Almonds and Almond Extract too...

Sigh, Almond Scones are one of my favorite things so I was so excited when Mike of Living Out West selected them for Tuesdays with Dorie's weekly baking assignment.


The ingredients were typical scone stuff and came together beautifully, but as Dorie warned in her book the dough was very, very sticky. What a mess!!!


But I just floured my hand extra well, and voila, nice pretty wedges.


Oops, I forgot to separate the wedges before baking (I'm getting so forgetful in my old age), but they still came out looking pretty nice (or at least I thought so). Plus they puffed up like a Puffer Fish on steroids. Truly amazing. I guess it was all that baking powder in the mix :)


So how did they taste?

Well honestly I was just a little disappointed.

I have a horrendous sweet tooth and these scones had just a hint of sweetness. I guess I could have slathered it with jam, but I didn't have anything suitable (scone worthy) in the frig.

But I didn't despair. I had mixed a full batch and froze half the dough, so I'll bake up the second half and have another taste test this weekend. Yea, more scones. This time I'm gonna drench those little babies in Blackcurrant jam and Jersey Cream. I'll let you know how they taste.

Tuesday, February 15, 2011

TWD: Chocolate Oatmeal Drops

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie selection of Chocolate Oatmeal Drops (page 75) was made by Caroline and Claire of Bake With Us. Many thanks, Caroline and Claire. I was in desperate need of a chocolate fix.



Now I don’t know if I did something wrong, but my cookie dough was more like cake batter than Toll House slice-and-bake. The picture doesn't capture the true runnyness (sp) of the mix, but take my word for it, it almost oozed.


The cookies spread like crazy during baking, and at the suggested 12 minute baking time they came out a little crisp and singed around the edges. For the second batch I chilled the dough till it hardened and only baked them for 10 minutes.


They came out perfect. Nice domed cookies with very little spreading, crunchy outside with soft, chewy middle. Perfection.


Again, many thanks Caroline and Claire, and you too Dorie!

Friday, January 28, 2011

TWD: Nutty Chocolatey Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake

This week's Tuesday with Dorie selection of Nutty, Chocolatly, Swirly Sour Cream Bundt Cake (page 182 of Baking From my home to yours) was made by Jennifer of Cooking for Comfort.



I've always had trouble with swirly Bundt cakes, so I took to heart all the suggestions made by the bakers who finished on time (unlike me). I buttered and floured the hell out of my non-stick Bundt. I carefully kept the swirly stuff away for the edge of the pan. Several people had a problem with the second swirl layer separating from the main body of the cake when the cake was removed from the pan, so again I followed their recommendations and completely covered the final swirl with batter.

[ Oops, I forgot picture of beautiful batter and swirly center, so you'll have to use your baking imagination. ]

Some of the TWD bakers also reported that the cake was cooked before the suggested 60 minutes, but somehow I missed that one. I was reading the news paper waiting for my oven timer to go off (it still had five minutes to go), when I smelled something burning!!!! I yanked that sucker out of the oven, but the damage was done. Sigh... I over-baked again.



To makeup for my blunder I whipped up a little ganache and poured it all over the top of the cake, and as an added touch I sprinkled mini chocolate chips on top. Nothing covers up mistakes like chocolate.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

TWD: Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

This week's Tuesday with Dorie pick was made by Betsy of A Cup of Sweetness. And what did that amazingly psychic woman select? Why my all-time favorite Dorie recipe: Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins. Yum.

I want to be buried with one of these muffins.



Their aroma was refreshing, their taste: tangy yet sweet. The only complaint my family had with regards to these muffins was ...

"MORE ICING, PLEASE".

"Lots more icing, PLEASE."

Well at least they're polite.




Monday, January 10, 2011

White Cake Taste Test

Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites. 

A few members on Cake Central recently kicked off a Great Scratch Off - White Cake Taste Test. Yeah, White Cake! I’ve been on the hunt for the "perfect" white cake recipe so I joined the fun. Eight recipes were selected for the comparison (see list below). I would have liked to try them all, but I was pressed for time so I selected four to sample: one made with shortening, one with buttermilk, one with just butter, and one with sour cream.



Here are links to the eight recipes that Cake Central selected for the comparison:

  1. King Arthur Flour - Tender While Cake recipe - I would have liked to try this recipe. It is the standard "butter" recipe, but it also give the option of using vanilla yogurt or whole milk. I've always wondered how yogurt would impact the taste/texture of a cake, but I didn't have any King Arthur Flour so I had to scratch this one from my "to bake" list.


  2. Rebecca Sutterby's (developer of the WASC recipe) - White Velvet Cake recipe - Buttermilk recipe with vanilla bean paste. I didn't have any vanilla bean paste, so this one got scratched also.


  3. Cook Book Maniac's adaptation of Rose Levy Beranbaum's: The Cake Bible - White Velvet Cake recipe - This is a butter recipe which also uses heavy cream. Sounds delicious, rich, and oh-so-fattening. I really wanted to include this one and make a five layer cake, but I was confused by some of Cook Book Maniac's instructions. In particular the instruction of cook at 175 degrees (no mention of Celsius or Fahrenheit) and only use one 9x2" pan. I could make the assumption that the temperature was Celsius, but the one pan had me stumped. Seemed like too much batter for one pan. I also had a run-in last year with the Rose Levy Beranbaum's folks when I included her Red Velvet Cake in one of my taste test. I didn't want a repeat of that drama, so I dropped this cake from my lineup.


  4. Cook's Illustrated - White Layer Cake recipe (note, you need a subscription to see the actual Cook's Illustrated recipe, but the link given goes to a blog that posted the CI recipe and directions)- This is a Butter recipe with lots of egg whites. I included this recipe in my taste test. Here is what the finished cake looked like:


  5. Elisa Strauss The Confetti Cakes - Vanilla Cake recipe (note: scroll down through this long post.  The recipe is near the bottom of  Post #1)  - This is another Butter recipe with lots of egg whites very similar to the Cook's Illustrated recipe.


  6. K8Memphis' version of Sylvia Weinstock's yellow cake from  Sylvia Weinstock's Sensational Cakes  - Sylvia's famous Sour Cream Yellow Cake recipe was modified (reduced the egg yolks) by K8 to make the baked cake look less yellow. Here is what it looked like.


  7. GroupRecipes' Delicate White Cake recipe - This is a Shortening based recipe with no butter. Here is what it looked like. Very snowy isn't it? No butter in the batter makes the cake very white.


  8. Rebecca Rather's from the book The Pastry Queen - White on White Buttermilk Cake recipe - Lots of butter and buttermilk in this recipe. Not intended for anyone worried about their cholesterol.


So here are all the cakes stacked and waiting to get iced.



For this taste test I had 11 lab rats (oops, I mean family members). They were told to evaluate just the cake and not the cake/icing combination. Each taster was given a slice of cake and I interview each and made notes of their comments. They were asked to rank the cakes from 1-4. #1 being their favorite and #4 being their least favorite.

And based on the ranking of my lab rats,

The WINNER of my White Cake Taste Test IS ...........

************************************************************************
With an overall score of 1.6 .............

************************************************************************
The pure BUTTER recipe from Cook's Illustrated White Layer Cake recipe


Yeah, Three Cheers for Cook's Illustrated White Layer Cake !!!!
************************************************************************
The score board is as follows (note: the lower the number the better the score):

#1 - First Place went to Cook's Illustrated Butter cake with a score of 1.6,
#2 - Second Place went to Rebecca Rather's (The Pastry Queen) Buttermilk cake with a score of 2.4,
#3 - Third Place went to Group Recipes' Shortening cake with a score of 2.5,
#4 - Fourth Place went to K8Memphis' Sour Cream Cake with a score of 3.4



Under the guidelines of the Cake Central Great Scratch Off - White Cake Taste Test the
Judging Criteria included:
1. Flavor
2. Texture/Crumb
3. Moistness
3. Ease of Recipe
4. Cost of Recipe
5. Ability to convert into cupcakes

So here are my remarks on each cake:


* The Sour Cream Cake (left most cake in picture, 4th Place Winner) K8Memphis'  version of Sylvia Weinstock's Yellow Cake from the book Sylvia Weinstock's Sensational Cakes 
  1. Flavor - Nice flavor when eating, but leaves a strong after-taste in your mouth. Most of the lab rats described the cake as having a strong, unidentifiable flavor.
  2. Texture/Crumb - Very dense but you can still see the crumb.
  3. Moistness - Very moist almost to the point of wetness.


* The Butter Cake (second from left in picture, 1st Place Winner) Cook's Illustrated White Layer Cake recipe
  1. Flavor - Rich, buttery flavor. Very nice smell.
  2. Texture/Crumb - Medium crumb. Not as fluffy as the shortening cake but not as dense as the buttermilk or sour cream cakes. Crumbs visible when you cut into the cake. Nice, fluffy, moist feel in mouth.
  3. Moistness - Perfect moistness. Not dry and not too wet looking or tasting.


* The ButterMilk Cake (third from left in picture, 2nd Place Winner) Rebecca Rather's (The Pastry Queen book) White on White Buttermilk Cake recipe
  1. Flavor - Great flavor, rich and complex.
  2. Texture/Crumb - Dense, but you can still see some crumbs.
  3. Moistness - Very moist, a little wet looking, compacts in your mouth when you eat it.
  4. Other Notes: Best flavor but did not like the texture as much as the shortening or butter cake. Cake was very rich and overpowered the normal vanilla buttercream icing. Tasted much better when paired with a rich, chocolate icing. Also did not work well as cupcakes: lots of collapsing and shrinkage.




* The Shortening Cake (right most cake in picture, 3rd Place Winner) Delicate White Cake recipe
  1. Flavor - Sugary flavor, not enough extracts. Would add more vanilla and also some butter extract.
  2. Texture/Crumb - Light, airy, fluffy. Loose crumb, lots of little crumb holes.
  3. Moistness - A little dry. If more moisture (and butter flavor) could be added to the cake it would be perfect.
  4. Other Note: Not enough batter, layer not thick enough. Baked for the suggested 20 minutes but next time I would only bake for 18 minutes.

So did this taste test help me to find that "perfect" white cake recipe? Well to be honest, No.

I loved the flavor of the Buttermilk cake, the texture of the Butter cake and the light, airiness of the Shortening cake. If only I could smash all the cakes together, I would have the perfect White Cake recipe.

Hummmm....

I wonder if I could start with the Shortening recipe, use buttermilk instead of milk, double the vanilla, add some almond and butter extracts..... I wonder what it would taste like? Any thoughts, any opinion?

Hummmmm......







Disclosure: We are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for us to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Snowman Face Cake

I’ve been a bad blogger lately. I’ve been baking a lot, but I just can’t find the time to sit down and post a few words and pictures. Same old excuses: new computer software at work, beaucoup overtime, people yelling, systems crashing, stress up to my eyeballs, yada yada, yada.

But today turned out to be a good sit at home day. The New Orleans Saints lost the first round of the playoffs (no Super Bowl for them this year), it is raining cats and dogs outside, and it is cold, very, very cold. Wow, it must be 40 degrees outside, burrrr, frigid (well at least for New Orleans).

So here is my first post of 2011. I had planed on making an elaborate, multi-tiered cake for our Christmas day gathering, but of course I ran out of time. At the last minute I whipped up a box cake mix and slapped on some icing.



It came out really cute and best of all it only took about 20 minutes to decorate. It actually took longer to color the icing than it did to pipe the cute little snowman face. Go figure. Many thanks to jdbhoward on Cake Central from whom I borrowed/stole the idea from. Thanks, jdbhoward.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Duck Sugar Cookies

At the last minute a friend asked me to make some cookies for a baby shower. I frantically dug through my box of cookie cutters and couldn’t find one “baby” related cutter. WHAT!!!! I didn’t realize my collection was so deficient.

In the end I had to settle for an Easter Duck cutter that I thought looked a little baby-ish.

Not too bad...



They don’t scream “baby shower”, but the mother to-be didn’t seem to mind.

Friday, November 26, 2010

TWD: Caramelized Apple Shortbread Cake

A few days ago I discovered Dorie Greenspan's Cranberry Shortbread Cake, and I like it so much I decided to make it again, this time with apples.


First I caramelized the apples with sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger. I wish you could get a whiff of the smells coming from this skillet. Warm, spicy and oh-so Fall-like. Happy, happy, days.


After the apples had cooled, I grated my frozen shortbread cake dough into the pan and topped it with the apples. Yes, grated. I read somewhere that grating the dough creates a lighter, more delicate crust and it is true. Next time give it a try, you won't be sorry. Just watch those finger-tips!

A layer of Apple Butter...

And the rest of the grated shortbread dough. Note: I used too much dough on the bottom, so the top layer looks a little bare.

And if it wasn't sweet enough I topped the finished cake with cinnamon glaze. Can anyone say sugar coma? But hey, what a way to go.



Caramelized Apple Shortbread Cake

Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours pg 208-209 & 408


For the Cake:

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Directions:
  • Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
  • With an electric mixer beat the butter on medium speed until soft and smooth.
  • Add the sugar and continue to beat until the sugar dissolves into the butter.
  • Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the eat, beating until it is absorbed.
  • Beat in the vanilla.
  • Add the flour mixture and using a sturdy rubber spatula mix only until it is incorporated.
  • Divide the dough in half, pat into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze until solid.

For the Caramelized Apples:


Ingredients:
3 medium apples, cored, peeled and sliced
3 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
3 Tablespoons Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon Ginger

1/4 - 1/2 cup Apple Butter (optional)


Directions:
  • In a large skillet over medium-high heat melt the butter, then sprinkle the sugar over the melted butter.
  • Cook the butter and sugar for 1 minute or so. You want the sugar to caramelize but not burn.
  • Add the sliced apples and spices to the skillet and toss to evenly coat the apples with the spices, and butter/sugar. Cook until they are tender but not soft, 3 to 5 minutes.
  • Transfer the apples and buttery liquid to a plate.

Assembly:
  • When the dough is frozen solid, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  • Line the bottom and 2 sides of a 9 x 5" loaf pan with parchment paper, allowing 2-3 inches to extend over the 2 sides. Lightly butter the parchment paper and non-covered side of the pan.
  • Remove one ball of frozen dough and grate into the prepared pan. Distribute evenly.
  • Spoon the caramelized apple on top of the bottom layer of dough.
  • Cover the caramelized apples with the Apple Butter (optional).
  • Grate the other half of the dough on top of the apples.
  • Bake at 350 degrees F for 35-40 minutes, or until the top of the cake is lightly golden brown.
  • Cool for 20 minutes. Run a blunt knife on the two sides of the cake not covered by parchment paper. Lift the cake from the pan using the parchment paper sides as handles.
  • Add a glaze if desired.

Tuesday, November 9, 2010

TWD: Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake

I just got back from vacation ( a Carnival cruise but thankfully not the one that was stranded at sea with no power and water), so I had to scramble to get this week’s assignment finished on time.

Ta-Da
Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry (Blueberry) Shortbread Cake


This week’s TWD selection was made by Jessica of The Singleton in the Kitchen (click here for recipe). Way to go Jessica, you made a delicious choice.

Because of my late return I didn’t have time to go to the store and get cranberries, so I had to raid the refrigerator and use what was on hand. The only non-moldy fruit I could find in the frig was some slightly expired blueberry fruit spread. It wasn't too, too expired so I decide to take a chance. (I'm such a rebel.)


Like many other TWD bakers, I grated the dough instead of trying to roll it out to the correct size. The grating was a lot easier but also a lot messier.


So how did it taste?

Pretty darn good.

Kinda like a cross between a sugar cookie and a scone. Crunchy on the outside, soft and moist on the inside. Not too sweet, with a little tartness from the fruit. In the book Dorie also suggest using caramelized apples instead of cranberries. I think I’ll give that a try for Thanksgiving. I’ll let you know how it goes…

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

TWD: Pea-NOT-tiest Blondies

I made my last Houston-New Orleans commute on Friday, October 29th and the next morning I pulled out my pans and started BAKING. Yahoo! An almost two month exile from my kitchen and my weekly Tuesdays with Dorie fix was finally at an end.



And what was I fortunate enough to get to bake?
Peanuttiest Blondies.
Lucky Me. One of my favorites.

This week’s selection was made by Nicole of Bakeologie. The recipe can be found on page 119 of Dorie Greenspan’s book: BAKING From My Home to Yours, or on Nicole's blog site.

Now I’m a great lover of Peanuts and Peanut Butter, but my family falls more on the “great hater” side of the Peanut Butter fence. So I had to make some minor adjustment to Dorie’s fabulous recipe. I subbed Almond Butter for the Peanut Butter and replaced the peanuts with a medley of four nuts: almonds, cashews, hazelnuts, and pecans.

It was yummy. Moist, chewy and oh-so nutty... So my version my not be Peanuttiest Blondies, but they are certainty the Nuttiest Blondies.