Katrina: 5 Years Ago Today

August 29, 2010. A rainy, gloomy kinda day in New Orleans, so much like that faithful day five years ago that it is eerie. I feel like I should do something to mark the 5 year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, but what? I’ve been watching videos on You Tube, talking to friends and family, and flipping TV channels watching all the documentaries on “The Storm”.

It is so strange to think that five years ago I was trapped in a hotel room (with 15 other people, 5 dogs, 3 cat, a rabbit, and a hamster) knowing that my home, my job, my life were being washed away…

Here are some photos I took along the way...

TWD: Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart

This week’s “Tuesday with Dorie” selection of Crunchy and Custardy Peach Tart was made by Rachel of sweet tarte (how appropriate).

Now I’m not a fan of custardy desserts, but this tart made a convert out of me. It was delicious. Delicate fruit, creamy custard, crunchy topping, and a flaky crust. The “flaky crust” part is not true to Dorie’s recipe which called for a “Sweet Nut Tart Dough”, but I was lazy and just used a ready made crust instead of making my one. Sorry Donna. Sorry Dorie.

Here are the tarts about to go into the oven. Not knowing if I would like the tart, I cut the recipe in half and made four mini tarts instead of one big tart. I also just diced the peaches instead of making the elegant “fan pattern” that Dorie suggested. I know, I know, I’m a lazy bum.



Here are the tarts just out of the oven. That mess you see on the pan is from the streusel topping that accidentally slid off the tarts (what a waste of good topping). Dorie suggested leaving the pan in the oven as you sprinkle the streusel on top of the tart, but this didn’t work for a klutz like me. I burned my hand in two places reaching into the oven, and I also lost some of the prize streusel as it slid off the mounds of peaches. Poor streusel.



Any here is the final product. Ta-da. Sweet peaches, creamy custard, flaky crust, and crunchy almond topping. What more could a girl ask for?



Side note on the job front... I got a job!!!! I'm starting on September 7th. I have to go to Houston for 2-1/2 months of training, but then I'll be back home in time for Thanksgiving. To celebrate I went on a shopping spree this weekend, buying things that I have been putting off for months: a new garbage disposal (the old one broke a few months back), a new vacuum cleaner (the old kept spitting things back at me), new tires and windshield for my car (need to be safe on my trips back and forth to Houston), and a new purse (just because). Hopefully now my life can settle back into a normal routine. Looking for a job was extremely stressful and VERY frustrating, and I hope to never have to do it again!

Pound Cake Love

I’m a lover of all things Pound Cake, and this recipe is by far my favorite. It is a combination of two excellent recipes I found on Food.com (formerly RecipeZarr.com). Elvis Presley’s Favorite Whipping Cream Pound Cake and Five Flavor Pound Cake.

Both cakes are excellent but in different ways. The Elvis cake is dense and rich and simply melts in your mouth. It has that crunchy-sugary top that is the hallmark of a great pound cake. The Five Flavor cake is lighter and fluffier, and has a heady mixture of scents and flavors that fill your nose and mouth and make you snatch up slice after slice. It is additively delicious.

So in my quest for the ultimate pound cake I combined my two favorites. The dense, richness from the Elvis recipe and the "explode in your mouth" flavors from the Five Flavor recipe.

Here is “Pound Cake Love” ready to go into the oven. I cut the recipe in half and made a it in a single load pan.


Just out of the oven. The sides were a little burnt and tough, but just look at that crunchy, sugary top. No glaze needed here.


In the end I sliced away the overcooked sides and bottom to expose the soft, moist underbelly of the pound cake.


Yumm. I’m in Pound Cake heaven.

---

Pound Cake Love

Ingredients:

• 3 cups sugar
• 1/2 lb butter (2 sticks), softened
• 6 eggs, room temperature
• 3 cups cake flour, sifted twice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup whipping cream (heavy cream)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon butter extract
• 1 teaspoon coconut extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 1 teaspoon lemon extract
• 1 teaspoon rum extract (optional)
• 1 teaspoon pineapple extract (optional)

Directions:

• DO NOT preheat the oven, this cake goes into a COLD oven
• Butter and flour a 10 inch tube pan
• Sift together the flour, salt, and baking powder. Sift a second time and set aside.
• In a measuring cup combine the cream and 1 teaspoon of each of the 5 (or 7) extracts.
• Cream together the sugar and butter until light and fluffy (3-5 minutes).
• Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
• Mix in half the flour mixture, then the whipping cream, then the other half of the flour mixture.
• Pour into prepared pan.
• Set in COLD over and turn heat to 350 degrees F.
• Bake 60 – 70 minutes, until a wooden skewer inserted in the cake comes out almost clean. Do not over bake or it will come out dry, if anything err on the side of undercooked.
• Cool in pan for 5 minutes, and then remove and set on a wire rake to cool completely.

TWD: Chewy, Chunky Blondies

Nicole of Cookies on Friday picked this week’s Tuesday with Dorie selection: Chewy, Chunky Blondies.

Chewey, gooey, and oh-so sweet, but sadly not my favorite “Dorie” recipe. I prefer more “cake-like” brownies/blondies so the gooeyness of these blondies made me a little sad. Sad that I had to eat the whole pan and not enjoy it only little bit. NOT one bit I tell you.



I did love the look and taste of the uncooked cookie dough. Yumm…



Side note on the job front… My 30-day temp job was due to end on July 30th, but today I was added as a speaker for an August 6th meeting??? I’ll have to ask my boss tomorrow. Keep your fingers crossed. Maybe I’ll be getting a paycheck for a few more weeks.

TWD: Brrrrr-ownies

This week’s TWD selection of “Brrrrr-ownies” was made Karen of Welcome to our Crazy Blessed Life.

According to Dorie Greenspan, Brrrrr-ownies are as frosty as a nor’easter thanks to the handful of York Peppermint Patties that are added to the mix.

Now I had planned on following this recipe to a “T”, but somewhere between my grocery cart and my Sunday afternoon baking marathon the peppermint patties DISSAPEARED. I’m not accusing anyone of being a peppermint pattie thief. But just to let you know, Matthew, your minty fresh breath gave you AWAY!!!!

So what is a Brrrrr-ownie with peppermint patties? I guess just an intensely rich piece of bittersweet chocolate heaven.

Delicious.




Side note on the job front… My last day of work with ENI Petroleum was June 25, 2010, but a friend got me a 30+ day temp job (at another oil compnay) filling in for someone out on maternity leave. So I have another few weeks before I officially join the ranks of the unemployed. Hopefully I’ll find something permanent in the next few weeks.

Emeril: Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze

I wanted to bake something with apples for the Fourth of July, and I found a recipe for Apple Coffee Cake with Crumble Topping and Brown Sugar Glaze by Emeril Lagasse. The cake looked and sounded yummy, and because it had a 5 star rating (among 176 reviewers) on the Food Network I decided to give it a try.

Here is the finished product, and I’m definitely in the minority because I didn’t care for this “cake” AT ALL.



It had a nice flavor, but it just didn’t "taste" like cake. It had no distinct crumb or texture, and had a squishy, spongy feel in my mouth. It reminded me more of bread pudding. I also didn’t like the color. All the components: the cake, apple and topping, all had a grayish-brown tint so everything just merged into one big mass. You couldn’t tell the apple from the cake from the topping. It didn’t look appetizing at all (unlike Emeril’s picture).

The cake started out with such promise. Here it is being mixed...



And spread into the pan...


With the crumble topping...


And just out of the oven with it's warm brown sugar glaze ...



So I guess I must have done something incorrect because all those reviewers on the Food Network can’t be wrong.

TWD: Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake

This week’s Tuesday with Dorie baking assignment was chosen by Amy of Amy Ruth Bakes.



I’m a lover of all things chocolate, so I had such high hopes for this cake. The batter mixed up like a dream: thick, creamy, and very, very tasty.



But I missed judged the time needed to make the cake ( the cake came out of the oven at 11:15 am and I had to be at our Father’s Day party at noon), so I sliced and frosted the cake while it was still steaming hot. Of course the frosting melted on contact with the hot cake and the suddenly liquid chocolate oozed all over the place.


And the taste?

Well, honestly, I was a little disappointed.

I found the cake bland and the bottom and sides of the loaf were very hard. Maybe I cooked it too long -- I probably cooked it too long. -- I have a very bad habit of doing that :(

Here is a peek at the inside. My cake may not have been the best tasting thing at the party, but I just loved the look of all that warm chocolate oozing out and dripping down the sides. Ahhh chocolate.



Side note on the job situation: Only three more days till the pink slips come out! I wish Friday would hurry up and get here cause I keep swinging from deep depression at losing my paycheck to overwhelming joy at finally getting away from a job that was slowly killing me. I guess this emotionally roller coaster is normal????

So what should I do on my first Monday of unemployment? I think I may go back and start baking all of the TWD recipes I missed!

TWD: Raisin Swirl Bread

Before this week I was a Raisin Bread virgin. I had never tasted a slice in all my (shhh 47) years on this earth.

I was missing so much, so very much. Just take a look...



Soft, tender-crumbed sweet bread with a swirl of cinnamon sugar and plump, juicy raisins. Many thanks to Susan of Food.Baby for selecting such a great baking project.

Job update: Only 8 days till the pink slip arrives. I bought an individual health insurance policy yesterday because COBRA was just too expensive! My work policy ends at midnight on June 30th and the new policy start at 0:01 am on July 1st. Is that cutting it too close? I guess I should have overlapped them by a day but I didn't think about it at the time. Oh well, next time I'll know better.

TWD: Tender Shortcake

Cathy of The Tortefeasor chose Tender Shortcakes for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe.



Strawberry Shortcake is one of my all time favorite summer treat. Sweet biscuits, sweet berries, and sweet cream. Sweet.

Still in a funk about my impending job loss. 13 more days till I join the ranks of the unemployed. Oh well, at least I will have more time to bake and blog. Everything has a silver lining.

Deep Dark Chocolate Cake with so-so Chocolate Frosting

My brother's annual crayfish boil was on Saturday, and for this year's party I decided on Chocolate Cake with Chocolate Frosting. Yummmmm. My favorite.



I scoured the listing on RecipeZaar and decided on:
Sue B's Chocolate Cake and
Courtly's Chocolate Frosting.

The Sue B's cake turned out amazing. It was dense, moist and as black as midnight. It had a melt-in-your-mouth texture, and you could really taste the cocoa and rich buttermilk. It was truly scrumptious. Just take a look at that color and extra moist texture...



Now the frosting, well.... That was not such a success.

The frosting had a light, airy consistency that was really appealing. BUT light and airy goes hand-in-hand with soft and unstable. Below are the steps involved in making the frosting. 1) beat together the butter, sugar and cocoa. 2) pour in the cream and whisk. 3) add the melted chocolate (cooled to room temp). 4) whisk until smooth and shiny.


Well the frosting came out smooth and shiny, but it was so soft and runny it kept oozing down the side of the cake. I finally had to place the cake in the refrigerator just to keep the frosting from sliding off.


I also didn't care for the color: I thought it looked a little anemic (especially when placed next to the deep, dark chocolate cake).



So I whipped up a batch of ganache and poured it over the top of the cake. Much better looking, or at least I think so...



But in the end the ganache wasn't enough to hold the soft, airy frosting in place, and a mini catastrophe ensued. The cake was inside the house, but the 76 degree temp was still to much for the frosting to handle. By the time I had slice up half the cake the frosting was oozing off the sides and the top layer of cake kept sliding off (note to self use dowels next time).

So if you want to use this frosting (which really tasted good) only risk it when the temperature is less than 70 degrees.