"Baking: From My Home to Yours" (Part 2)

[Live It Up]

I've been doing a bunch of baking from this book, and so far everything has been pretty good, even the stuff I messed up. I made the coconut tea cake for my blog, which was really good, but I would have liked it better with some citrus zest in it. Also, it makes way more cake than I can eat, even with my husband helping out, so I wound up giving a lot of it away. On friday I made the all spice muffins. They were amazing! I make tons of muffins, and these were some of the best I've ever made. I made some mini muffins that were plain, but I added blueberries to half the batter and made regular size muffins.

I loved the muffins both ways, but preferred them with the berries. My husband won't eat fruit, though, so I will continue to make them plain for him. Also, perhaps because I made mini muffins, I wound up with a lot of extra streusel. Next time I will probably make half the streusal and add a little more allspice. Overall fabulous, though.

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I really, really want to make this one, but I have no one to help me eat it! I remember you saying that you halve recipes a lot--did you halve it this time? If so, what size pan did you use? It looks amazingly good.

[Chufi]

I really, really want to make this one, but I have no one to help me eat it! I remember you saying that you halve recipes a lot--did you halve it this time? If so, what size pan did you use? It looks amazingly good.

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I did not half this one, but I think it would have been easy to half. All the other recipe have been very half-able I took this one to my new job.. to make friends.. it worked

I did bake it in a 9 inch tin instead of the 8 inch she specifies.

[zoe b]

This is the second time this week I've made the Cranberry Upside Down Cake--but I'm using wineberries--they are so plentiful this year that i can cook with them--we usually just get a cup or so at a time--only enough to eat .

I like this recipe--it comes out a little flat because i only have 9" cake pans, but it is moist and delicious--and is super fast to make.

I save a step and a pan by melting the butter and sugar on top of the stove in the cake pan--and i also let it caramelize slightly this time--to give it more flavor.

I'll serve it with dulce de leche ice cream on top.

Zoe

Edited July 28, 2007 by zoe b (log)

[merstar]

I made the Coffee Break Muffins, but unfortunately they turned out mushy and bland. Very disappointing.

[Dorie Greenspan]

Everyone's stuff looks amazing -- even the cake that didn't rise too high.

About cake flour -- cake flour is a low-protein flour that should NOT have any leavening. I think that if you use a cake flour with leavening, and you add the recipe's leavening, it's like over-rising a yeast dough: it rises and then falls.

I've gotten a couple of messages from bakers in Canada, who have said they've had cake-flour cakes come out flat and when we've investigated it's been because their cake flour has a leaving agent.

Here's a suggestion -- use all-purpose flour, but remove 2 tablespoons of the flour from every cup. I think this should help.

[Chufi]

About cake flour -- cake flour is a low-protein flour that should NOT have any leavening.  I think that if you use a cake flour with leavening, and you add the recipe's leavening, it's like over-rising a yeast dough: it rises and then falls.

I've gotten a couple of messages from bakers in Canada, who have said they've had cake-flour cakes come out flat and when we've investigated it's been because their cake flour has a leaving agent.

Here's a suggestion -- use all-purpose flour, but remove 2 tablespoons of the flour from every cup.  I think this should help.

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Dorie, that makes complete sense. Thank you so much for checking in and answering our questions!

[FoodMan]

Last weekend I made the perfect party cake. I took it to a birthdayparty, so that part was taken care of, but perfect, it was not. I had a lot of problems with this cake! The layers did not rise at all. I have to ask though what 'cake flour' means. The cake flour I buy, has rising agents added (I assume baking powder, although it is not the same as selfrising flour). Anyway, I used the cakeflour which is supposed to rise on its own, and added baking powder too, but the cakes did not rise  . maybe in this case, 1 + 1 is 0?? I think the main culprit was the fact that I had to do all mixing by hand (I mean really by hand, without electricity...) because I forgot I had left my mixer at a friends house. 

I tried to cut the layers in half anyway, which resulted in layers so thin and fragile that they crumbled all over the table as I tried to assemble the cake. I ended up baking another layer! And used the broken bits and pieces to construct a decent looking cake.

I used my homemade redcurrantjelly, and fresh raspberries, for the filling. The meringue buttercream, by the way, was really really good. I was very proud of that because I had never made anything like it before. And it was very nice to plaster the cake with buttercream, at least from the outside, it looked okay!

Today I made the dimply plum cake, which came out perfect! I love the combination of cardamom and orange, and it really complements the slightly sour plums.

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I've been waiting on a certain someone who took all the pictures to send them to me before I post, but oh well. I can always post them later. I made the same Perfect Party Cake for my son's birhtday party a couple of weeks ago and it worked very well. I love this white cake recipe ever since I tried it (as Dorie says she got it from him) in Nick Malgieri's book. I see Dorie already answered your question about Cake Flour, and here's another vote to use all purpose instead. I do it all the time.

Now, that plum cake looks juts perfect.

Other things I tried recently include the blueberry brown sugar cake (heavenly), The whiteout cake (also for my son's birthday....but for the school party) and the Buttermilk Cocoa cake (This was pretty good, but I want more malty flavor)

BTW, what exactly is malted milk? IS that what the label says on it? Is it basically Ovaltine ?

[FoodMan]

Here are the Blueberry Brown Sugar cake pieces. They are even better than they look, very flavorful and moist.

[DesertCulinary]

I have a ton of fresh cranberries to get used up, so I made the Not-Just-For-Thanksgiving Cranberry Shortbread Cake for a treat day this week.

It starts out by making a sharp cranberry/orange jam

The cake itself is like a cross between a chewy sugar cookie and a soft cake - unusual, but very delicious.

It was a little hard to tell it when it was done as I didn't want to puncture that sugary-crisp top. I loved the thick and striking deep red layer - I will have to try this one again as a Thanksgiving time dessert!

[zoe b]

I've been making brrrr-ownies and they are delicious--but so ugly--has anyone figured out how to make them purty? I cut with a pizza cutter but they still are misshapen and messy looking --I sent a batch with friends who were starting out on a road trip and I wrapped the brownies in waxed paper so they would stay whole--and look like something you'd want to eat.

I also had an epiphany for a variation--Hershey's has a lot of fancy new Kisses out--truffle and caramel and others--the best is a cherry cordial one--filled with a cherry flavored cream--tastes just like cheap chocolate covered cherries!!

My hub loves CCC so I bought these for him--and it occurred to me that these would be great in the brrr-ownie recipe--sub kirsch for the vanilla, also--well, went back to the supermercado to buy more --they were sold out.

So now will have to wait to try this until I hunt the cherry Kisses down.

[laniloa]

I've been making brrrr-ownies  and they are delicious--but so ugly--has anyone figured out how to make them purty?  I cut with a pizza cutter but they still are misshapen and messy looking --I sent a batch with friends who were starting out on a road trip and I wrapped the brownies in waxed paper so they would stay whole--and look like something you'd want to eat.

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I sub junior mints for chopped peppermint patties. I tried it first as a short cut to having to unwrap and chop all the patties but found it holds together better when I cut them.

[alanamoana]

I've been making brrrr-ownies  and they are delicious--but so ugly--has anyone figured out how to make them purty?  I cut with a pizza cutter but they still are misshapen and messy looking --I sent a batch with friends who were starting out on a road trip and I wrapped the brownies in waxed paper so they would stay whole--and look like something you'd want to eat.

I also had an epiphany for a variation--Hershey's has a lot of fancy new Kisses out--truffle and caramel and others--the best is a cherry cordial one--filled with a cherry flavored cream--tastes just like cheap chocolate covered cherries!!

My hub loves CCC so I bought these for him--and it  occurred to me that these would be great in the brrr-ownie recipe--sub kirsch for the vanilla, also--well, went back to the supermercado to buy more --they were sold out.

So now will have to wait to try this until I hunt the cherry Kisses down.

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you can refrigerate the whole pan and then unmold and cut while cold. that way, they hold their shape better. then you can drizzle the top with chocolate/white chocolate or something to dress them up a bit.

[bekkiz]

So, my oven has been broken since...April, about 4 days after receiving my very own copy of this of my own (I had checked it out from the library and fell in love). What can I say, I've been not home more than at home all summer, and just sort of put off getting it fixed (that and my husbands assertion that he could do it..ya right )

Anyway, to celebrate the repairman making my kitchen whole again, I went on a bit of a baking frenzy. No pictures. I can bring the tasty, but not so much the pretty and who wants to see ugly food?

To start: Peach Upside-Downer cake w/ some very, very ripe peaches from here in WA state. I love just how easy it was for me to put together. I think the most complicated part was getting the peach slices in the pan in some semblance of order. (see above RE: the pretty). The cake part was tender, very moist from the peach juice and just delicious. I can't wait to try this with pears and cranberries in the fall.

Cinnamon Chocolate squares: I made these for a neighbor, but did snag a square for myself and really, really enjoyed them. I wasn't sure how I'd like the espresso powder addition, as I'm not a huge coffee fan, but it was just a hint and really added a nice touch. I may have overmixed the batter a smidge, or maybe overbaked it slightly as the edges were a bit dry/tough. The middle was much nicer. Again, I love how quick and easy they are, and yet very impressive to taste. I will be making them again!

I also made a batch of the world peace cookies, and I think I may not have measured the butter properly. The cookies spread SO much. I won't tell you all what my husband said they looked like. Tasted great, but they were NOT the world peace cookies of lore.

[emmalish]

We got a flat of blueberries at the office a couple weeks ago, enough for a pint for each of us and a couple left over. I got an extra pint with the agreement that I'd be baking something with it. So I made the blueberry crumb cake. Once again, a huge success, with several requests for the recipe. I snuck a tiny piece and loved it so much I decided to make it again this weekend (although with frozen blueberries this time). Not too sweet, nice & blueberry-ey. And the crumb topping gives it a nice bit of crunch.

[Dorie Greenspan]

Bekkiz -- I can imagine what your World Peace Cookies looked like because it has happened to me when I've forgotten to lower the oven temperature after I'd baked something else. The cookies are very sensitive to heat. You must bake them at 325 degrees F -- bake them at 350 and they spread and become a completely different cookie. I'm glad you liked everything else that you baked!

Emmalish -- So happy that the blueberry crumb cake got a good reception. I'm volunteering at a farm dinner next weekend and was thinking of baking that or the blueberry brown sugar cake that Food Man posted using the berries from the farm. It should be fun -- even if I've never baked for 150 people before! yikes!!

DesertCulinary - it was such fun to see your beautiful cranberry shortbread cake in the middle of the summer. I'd forgotten how pretty it is -- yours looked beautiful.

Zoe B -- about the Brrrr-ownies. Laniloa is right: You should cut the Peppermint Patties into tiny bits -- it will be much easy to cut the brownies.

Once again, I'm knocked out by how beautiful everyone's stuff looks. Great Perfect Party Cake and wonderful Dimply Plum Cake. The Plum Cake is on my list too because our farm stand in Connecticut just put out their plums. Maybe that's what I should do for the 150-person dinner ... I could make it in BIG pans ...

[miladyinsanity]

I made a low-fat version of the Cinnamon Squares, ie no butter.

I'll come back to report on whether it's any good or not--it's still very hot.

[Chufi]

I made a double batch of the Dimply Plum cake yesterday, in a huge pan, and took it to work today. I like this cake best on the day after baking, the cakey part becomes so soft and moist and all the juice from the plums soaks back in. I used some cinnamon instead of cardamom this time, and half walnut, half sunflower oil. I've been using walnut oil in baking lately and really like the nutty taste.

Everybody loved the cake and commented on how light and fresh it tasted.

Edited August 31, 2007 by Chufi (log)

[Live It Up]

I also (finally) made the dimply plum cake. I almost didn't make it though, because I bought the plums before reading through the recipe. I didn't realize at first that the cake part is made with the creaming method. I really don't like cake much, especially butter cakes, so I was worried I wouldn't like it. However, I did make it and took it to a party, but I should have just kept it for myself. It was soo good! It wasn't too cakey and the combination of the plums and the cardamom was great.

[Malawry]

I've been on a bit of a baking bender recently, and did a few recipes from this book. Naturally, I'm physically incapable of making a recipe as written, so keep that in mind....

I made a two-layer apple crisp, using the recipe for I think strawberry-rhubarb--only I used almonds instead of walnuts, and I had so much fruit on hand I doubled the crisp recipe which resulted in too much crisp for not enough fruit (a situation I never knew to be possible). I loved the crisp mixture though and ended up just sauteeing some extra apples in butter to go with the excess crispy. Yum.

Then I made a blackberry cobbler, using the recipe that gets baked in a deep-dish pie pan. I loved the hit of lime zest. It rocked, esp since I picked the blackberries from the wild (and had the thorns to show).

Finally, I convinced myself I would drag my ass out of bed Wednesday morning for medical treatment if I had some kind of cinnamon bread waiting to greet me. So I made the cinnamon-raisin swirl bread, using buttermilk instead of regular milk and taking out the raisins. The result was a very tasty loaf with a bit of tartness thanks to the buttermilk, and my son and I both enjoyed it toasted with butter.

Thanks, Dorie, for distracting me from my misery lately. If something fresh from the oven doesn't do it, nothing will!

[Dorie Greenspan]

It must be fall -- we're all baking again! Hooray, hooray!

Malawry, I'm sorry you've been so miserable lately, but isn't it nice when somethine sweet can distract you and yours for a while? It could almost make one believe that it's possible to get a grip on life. Notice, I said "almost."

It also must be Dimply Plum Cake time. I've got one on my mind, too. And I've even got the plums to make it a reality -- tomorrow.

[sugar plum]

I hadn't baked anything from this book in quite sometime and then along came a jar of cherry preserves! I found them while rummaging through my kitchen cupboards this weekend. These preserves were exactly what I needed to make the Dressy Chocolate Loaf Cake (pg 286).

I did what I usually do and bake the heck out of the cake. It was a tad dry. I have trouble with the art of knowing when to pull the cake out of the oven. I'm always overly concerned about having raw cake batter in the middle. Nonetheless, the cake was delicious and so simple to make. It's perfect for a dinner party because it doesn't require too much fussing about but looks like you did.

[jende]

I finally made the World Peace cookies over the weekend. I usually stick to drop cookies because they're easier, but these actually came together easily and sliced with no trouble.

The flavor was wonderfully chocolately -- make sure you use good quality chocolate chunks here. I prefer the texture of a chewy cookie to this sandy and crumbly type, but in this genre the World Peace is very good.

[emmalish]

It must be fall -- we're all baking again!  Hooray, hooray!

So true! I hate to see summer go, but this weekend was chilly and rainy, and yesterday was a perfect day for baking. So I made the black & white banana loaf (again! – this has quickly become one of my go-to recipes). I've started keeping bananas in the freezer to make breakfast smoothies with, so now I always have them on-hand when I get a craving for a banana loaf. No more waiting for ripe bananas.

I still have to try the world peace cookies. I have a looooong list of recipes I want to try yet.

Edited September 4, 2007 by emmalish (log)

[Malawry]

So I made the double apple bundt cake today, exactly by the recipe except I omitted the raisins.

It stuck in my (nonstick, extremely well-buttered) pan.

I did taste the scraps and they are as luscious and moist as an oil-based cake without the grease factor. I am seriously bumming about the ruined look, though. (The top 15% of the cake stayed in the pan, so I tried to shave the top evenly and hope it looks ok with a drizzle on it. Could be worse...I could be making trifle out of this very sweet cake...)

[Rose&Thorn]

I note that everyone is so happy with their World Peace cookies.

I will confess that the last thing on my mind while making these was world peace!!!

I don't think I will try this again. But will take full responsibility.