Your Daily Sweets: What Are You Making and Baking? (2017 – )

[Katie Meadow]

4 hours ago, heidih said:

At fist glance I thought "sesame seed, poppy, plus tahi=ni?" Then the "duh" hit - tahini is made from sesame. Mostly I now have a craving for the poppyseed cake made with the SOLO product - very moist and loaded with seeds.

My two favorite snacking cakes these days are Yossy Arefi's Simple Sesame Cake and Dorie Greenspan's Poppy Seed Tea Cake. The first is found on line and in her Snacking Cakes book and includes a generous amount of tahini and lots of sesame seeds in the batter and on the top. The Dorie cake can be found on the NYT site and elsewhere as well, I think. It has a modest lemon flavor and an amazing amount of poppy seeds. Both are excellent sliced and toasted. Both are for people who love crunchy seeds.

[Tropicalsenior]

This morning I baked one of my favorite cakes. It is a simple pineapple cake. It's one of the easiest cakes to make and it is so moist.

I had just a tiny bit too much batter for my cake pan so I made a tiny cooks treat. It didn't even need frosting.

[oli]

2 hours ago, heidih said:

That is great. I used to do my big bake for Christmas gifting and had a pretty large list of folks that looked forward to their trays. Then I heard many were inundated at Christmas especially in large offices. Client/vendor stuff. So I switched to random gifting when it is unexpected.  Now it is just the guards, fire tation, IT guys, amd a handful of friends. It has been mazing how the treats cemented (sweetened) long relationships. I had a hard time with the facilities maintenance guys at a large hospital (a male/female thing) - the baked goods really sweetened up their attitudes. 

Which hosp?

[ElsieD]

1 hour ago, Tropicalsenior said:

This morning I baked one of my favorite cakes. It is a simple pineapple cake. It's one of the easiest cakes to make and it is so moist.

I had just a tiny bit too much batter for my cake pan so I made a tiny cooks treat. It didn't even need frosting.

 

That cake looks wonderful.  Do you have a recipe source?

[heidih]

30 minutes ago, oli said:

Which hosp?

UCLA Medical Center.  Pre Northridge earthquake so the old facility. https://dailybruin.com/2017/05/04/throwback-thursday-how-the-1994-northridge-earthquake-affected-ucla More corridor lengths than the Pentagon they said. Gotta say the cafeteria had decent food. Their collard greens on a rough day with rice - comfort. Sweets - not so much. My alma mater though - cross town rival USC had a Linzer cookie, ground nut sandwich with a tart jam. With giant coffee did you for a long day of lectures.

Edited May 18, 2023 by heidih (log)

[Tropicalsenior]

22 minutes ago, ElsieD said:

 

That cake looks wonderful.  Do you have a recipe source?

It's something from my personal recipe files so as soon as I can get it reformatted I will post it.

[Darienne]

On 4/3/2023 at 8:06 PM, Darienne said:

Oh no, I PM'd Kim.  You must have gotten that recipe from someone else.   I've never made those cookies.  Never.  

 

And she replied...laughing...this is the second time I have posted that you recommended that recipe and the second time I've told you that you did.  And here's the proof. 

 

Whereupon she, once again, posted the link to my original post.  

 

So I got out my recipe and made them today.  And they are delicious.  Very short.  Love them.

 All on one pan after baking.

So many of you are so experienced...I would like some suggestions about how to ramp up the taste of these 'Tahini and Almond' cookies.  From David Lebovitz, they are delicious, that's certain...but I keep thinking about adding something to them to give them more 'taste'.  Their taste would be supplied by the ground almonds, tahini, and vanilla.  What could I add safely?  Thanks.
 

 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by Darienne (log)

[blue_dolphin]

51 minutes ago, Darienne said:

So many of you are so experienced...I would like some suggestions about how to ramp up the taste of these 'Tahini and Almond' cookies.  From David Lebovitz, they are delicious, that's certain...but I keep thinking about adding something to them to give them more 'taste'.  Their taste would be supplied by the ground almonds, tahini, and vanilla.  What could I add safely?  Thanks.
 

 

 

I like to add toasted sesame oil to any cookies that call for tahini. 
You can also toast and grind sesame seeds but that may change the texture, too. 
Edited to add that the tahini cookies in Ottolenghi's Jerusalem get a sprinkle of cinnamon which might be an option if it appeals to you. 
 

 

Edited May 19, 2023 by blue_dolphin (log)

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

So many of you are so experienced...I would like some suggestions about how to ramp up the taste of these 'Tahini and Almond' cookies.  From David Lebovitz, they are delicious, that's certain...but I keep thinking about adding something to them to give them more 'taste'.  Their taste would be supplied by the ground almonds, tahini, and vanilla.  What could I add safely?  Thanks.
 

 

 

In trying to punch up the flavor in my peanut butter cookies I really turned a corner when I discovered the powdered peanut butter.  Subbing a bit of it (exact amount took some tinkering) for some flour gave me the flavor I wanted without changing the texture.  They do make tahini powder - you might try that.  

 

I made a lemon pound cake for one of Mr. Kim's staff:

 

The recipe made two loaves, so I kept one.  It was pretty good – a nice enough crumb but needed more lemon flavor. 

 

[Darienne]

18 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

In trying to punch up the flavor in my peanut butter cookies I really turned a corner when I discovered the powdered peanut butter.  Subbing a bit of it (exact amount took some tinkering) for some flour gave me the flavor I wanted without changing the texture.  They do make tahini powder - you might try that.  

 

Not in East Central Ontario they don't.  And I call a limit to some searches at this point.  Thanks.  I did try the one place they might have it in my local city.  Like me, she hadn't heard of it until a couple of minutes ago.  I'm going with the cinnamon for now.  

[Kim Shook]

12 minutes ago, Darienne said:

Not in East Central Ontario they don't.  And I call a limit to some searches at this point.  Thanks.  I did try the one place they might have it in my local city.  Like me, she hadn't heard of it until a couple of minutes ago.  I'm going with the cinnamon for now.  

I understand.  I did find it on Amazon (US) under the name "sesame powder".  I even found black sesame powder.  I put them both on my wishlist.  I know this won't help you, but thought you might have piqued the interest of some other folks.  

[heidih]

@Darienne you may also want to consider the type of tahini you are using.  https://www.tastingtable.com/1043790/types-of-tahini-explained/#:~:text=Raw tahini%2C because it hasn,nutrients have been cooked away.

[ElsieD]

5 minutes ago, Kim Shook said:

I understand.  I did find it on Amazon (US) under the name "sesame powder".  I even found black sesame powder.  I put them both on my wishlist.  I know this won't help you, but thought you might have piqued the interest of some other folks.  

 

Amazon.ca sells those products as well.

[lindag]

On 5/18/2023 at 2:49 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

This morning I baked one of my favorite cakes. It is a simple pineapple cake. It's one of the easiest cakes to make and it is so moist.

I had just a tiny bit too much batter for my cake pan so I made a tiny cooks treat. It didn't even need frosting.

Did you use brown sugar in your cake?  Is that was gives it that dark color?

[Pete Fred]

Lots of lovely gariguette strawberries at the market this morning so I made a quick almond crumble and some vanilla whipped cream...

 

 

The only thing missing was sunshine. Summer strawberries seem even more perfect when the sun shines. I waited and waited but it never came. Still tasted great, though.

[RWood]

Groovy Chocolate cake and cupcakes for a graduation. 

[heidih]

Wow -cool  thought it was a Pride cake at first.

[Susanwusan]

what are the ratios of chocolate and other ingredients to turn out the best rocky road?

[OlyveOyl]

Belgian tea cake filled with passionfruit curd. A small 6” cake, this one  happens to be filled with passionfruit curd, I have also used Meyer lemon and tangerine curds. It’s a soft press in pastry although I prefer to roll it, some of the pastry is reserved for the top.  Served with berries and a scoop of sour cream, it made a hit with our guests. The cake is also known as “Edna’s curd cake” and is found in multiple places on the web.

Edited May 22, 2023 by OlyveOyl
Typo (log)

[pastrygirl]

On 5/18/2023 at 1:49 PM, Tropicalsenior said:

 

I had just a tiny bit too much batter for my cake pan so I made a tiny cooks treat.

 

I think there's plenty of room in that pan and you just wanted a treat 😋😂

 

[Tropicalsenior]

23 minutes ago, pastrygirl said:

 

I think there's plenty of room in that pan and you just wanted a treat 😋😂

 

Actually, I miss judged how high the cake would rise. But I'm not one bit sorry.

[lindag]

On 5/20/2023 at 11:47 AM, RWood said:

Groovy Chocolate cake and cupcakes for a graduation. 

Just WOW!

[lindag]

@ElsieD, have you had any luck finding a similar recipe  ?  None that I've across have that dark a color.  Can't help wondering if it comes from brown sugar instead of white.

[lindag]

 

a recipe by
Sasha Kamen
@roaming
Dallas, TX
Reminiscent in a way of Pineapple Upside Down Cake, this cake is easy to stir together and very moist and delicious. Best when served with ice cream while still slightly warm.

►

SERVES
Makes a 9"x13" oblong cake
COOK TIME
40 Min
METHOD
Bake
 Brown Sugar Pineapple Cake
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 eggs
16 ounces crushed pineapple
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup nuts
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup evaporated milk

Mix first seven ingredients and pour into a buttered 9"x13" pan.

Mix next two ingredients (sugar and nuts) and sprinkle over the unbaked cake.

Bake at 350 degrees for 35 to 45 minutes.

Mix the next four ingredients (butter, sugar, milk and vanilla) in a saucepan, bring to boil, and pour over the baked cake while still hot.

 

[ElsieD]

19 minutes ago, lindag said:

@ElsieD, have you had any luck finding a similar recipe  ?  None that 've across have that dark a color.  Can't help wondering if it comes from brown sugar instead of white.

No i haven't.  I'm wondering if I should give @Tropicalseniora nudge.