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

[MelissaH]

On 7/5/2017 at 9:24 PM, ElainaA said:

This is very simple compared to the postings here ! Today I picked cherries- both sweet and tart - for jam. And as usual I picked much more than I needed. (If you have never picked cherries, i recommend it. It is one of the loveliest experiences, especially with the tart cherries. On a sunny day (as today was) the sun comes through the tree leaves and the small, red , translucent balls just glow. It is so beautiful. That is probably why I always end up with three times as much as I intended.)

So a sour cherry cake.

That looks divine! I might need that recipe as I, too, live in U-Pick cherry country.

[ElainaA]

3 hours ago, MelissaH said:

That looks divine! I might need that recipe as I, too, live in U-Pick cherry country.

And here it is. I am not sure where this came from - I think the Harvest forum on Garden Web.The original recipe is for a pear tart but it works with almost any kind of fruit. I have made it with sour cherries, sweet cherries, blueberries, raspberries, pears. It's a handy recipe to have when you have too much of something or just when you need a simple, fruity cake. I'm giving the recipe as I got it, for a pear tart. Just sub what ever fruit you have. And I have no idea who Laurie is.

 

Laurie's Pear Tart

 

4 oz butter

3/4 c. sugar (increase to 1 cup if using sour cherries)

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease an 8" spring form pan.

Cream butter with sugar. 

Add vanilla.

Add 2 eggs, beating well after each.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture.

Spread batter into spring form pan.

Add fruit - cram in as much as possible. If using pears, peel, core and slice thin.

Bake about 1 hour, until a skewer comes out clean. "If you have any doubts, UNDERBAKE. If it dries out it is just a cake." (That is quoted literally from the original recipe.)

[jmacnaughtan]

11 hours ago, curls said:

New recipe from a friend of mine. She calls it a blueberry flan -- it is a cross between a pie and a tart. I wonder if at some point this recipe used fewer blueberries and called for being baked in a flan pan. It most definitely is not what I think of as a flan but it is very tasty.

 

That's a French-style flan, like you see in every bakery here.  They're built to be sturdy enough to take a slice out of and eat out of hand. 

 

Normally, it's just pastry cream baked in puff pastry, but you frequently see it with apricot or coconut.  It's the first time I've seen it with blueberries.

 

Looks good, though

[blue_dolphin]

7 hours ago, ElainaA said:

And here it is. I am not sure where this came from - I think the Harvest forum on Garden Web.The original recipe is for a pear tart but it works with almost any kind of fruit. I have made it with sour cherries, sweet cherries, blueberries, raspberries, pears. It's a handy recipe to have when you have too much of something or just when you need a simple, fruity cake. I'm giving the recipe as I got it, for a pear tart. Just sub what ever fruit you have. And I have no idea who Laurie is.

 

Laurie's Pear Tart

 

4 oz butter

3/4 c. sugar (increase to 1 cup if using sour cherries)

1 t. vanilla

2 eggs

1 cup flour

1 t. baking powder

1/2 t. salt

 

Heat oven to 350 degrees (F). Grease an 8" spring form pan.

Cream butter with sugar. 

Add vanilla.

Add 2 eggs, beating well after each.

Combine flour, baking powder and salt. Gradually beat into butter mixture.

Spread batter into spring form pan.

Add fruit - cram in as much as possible. If using pears, peel, core and slice thin.

Bake about 1 hour, until a skewer comes out clean. "If you have any doubts, UNDERBAKE. If it dries out it is just a cake." (That is quoted literally from the original recipe.)

This is quite similar to the very adaptable Marian Burros/NYT Plum Torte recipe.  Here's a link to it on Smitten Kitchen.

[ElainaA]

3 hours ago, blue_dolphin said:

This is quite similar to the very adaptable Marian Burros/NYT Plum Torte recipe.  Here's a link to it on Smitten Kitchen.

They are very close to identical. The NYTimes recipe has lemon juice and cinnamon and no vanilla. That's about the only difference. If the recipe I have is a rip-off adaptation of Burros' that could explain something that has always bothered me - why is this called a 'tart'? In no way is it a tart - could 'tart' be a typo for 'torte'? I was able to track down my source - I got this version from Chowhound at least 4 years ago - probably longer ago than that. 

Now I will have to make this with plums.

Edited July 10, 2017 by ElainaA (log)

[blue_dolphin]

I don't think even Marian Burros knows the exact source for the recipe.  Here's what she said when asked about it in a Q&A here on eG back in 2004:

Quote

I would love to take credit for the recipe, but I can't. I made a few small changes in it but it was a contribution to the first cookbook I wrote, Elegant But Easy, of my co-author, Los Levine. It was not her recipe either and I'm not sure where it came from.

What I did do is promote it in the Times for many years and put it in at least three of my cookbooks, including the latest, Cooking for Comfort.

I think it is beloved because it is so easy and so delicious. I once made 24 at one time and put them in a friend's freezer for the winter. She went on vacation; her mother came to take care of her children and when she returned home she called and asked me how many I had put in the freezer. "24 and 2 were for your.'' Long silence.

My mother must have loved them. There are only xx left. Tday I can't remember whether there were only 12 left or less.

It wouldn't be a bad thing to be remembered for!

 

Marcella Hazan has a similar recipe for a Peach Tart so perhaps the nomenclature took that route, too.

 

2 hours ago, ElainaA said:

Now I will have to make this with plums.

Wherever it's from, it's a great recipe!

[cakewalk]

It is indeed a very storied recipe: https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/3783-original-plum-torte May it live long and prosper! 

[JohnT]

3 hours ago, ElainaA said:

They are very close to identical. The NYTimes recipe has lemon juice and cinnamon and no vanilla. That's about the only difference. If the recipe I have is a rip-off adaptation of Burros' that could explain something that has always bothered me - why is this called a 'tart'? In no way is it a tart - could 'tart' be a typo for 'torte'? I was able to track down my source - I got this version from Chowhound at least 4 years ago - probably longer ago than that. 

Now I will have to make this with plums.

 

 

I would call it a tart. However, it certainly is not a torte! A torte is made with mostly ground nuts and little or no wheat flour - that was what I was taught. The recipe under discussion has no nuts, just wheat flour. As a matter of interest, I had a similar recipe that was given to me when doing my studies in the 70's, by my Swiss PC teacher, Sven, who claimed it was given to him originally by somebody in Europe - I cannot remember who or where. He called his one a tart. I do not know if I still have the recipe, but will look in my files when I have a bit more free time.

[cakewalk]

I would just call it a cake and be done with it. We are all once again divided by our common language. In the States a tart will usually have a crust, so this doesn't fit the bill. It can be sweet or savory, but a crust seems to be part of the definition here. A torte is a type of cake, but, as John T mentions, it is generally a cake made with some sort of nut flour. But bottom line, I don't care what you call it! I have made this so many times, with different fruits, and it is always good. (But I am still partial to using those end-of-season plums. In fact, as soon as they appear in the market, this cake/tart/torte is the immediate association my mind makes.) 

[cakewalk]

And while we're on the subject, I was just outside looking through some books at the Strand Bookstore, which will be the death of me yet, and what should catch my eye but a book by Marian Burros. I immediately looked for this plum tart recipe, and was very surprised by what I found. She said she had been experimenting with trying to lower the fat content of this recipe, and came upon a version with 40% less fat than the original. But (horror of horrors!) it used egg substitute and mashed banana! Oh, how could you??! I put the book back on the shelf. It didn't give me a lot of confidence in the rest of the recipes in this collection. 

[JohnT]

In a way, I agree with you - as long as it is a good recipe, tastes good, looks good and everybody enjoys it (and asks for either the recipe or for seconds), it must be worth the few minutes it takes to throw it together. You can call it a cake, a pudding or a dessert - it still passes muster and is a winning recipe.

 

Now to your plums - I have a small plum tree that produces a huge amount of fruit each year, but they all ripen within a two week period. Normally, the birds feast on them before I can and the little bastards peck each one to test for sweetnes and then go for the next in line. I have already bought a net to put over it for next season and can see a few of the tarts/torte/cakes/desserts/puddings being produced at the end of spring when said plum tree starts producing its fruit in great numbers.

[Katie Meadow]

In the words of Marian Burros:

 

Because of reader demand, this recipe was published in one form or another in The New York Times almost every year between 1983 and 1995, when the then editor of the food section told me to tell my readers it was the last year it would be published, and if they lost it, it was too bad. She suggested they cut it out, laminate it, and put it on the refrigerator door. My coauthor of the first Elegant but Easy Cookbook brought this recipe to the book. Its appeal comes from its lovely old-fashioned flavor and its speed of preparation. It was originally called Fruit Torte.

 

I have made this many times and it is always good with just about any plums. This is the easiest baked dessert to locate on line. The operative words are "famous" or "original" and "plum," but tart, torte and cake will all get you there. I don't think of it as a true tart either, since my idea of a tart is something with a pastry crust, but I'm not a very accomplished baker. That's why I always liked this recipe.

[cakewalk]

56 minutes ago, JohnT said:

... and the little bastards peck each one to test for sweetnes and then go for the next in line. 

I think that is hysterical. Clever little bastards. FYI, this cake/tart/torte freezes beautifully, and it is very nice to have something with plums in the middle of winter. 

[MelissaH]

I've made the (in)famous plum torte a couple of times, but I was underwhelmed by it, especially given the hype. It's been long enough since I made one that I no longer recall why it underwhelmed me. But with the cherries, this looks completely different from what I remember. I am going to have to give this version a try...after the Thursday night market when I get more cherries! Thank you, @ElainaA, for posting it, and for the rest of you for the discussion and memory jogging.

[rarerollingobject]

Made a cake last night..a four layer devil’s food chocolate cake, filled with thick salted butter caramel, coated in salted caramel buttercream, hazelnut praline with smoked salt, feuilletine, brown sugar crumb and edible pansies. And yes, it’s supposed to be roughly and thinly frosted like that, I figured there was more than enough sugar for my vulture colleagues to feed on as it is.

 

I personally think it’s an abomination, but after I made that healthy pineapple and brown rice syrup ‘cakelet’ thing for the fitness and paleo blogger chick in my office last week, the chica whose birthday it is THIS week requested that I “put all the sugar that I took out of that cake into this one”. So I did.

 

[jmacnaughtan]

1 hour ago, rarerollingobject said:

Made a cake last night..a four layer devil’s food chocolate cake, filled with thick salted butter caramel, coated in salted caramel buttercream, hazelnut praline with smoked salt, feuilletine, brown sugar crumb and edible pansies. And yes, it’s supposed to be roughly and thinly frosted like that, I figured there was more than enough sugar for my vulture colleagues to feed on as it is.

 

I personally think it’s an abomination, but after I made that healthy pineapple and brown rice syrup ‘cakelet’ thing for the fitness and paleo blogger chick in my office last week, the chica whose birthday it is THIS week requested that I “put all the sugar that I took out of that cake into this one”. So I did.

 

Is that brown sugar crumb just pure brown sugar?  I know I enjoy eating the lumps in brown sugar myself, but I'm not sure I'd have the courage to put them straight on a cake...

[rarerollingobject]

1 hour ago, jmacnaughtan said:

 

Is that brown sugar crumb just pure brown sugar?  I know I enjoy eating the lumps in brown sugar myself, but I'm not sure I'd have the courage to put them straight on a cake...

 

No; it's like a crumble topping, with butter, flour, cinnamon and sugar and spread on a tray and baked until dry and rubbly.

 

Though any topping-like preparation that suggests rubbing butter into flour, I just melt the butter and stir the dry ingredients in because it's quicker, and neither the texture nor the taste suffer ill effects.

[Anna N]

2 hours ago, rarerollingobject said:

rubbly

Now there's a word we've all been waiting for. I love it.

 

 

[lindag]

I snagged a bag of mixed berries from Schwan's yesterday...(yeah, I know it's fresh berry season but by the time they get shipped here most of the flavor is gone, so I buy frozen).

After I drive Miss Ginger to town to get her teeth cleaned at the vet's, I'll be putting this together:

Triple Berry Crisp

scroll down for the recipe

Edited July 13, 2017 by lindag (log)

[Kasia]

Small stracciatella cheesecake with fruit. The cake I have prepared for my kids as a reward after last school year. RecipeGullet

 

 

Edited July 14, 2017 by Kasia (log)

[kayb]

On 7/10/2017 at 11:53 PM, rarerollingobject said:

Made a cake last night..a four layer devil’s food chocolate cake, filled with thick salted butter caramel, coated in salted caramel buttercream, hazelnut praline with smoked salt, feuilletine, brown sugar crumb and edible pansies. And yes, it’s supposed to be roughly and thinly frosted like that, I figured there was more than enough sugar for my vulture colleagues to feed on as it is.

 

I personally think it’s an abomination, but after I made that healthy pineapple and brown rice syrup ‘cakelet’ thing for the fitness and paleo blogger chick in my office last week, the chica whose birthday it is THIS week requested that I “put all the sugar that I took out of that cake into this one”. So I did.

 

 

Y'all excuse me. I think I'll betake myself to the ER, so I'll already be there for the onset of the diabetic coma. Lord, this looks astounding.

 

[pjm333]

Ice Cream Sandwich !

[ChocoMom]

What this one lacks in beauty, it makes up for in taste.  White Chocolate Strawberry Lasagna

 

[rarerollingobject]

Monday morning office cake. An 18 lemon cake - lemon and limoncello pound cake, impregnated with lemon syrup, doused in lemon glaze, and covered in candied lemon slices and crystallised lemon peel.

 

Would you like some lemon with your lemon? 

Edited July 17, 2017 by rarerollingobject (log)

[chromedome]

11 hours ago, rarerollingobject said:

Monday morning office cake. An 18 lemon cake - lemon and limoncello pound cake, impregnated with lemon syrup, doused in lemon glaze, and covered in candied lemon slices and crystallised lemon peel.

 

Would you like some lemon with your lemon? 

 

If Terry Pratchett hadn't been prematurely taken from us, I'd nominate you for inclusion in the Discworld pantheon as the Goddess of Carefully Calculated Excess. 

(For those unfamiliar with his work, fantasist/satirist Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels included a number of offbeat gods among its characters, including Anoia -- the goddess of stuck drawers -- and Bilious, the "oh-god" of hangovers.)