Tag: baking therapy

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baking therapy: angel food cake with lemon cream

Another coworker’s birthday, another delicious treat to break up the workday. I decided to make an angel food cake for a couple of reasons …  because my mom found an angel food cake pan at a garage sale and brought it down to me last weekend, because I’ve never make angel food from scratch, and because I’ve already brought cheesecake, chocolate cake, yellow cake, and banana bread to work.

I must say, baking this cake was quite the adventure. I made a huge mess of my kitchen (mostly because I didn’t realize just how voluminous 12 egg whites can become – very voluminous) and later was thrilled when my cake popped right out of the mold after the two hour cooling period, despite looking totally stuck to the pan.

Angel Food Cake with Lemon Cream and Fresh Berries, adapted from Martha Stewart Living

FOR THE CAKE
1 cup sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
12 large egg whites
2 tablespoons finely grated lemon zest
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Make the cake: Preheat oven to 325 degrees, with rack in lower third of oven. Sift flour and 1/2 cup sugar into a bowl.

Whisk whites with a mixer on medium speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add lemon zest and juice, cream of tartar, vanilla, and salt; continue whisking until soft peaks form, about 2 1/2 minutes. With mixer running, gradually add remaining cup sugar.

Increase speed to medium-high; continue whisking until firm, not stiff, peaks form, about 2 minutes. (At this point my mixer was overflowing with egg whites!) Sprinkle whites with 1/3 of the flour-sugar mixture. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold to combine. Sprinkle remaining flour-sugar mixture over whites in 2 additions; gently fold to combine.

Transfer batter to an UNGREASED (very important!) 10-inch angel food cake pan with legs. Gently run a knife through the center of the batter to remove any air bubbles. Bake 45 to 50 minutes.

FOR THE LEMON CREAM
1/2 cup fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon cake flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1 tablespoon finely grated lemon zest

While the cake is baking, make the lemon cream. Prepare an ice-water bath (this really does help). Whisk lemon juice, sugar, flour, and salt in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil; whisk constantly for 1 minute, until it thickens. Transfer to a heatproof bowl set in ice-water bath to cool completely, stirring occasionally. Meanwhile, whisk cream and lemon zest with a mixer on medium speed until medium peaks form, about 3 minutes. Gently fold whipped cream into juice mixture in thirds. Refrigerate lemon cream, up to overnight.

Remove cake from oven, and invert onto its cooling legs (if your tube pan doesn’t have legs, invert it over the neck of a wine, or similarly shaped, bottle to cool); let cool, 1 1/2 to 2 hours. (Yes, you let it cool upside down … the cake won’t just plop out of the pan so don’t worry like I did). Run a knife around the inner and outer edges of cake to remove. Invert onto a serving platter. (Use a knife to separate cake from bottom of pan.)

Frost with whipped cream, serve with fresh berries.

Conclusions: Delicious! Light, lemony and spongy … an angel food cake success! My coworkers all enjoyed it, especially the addition of the lemon zest.

-Emily

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baking therapy: pumpkin seeds and pumpkin bread

Yesterday was Halloween. We woke up early and hosted a pumpkinpalooza in our kitchen … pumpkin carving, pumpkin seed roasting and pumpkin bread baking!

Step one: Carve your pumpkin. Look at what a fabulous job Jordan did!

Step two: Roast the seeds.

Preheat an oven to 350 degrees. Scrape out all the goopy goop. Rinse the goop off the seeds. Pat dry. Toss with olive oil and salt. Roast for 10-12 minutes. Enjoy!

Step three: Bake pumpkin bread. I used the same recipe from the pumpkin cookies I made last week and just baked the batter in small loaf pans for 45 minutes. It turned out delicious and the browned butter icing was the perfect compliment this time around. So good that we never even got a picture. 😉

Step four: Enjoy pumpkin bread and roasted pumpkin seeds outside in the fall sunshine with beautiful people and beautiful dogs!

 

 

A perfect fall day!

-Emily

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baking therapy: easy chocolate cake

Another coworker’s birthday, another cake. This time I went with chocolate because we all know that any real dessert has to be chocolate.

Easy Chocolate Cake, adapted from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food
3/4 cup unsalted butter, room-temperature
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 t vanilla
1/2 cup sour cream

Powdered sugar for dusting, fresh berries and chocolate shavings for garnish

Preheat the over to 350 degrees

Butter an 8 inch round cake pan, line bottom with parchment paper, butter, dust with cocoa powder.

In a medium bowl, sift together cocoa powder, flour, baking powder and salt. In a separate mixing bowl cream butter, then sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, then beat in vanilla. Reduce speed to low. Add flour mixture alternating with sour cream.

Spread batter into prepared pan. Bake 30 – 35 minutes. Cool 10 minutes in pan and then invert onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled dust with powdered sugar, then garnish with berries and chocolate shavings.

Conclusions: A pretty dense chocolate cake. The berries were a nice way to cut the richness of the cake, and this may sound crazy, but I’m glad I accidentally burnt the ganache that was supposed to top the cake. It would have pushed this dessert over the edge. The coworkers enjoyed it, but I have to say it wasn’t my best work. The search for the perfect chocolate cake recipe continues!

-Emily

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baking therapy: cheesecake

It was my coworker’s birthday on Monday, and as office manager, it falls within the vast scope of my duties to provide a dessert and organize the eating of said dessert. For David’s birthday I decide to make a cheesecake. And no, this is not the super top-secret recipe to Nonnie’s famous cheesecake. I’m not giving that one up this easy.

Cheesecake with Mixed Berry Sauce

For the cake
1 1/2 cup ground shortbread cookies
1/2 stick butter, melted
2 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (packed) fromage blanc (you could also use crème fresh or ricotta)
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 325°F.

Melt butter and mix with cookie crumbs. Press cookie mixture firmly onto bottom of a springform pan. Wrap outside of pan tightly with 3 layers of heavy-duty foil so water doesn’t leak in while baking. Using electric mixer, beat cream cheese, fromage blanc, sugar and vanilla in large bowl until smooth. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating until incorporated after each addition. Pour batter over prepared crust in pan. Place cake in roasting pan; add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of springform pan.

Bake cake until set but center moves very slightly when pan is gently shaken, about 1 hour. Remove cake from roasting pan; cool 1 hour at room temperature. Refrigerate uncovered overnight. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.)

For the sauce
1 -2 cups mixed berries (I used frozen … it’s cheaper)
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar

Simmer berries, water, sugar in a medium saucepan over medium low heat for 20 minutes. Strain out seeds through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth.

Serve with sauce, garnish with a few fresh berries.

Conclusions: Well, it was gone so fast I wasn’t even able to take a picture and a coworker asked for the recipe. I consider it a job well done.

-Emily

 

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baking therapy: miykaelah’s madeleines

Oh, how I’ve missed Miykaelah’s madeleines since moving to San Francisco! They are the perfect cookie whether eaten by themselves or accompanied with tea, and thanks to Miykealah, one of my favorites. I know the madeleine pan is a bit of an investment, but these cookies are so worth the $14 pan. And, because of that scalloped pan they come out so darn cute!

Miykaelah’s Madeleines
1 1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
2 large eggs + two large egg yolks, room temperature
1 t vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
grated zest of 1/2 lemon
1/2  cup unsalted butter, melted then cooled

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Generously brush madeleine pan with melted butter and dust with sugar

In a large bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the whole eggs, egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and lemon zest and beat until well combined.

In a separate bowl, combine cake flour, baking powder and salt.

Using a rubber spatula, fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture until blended. Add the melted butter and fold until combined.

Drop batter by the spoonful into the madeleine molds. Fill each 3/4 full. Bake until golden brown and springy to the touch, 12-15 minutes.

Immediately invert pan onto a wire rack. Let cool completely. Wipe out pan, let cool, brush with melted butter, dust with sugar and repeat with remaining batter.

Conclusions: Wonderful, perfectly wonderful. I wouldn’t change a thing!

-Emily

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baking therapy: chocolate chip banana bread with cinnamon crumble topping

This week’s baking therapy was inspired by a bunch of over-ripe bananas languishing in the kitchen at work. I poked around the internet searching for a recipe and found several at Orangette, Molly Wizenburg’s delightful food blog. I read over her recipes and, keeping her tips and tricks in mind, decided to take this bread into my own hands.

As I creamed butter with sugar and then added chocolate chips, Jordan asked, “Isn’t the point of banana bread that it’s healthier because you use bananas instead of lots of butter and sugar?” …  I always thought the point of banana bread was to make use of  those gross, black, slug-like bananas that inevitably end up on your kitchen counter instead of throwing them away. Here is my recipe for a decadent banana bread, I make no apologies.

For the bread
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
3 medium bananas, mashed
3 T milk
2 cup all-purpose flour
1 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 t cinnamon
1 cup chocolate chips

For the topping:
1 T butter, room temperature
2 T sugar
2 T brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
1/4 cup rolled oats

Preheat the over to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9 by 5 inch loaf pan with butter, and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mash bananas. Mix them with the milk.

In another bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.

Add the flour mixture and banana mixture to the butter mixture in two parts, alternating, until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into greased loaf pan and smooth top.

Combine topping ingredients by cutting in the butter. Sprinkle the bread evenly with topping.

Bake for one hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then turn loaf out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Conclusions: This is a serious bread …  the sucker weighs in at about two pounds! And I wasn’t kidding when I said it was decadent. The banana flavor is present, but not overpowering and the chocolate chips bring it into dessert level.  Jordan agreed with me that the cinnamon crumble topping was the best part. Most definitely will make again.  Yum!

-Emily