double apricot & yogurt cake

well, it's been a difficult week and it's hard sometimes not to feel powerless and afraid of where things are going. i try to remember that worrying doesn't help unless it's accompanied by some kind of action. since i can't personally do anything right now about my great state's legislative war on women's bodies, and i certainly can't solve america's race problems, for now i'm baking a cake.

that's not to say, of course, that baking will solve anything of importance. as a lawyer, i do feel like i have some responsibility to use my training to work on some of those bigger issues. i'm currently working in the area of mental health, which could obviously use some improvements. i'm also trying to figure out where i should start volunteering my time. i'm thinking about The Innocence Project.

but in the meantime, closer to home, our dear neighbor had to put her house on the market and put her sweet elderly dog to sleep on the same day. i'm sure it's been a roller coaster for her and it's hard to deal with the open houses and having to be out somewhere while strangers tromp through your home, especially if you're missing your little furry companion. 

so, i decided to make her some cake. it's apricot season and i got a bunch recently. unfortunately, though they tasted good, their texture left a bit to be desired. luckily, any slight mealiness disappears when you bake them, leaving only soft jammy fruit. i also added chopped dried apricots to boost the flavor even more. 

to chop the dry ones, i piled 3-4 on top of each other and cut them into 5 or 6 sections, then turned them and cut again, leaving them in a small dice. the fresh apricots i just cut in half and then into wedges - maybe 5-6 per half. 

the rest of the cake was based on this one from Dorie Greenspan (although i actually have that cookbook, so i could have just used that). i brought the sugar down a bit, added a little ginger and left out the lemon zest, but otherwise mostly left it alone. i didn't have almonds for almond meal, which is offered as optional, but i think it would be good here, as almonds and apricots go well together. 

this is almost a one-bowl cake, which is my favorite kind. as it is, it only used two and required no mixer, so that's pretty good. just whisk the dry ingredients, mix the wet, add the dried apricot bits to the dry ingredients, using your fingers to separate the little stickies a bit so they don't clump together, then add the wet. mix until just combined and add the fresh apricots. fold them in gently so they don't go to pieces.

then just bake in a loaf pan buttered and lined with buttered parchment paper. mine took about 45 minutes or a bit more, but i also was using a 9" x 5" pan instead of the 8 1/2" x 4 1/2" that the original calls for. so just keep an eye on it. let it cool for maybe 10 minutes in the pan, then take it out to cool fully on a rack. it will be tempting, but i wouldn't cut it before it's cooled if you can help it. 

obviously cake's not going to solve any of the major problems facing the world today, but it can make your friends' lives a little brighter and sometimes that's all you can do on a weekend afternoon.

*double apricot & yogurt cake*
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's French Yogurt Cake

preheat the oven to 350.

5 small apricots (280 g/ almost 10 ounces)
9 dried apricots (100 g/ 3 1/2 ounces)

1 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (i would actually use more next time - it doesn't show up too much - maybe 1 teaspoon instead?)

whisk dry ingredients together and add the dried apricot pieces, using your fingers to get them incorporated so they don't form a big lump

1/2 cup plain yogurt (i used 2%, but you can probably use whatever, honestly)
3 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar (you could probably use 2/3 cup - it was still pretty sweet)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup mild oil (i used canola)

whisk wet ingredients together and add to dry or vice versa. mix gently until just combined, then add the fresh apricot pieces and fold in, trying not to break them up too much. in the original recipe, you're supposed to add the oil at the end, but i forgot and put it in too early and it was fine.

put in 9"x 5" loaf pan that's been buttered and lined with buttered parchment paper. bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes, or until it's a nice dark toasty brown and a knife stuck in the middle comes out clean. let it sit on a rack for 10 minutes or so, then remove from pan and let cool on rack.

this would be really good with some ice cream or some barely sweetened whipped cream, but is perfectly nice with some coffee or tea as well. it's the little things...

*i should probably also note that i didn't give her quite all of the cake because i had to cut it and then we had to eat a little to make sure it wasn't gross. luckily, it wasn't.

listening to: ravishers - portland, poppy, boy-girl harmonies - what more can you ask for?

apple-oat cake

this isn't one of those showstoppingly lovely tiered cake creations, all perfect smooth crumb-free icing looking down from an ornate pedestal. it's more along the lines of a slightly slumpy ugly duckling cake. however, it's the one that ends up getting enjoyed more in the end, with its soft, sweet apples, delicate crumb, and endearingly cheerful air of just wanting to be pals.

i made this for my good friend's bachelorette party/shower/dinner party thing. now that we are all Mature Ladies in our early 30s, a dinner and a couple of drinks and some low-key hanging out are more the general speed than cheesy veils with novelty accessories and ill-advised trips to LaBare (i should say, however, that i've never actually been to LaBare, so i'm only guessing that it would be ill-advised). 

anyway, the cake made for a sweet and wholesome end to a sweet and wholesome evening.

this looks like a lot of apples, but these little beauties are quite small. all together, there were about 2 1/2 cups, once sliced. these are little jonagolds, and were very good, but any kind(s) of decent baking apple will work. maybe your farmer's market has some?!

so peel and core them, then cut them into fairly thin slices - maybe like 1/8 of an inch or so (but it's not that big a deal - just eyeball it). then toss them with a little acid so they don't oxidize too much. i often use lemon juice, but this time substituted apple cider vinegar to great effect. i think something like balsamic would be gross (?) but champagne vinegar would be nice. or stick with lemon juice. 

i have a bunch of steel cut oats and never really get around to making oatmeal out of them. i decided to make some oat flour to use in the cake because it seemed autumnal somehow. you could, of course, use all regular flour or use whole wheat flour instead of oat or you could even buy oat flour already floured, in case you don't want to run your food processor for 10 minutes.

flour takes longer than i'd expected.

i just let it grind for a minute or so, then pulsed it a bit, then let it go back to grinding. finally the oats achieved a flour-like texture, although it was definitely still a little grainier than store-bought flour. it wasn't a problem in the cake, though. 

the good thing about using the food processor is that you can just add the other dry ingredients to it and mix them all together there, effectively breaking up any gross baking soda lumps.

i guess you should turn on the oven to preheat at 350. now's as good a time as any.

as for the wet, just whisk (or beat with a mixer) 3/4 cup oil, 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons bourbon or applejack and 1 egg. you could probably use less sugar, too (i found it pretty sweet, but i like non-sweet desserts, so ?). i also want to try making it with some applesauce or maybe apple cider/juice that's been reduced and concentrated - i could have used a little more apple flavor in the final product, although everyone else thought it was plenty apple-y.

then mix in the dry ingredients, trying not to overstir. add the apple slices and fold them into the batter, trying to keep them relatively intact. 

i used an 8-inch high-sided pan that i buttered and lined with parchment paper as diagrammed in the chocolate-pear cake post. 

you can use other pans - you may have to adjust the cooking time, however. in this iteration, it took about 55 minutes, but ovens vary, etc. basically it should be done when the center is obviously set, it pulls away from the sides of the pan and the top is a rich golden-brown.

somewhere in this cooking time, it would be smart to stick a pan of pecans in to toast so that you have something nice to put on top of the cake. they just take 5 minutes or so, so don't burn them.

the cake takes a while to cool, so let it hang out on a wire rack or something. i ended up topping it with a kind of caramel-y praline-y topping that i made, but unfortunately i didn't write down what i did. and now it's been like a month and i can't remember. BUT i think that any caramel topping would be great, like this or this. or you can leave the topping off and congratulate yourself on your good health and moderation-based sweets attitude. everyone is very impressed.

once the cake's coolish, slap some caramel on there, toss the pecans about with wild abandon, and sprinkle a good pinch of nice flaky salt over everything. 

the more rarefied tastes of the highbrow food-besotted have already deemed salted caramel passé, but in fact it remains very delicious, so who cares if it's on applebee's menus now?

if you happen to have a little tiny bit left over the next morning, the apples and whole grains make a pretty convincing case for having it for breakfast. just fyi.

apple-oat cake
(quite adapted from this, which was itself adapted from a 1973 recipe in the new york times)

3/4 cup oat flour (3.25 ounces steel-cut oats = 1/2 cup)*
3/4 cup regular flour*
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda

3/4 cup oil**
1/2 cup granulated sugar***
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons bourbon or applejack
1 egg

5 small jonagold apples (~2 1/2 cups, sliced)
1 tsp apple vinegar

8" round pan
350
45 minutes to an hour

*i've also used all whole wheat pastry flour instead of regular + oat, and it was very good.
** you can definitely use less oil and add some applesauce to make up for it - like 1/3-1/2 cup oil + applesauce (or microplaned apple) to make 3/4 cup total
***you can also cut down on the sugar. this is how i made it initially, but now i'd probably use maybe 1/4 cup granulated sugar instead.
****a note on spices - some people like them in cakes like this (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc.). i am not one of those people. but i guess you could toss some in if you like gross things.

listening to: zaz! i have no idea what she's saying, and the kids in this video are a little creepy, but it's fun music to have on while you're cooking.

blackberry & grapefruit cupcakes

okay, so technically this is yet another blackberry recipe and it looks a lot like the blackberry streusel muffins i already made. BUT there are very important differences.

1. although there is no frosting in the pictures, these are actually cupcakes. therefore, they're much sweeter and richer than the muffins. although i did call them muffins when i took them to my class. but that was just because i ran out of time to make the frosting and no one wants to eat frosting-less cupcakes.

2. these have grapefruit juice and zest, which is great with blackberries.

3. i guess those are basically the only differences.

first things first. get out the butter (1 1/2 sticks) and the eggs (despite the picture, use 4) to let them get room temperature-y. the butter needs to be soft so you can cream it in with the sugar. i don't really know why the eggs have to be room temperature as well, but that's what all the real baking people say to do, so i generally do it.

once everything's achieved some kind of temperature equilibrium, preheat the oven to 350. then beat the butter for a couple of minutes so it's nice and fluffy. then add 1 1/2 - 2 cups sugar. using 2 cups makes them quite sweet, so be forewarned. it's forearmed.

let this just beat around for awhile (4-5 minutes) while you zest a grapefruit and then squeeze its delicious juice. i had a fairly small grapefruit that was really rather recalcitrant in its zest-giving, so i only had about a teaspoon. i think a little more would be nice - maybe 2. or 1 if it's really packed in there. you also need about 1/3 cup of juice.

add both of these at once to the butter-sugar mixture and let them mingle. then add the 4 eggs, one by one, mixing in between each.

i like to crack eggs into my measuring cup before adding them, because otherwise i'm always scared that i'll get shell bits in there and mix them in and it'll be gross. so be careful. no one likes biting into eggshells (except maybe mongooses/-geese).

once the eggs are nicely mixed in, add the flour mixture and the milk, alternating between the two. i add ~ 1/3 of the flour, mix a little, then 1/2 the milk, mix a little, and so on. you definitely don't want to overmix it, so don't go crazy.

once it's all come together, add lots of blackberries. i used about 2 1/2 cups, which made them quite berryful. you could probably get away with a little less or a little more, depending on what you have around. or other berries would be great, too - blueberries, raspberries, etc.

fold them in carefully so they don't all break apart and make the batter a weird color. then just fill up some muffin cups like so:

and bake at 350 for about 25 minutes or until they're goldeny brown on top and seem pretty firm, like this:

this makes about 2 dozen cupcakes and i ran out of the paper cup things midway through. luckily, you can make ersatz cups with parchment paper. just cut ~ 5" squares (mine were like 5" x 6" because the paper was 12" wide) and use a glass (or beer bottle, in my case) to smush them into the muffin tin. it describes it more on the linked page.

it worked pretty well, although some came out better than others. if you try it, you should attempt to get the paper pretty well folded so the cupcakes don't get weirdly shaped. but it isn't that big a deal. cupcakes are going to be crowd-pleasers even if they are funny-shaped.

as far as frosting, i didn't make any for these, but i usually make cream cheese frosting with two softened bricks of cream cheese, half of a softened stick of butter, a little vanilla (~1 teaspoon), and some powdered sugar. mix everything but the powdered sugar together, then add it ~ 1/2 cup at a time until it's as sweet as you like. you could also add some grapefruit zest to this and it would be aces.

cupcakes may not be as trendy as they once were (i guess the glitterati have moved on to ... cake pops? whoopie pies? macarons? i don't know), but they still are a sweet and tasty little dessert with a high ratio of frosting to cake. you can't really go too wrong.

*ingredients*

i don't know where this recipe came from originally (maybe epicurious? i can't find it there, but that seems right), but it started out as lemon-blueberry layer cake. i've made it that way, too, and it's excellent.

3 cups flour (~ 15 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup butter (~ 1 1/2 sticks), softened

2 cups sugar (could use less)

1/3 cup grapefruit juice

1-2 teaspoons grapefruit zest (or whatever you can get off a recalcitrant grapefruit*)

4 large eggs, room temperature

1 cup milk (or buttermilk/milk+yogurt mix would be great)

whisk dry ingredients together

beat butter until fluffy, add sugar slowly as the mixer runs, beat until light and fluffy

add juice + zest and mix thoroughly

add eggs one at a time, mixing in between

add ~ 1/3 of flour mixture, mix a little to incorporate

add ~ 1/2 of milk, mix a little

alternate, ending with flour mixture

fold in berries (i used frozen, but fresh would also be wonderful, of course)

bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until firm and golden-brown.

frost with cream cheese or other frosting, or pretend they're muffins and eat them for breakfast.

listening to: of monsters and men. icelandic accents + boy/girl harmonies = good times! i really think you should watch this video - it is somewhat scary and very awesome.

*recalcitrant grapefruit would be a good name for a band. or maybe not.

midnight in pears - dark chocolate & pear cake

cake is pretty much always a good idea. bold words, i know, but they're true.

you may think that cake is too much of a hassle. you may think you don't have time to make a cake. that may be sort of true, but i'm about as busy as i've ever been and i'm still happy that i made time for cake. you can do it!

this cake was part of the spread at our friends' annual pun-filled oscar party. past offerings have included "precious: based on the liquor gin by bombay sapphire" and (from others) "tuna avotartare." this year i made this cake - midnight in pears - and "The Help yourself to some biscuits and gravy." other people brought "eggstremely loud and incredibly quiche" and "gary old ham," among other delicacies. a good time was had by all! oscar fever!

i wasn't super sure about chocolate and pears, but they actually go together remarkably well. this recipe was based on one from epicurious, but i made a few changes because i am incapable of leaving well enough alone.

one thing i always do with cakes (and particularly with upside-down fruit-containing cakes) is line the pan with parchment paper. this makes it so much simpler to get it out of the pan in one piece and it keeps it looking pretty. also, origami!

take a square of parchment paper that is a little bigger than your cake pan. i used an 8" pan with 2" sides. fold it in half and then in half again and again like this (so basically you start with a square, fold to a rectangle, fold to a triangle, and keep folding the triangle into smaller triangles):

keep folding until you have a narrow series of folds with a point at the end.

then just put the point of the paper in the center of the pan and use scissors to cut the end of the paper at a very slight curve so that when you unfold the parchment it fits neatly into your pan. et voila!

you can also put the pan on top of the paper and trace around it with a pencil or whatever, but i think this is faster and more fun. also, who has pencils anymore?

butter the pan underneath the parchment, then butter the sides, then go ahead and butter the parchment as well. live a little!

now, go ahead and preheat your oven to 350. then cut up your pears. i used three bosc pears, because they looked best at the market, but you can probably use whatever. i don't really know anything about differences between pears. i'm sure someone on the internets does, though, if you're interested.

peel each, cut them in half, and take out the seedy area. i used a metal teaspoon and it worked really well and looked pretty, but if you are a Fancy Person with a melon baller, you could also use that. if you are a normal person, you could use like a spoon or summat. then just set the cut half on a board and cut slices as below. i got about 8 slices per half.

time for caramel!

in the original recipe it felt like the caramel recipe they use is a little fussy. it also uses a lot of water which is just going to boil off anyway. i used 3/4 cup sugar and 1/3 cup water and it worked fine. you put these in a scrupulously clean pan and heat it over mediumish heat. don't mess with it! the sugar will dissolve and it will start bubbling and be very hot and scary. eventually, it will get all golden at the outer edges. you can swirl it to ensure that it all goldens at the same time. let it get pretty dark, then add 1 tablespoon of butter, stir it in and put it in your prepared pan. here is a video for making a caramel sauce that shows the process better. this is basically the same, but without the cream and with different amounts of things.

seriously, though, this stuff is REALLY hot, so don't be tempted to lick the spoon or drip it on your arm or anything. not that you would, but don't. now that i'm thinking about it, you could probably also just put some brown sugar and a little butter underneath the pears and not bother with the caramel and it would also probably work fine. a little splash of bourbon is a good idea at this point, too - some for you, some for the cake!

then just layer the pears in there. i like to use the prettiest pears on the bottom layer, since that's what you'll see once you upside-down it. but you don't have to be too fussy.

then set it aside (if you use the caramel, the pan will be awfully hot, so put it on a trivet or something, for god's sake) and chop up some dark chocolate (~4 oz).

add it to 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) of butter and put it in a pan over low heat. or you could probably microwave it, but i don't have a microwave. i actually used the same pan i made the caramel in, because i am quite lazy. keep an eye on it, but you can mix up the dry ingredients while the chocolate and butter melt (unless you have the heat too high don'tdothat).

i just put all the dry ingredients in a bowl and whisk them a bit - sifting always seems a little frou-frou. once the chocolate and butter melt, add 2-3 tablespoons of coffee and beat them with 2/3 of a cup of sugar for 3-5 minutes. i always add coffee to chocolate cakes - it doesn't make them taste coffee-y, they just get more chocolatey. the original recipe says "until light and fluffy" but i just don't see how that's possible with melted chocolate. then add 2 eggs, one at a time, mixing full in between each addition, then the vanilla. if you have some chocolate extract, a teaspoon of that is a good call, too.

then add 1/3 of the dry ingredient mixture, then 1/4 cup of milk, then another 1/3 of the dry mixture, then the other 1/4 cup milk, then the rest of the dry, mixing in between each addition. this sounds like a hassle, but it really takes like 2 minutes, tops. then just pour it over the pears and caramel.

you can taste a little of the batter, if you like. it is very good. bake it for 45 minutes to an hour. i baked mine for an hour because it seemed very jiggly on top still after 45 minutes, but then i felt like it was a little dry, so i would probably take it out after 55 minutes or a little less next time. it depends on your pan size, too - if you have a 9" pan i'd maybe let it go for only 45 minutes.

it's not like it's going to be bad, either way. we ate it right up.

*ingredients*

adapted from upside-down pear chocolate cake, by cory schreiber & julie richardson

caramel:

3/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup water

1 tablespoon butter

1 splash bourbon (after caramel is in the cake pan)

3 pears

cake:

4 oz chopped dark chocolate

1/4 cup butter

2-3 tablespoons nice dark coffee

2/3 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla (+ 1 teaspoon chocolate extract, optional)

5 oz flour (1 cup)

1 oz cocoa (1/3 cup)

3/4 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup milk

listening to: i can't get this new santigold song out of my head. the video quality isn't great, but i like the girls with the fancy umbrellas and live shows are always exciting. here is what i guess is a more official video with weird animation. also phoenix (did you know myspace was still a thing? me either!)

spicy carrot cake and a trip to arizona

i was on a plane last week! it went over mountains, which always makes me nervous, because whenever planes crash it seems to be over mountains. or the ocean. i guess i should be grateful we weren't over an ocean as well. anyway, we didn't crash, so it's sort of moot.

i made it safely to phoenix, which, no offense, is not one of my favorite cities. luckily i wasn't going to phoenix, though - i was going to prescott to surprise my dad for his birthday. my brother and i took the shuttle up and surprised him but good. unfortunately, we didn't do the whole jumping-and-bouncing-and-yelling-SURPRISE kind of surprise, but it's probably just as well because he isn't as young as he used to be. he's still pretty young, though.

see? he hikes! old people don't hike. he probably could have stood a more shouty surprise than he got, actually. oh well, next time. watch out, dad!

it snowed lots when we were there, which was exciting for me, since it's only snowed twice in portland in the last two years. it was very pretty.

i also got to meet the dog that they'd adopted since i last visited. isn't he the cutest?! i almost smuggled him home in my bag, but i refrained. it took some major strength of character to refrain, though, as you can imagine. plus, he is pocket-sized, so he is eminently portable. they would probably have missed him, though. and i already have three dogs, so i shouldn't be greedy, i guess.

we ate lots of nice things when we were there. my mom had a bunch of green cherry tomatoes that she wasn't doing anything in particular with, so i sliced some up, dredged them in flour with salt and pepper, and fried them. delicious! i liked the thinner crunchy layer better than the thick breading i've had on some fried green tomatoes. i think they were a success.

on the morning of my dad's birthday, they went on their daily constitutional and i made some hash with roasted root vegetables and leftover roasted salmon. the vegetables were carrots, purple potatoes, turnips, and onion. there were some beets in the original roastings, so everything was a delightful medley of pinks and oranges and purples. fancy!

i just sautéed the diced vegetables in a little olive oil and let the edges get a bit crunchy. then i added some salt and pepper, a little sour cream, and the salmon, just to let it warm up a bit. we ate it with over easy eggs and some ridiculously good biscuits made with my mom's sourdough starter. i didn't even know you could use sourdough for biscuits, but damned if they weren't fantastic. in case you have your own starter, i used this recipe. i just patted the dough down rather than rolling it out, though.

i used some more of the green tomatoes (and some ripe ones) to make some little tomato and sharp cheddar free-form tarts/galettes for the party that happened that evening. i cut the tomatoes super-thin and salted them and let them drain for a bit on paper towels so they weren't too watery. then i put them on top of the grated cheddar on little rounds of tart dough.

they look cute in the picture, but i wasn't crazy about the dough recipe i used. it had sour cream in it and when i baked them there was a lot of deflation and grease that i was not anticipating. i let them rest on paper towels, though, and they were eaten up quickly, but i don't know. i would use a different crust next time. i think the idea's solid, though, so if you have some tomatoes you don't know what to do with, it may be worth some experimentation.

here is the point of birthdays and, incidentally, this post - CAKE. i asked my dad what kind of cake he wanted and he sort of hemmed and hawed for awhile. he is very easygoing and i'm pretty sure he would like basically any kind of cake. finally i narrowed it down to spice cake or carrot cake and decided to combine the two.

for the basic recipe, i turned to good old epicurious, which has tons of recipes from gourmet (rip) and bon appetit (not my favorite, but sometimes okay), among other publications. i used this carrot cake with marmalade as a base recipe, since my dad loves marmalade. i made a few significant changes, however.

for one thing, my parents don't have any pans with which to make a layer cake, so i had to use a 13" x 9" one instead. i also lowered the sugar a little and added many more spices than the recipe called for. the actual recipe uses 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, but i also added about 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon allspice, and a few grinds of black pepper. you can play around with the amounts - i think it could actually have stood up to even more in the way of spices. some fresh grated ginger would have been great as well. i also used pecans instead of walnuts and added more than were called for. they were in bigger chunks, too - i just crushed the pecan halves in my hands as i added them and used probably 1 1/3 cups or so in all.

because it was in the larger pan, it took longer to cook than the recipe states. i started checking it after 40 minutes, but it took a solid 50+ in all. you can tell it's done when you stick a knife or something in the center and it comes out clean. i think if you bake cakes with any degree of frequency you can kind of tell by feel and smell, too. if you press the middle down with your finger a bit and it bounces back rather than staying sunk in, it's done.

for the frosting, i used my go-to basic cream cheese frosting recipe/method - cream together 3 packages of softened cream cheese (a total of 24 ounces) and 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) of softened butter (i left the cream cheese and butter on the counter overnight to make sure it was soft enough). then add powdered sugar until it tastes sweet enough. i usually start with 3/4 of a cup or so, mix that in, then add 1/3 of a cup at a time, mixing in between until it's right. i like it to be on the not-as-sweet side, so i used probably a little over a cup in total. maybe 1 1/3. you also might want to add a little vanilla extract - 1 teaspoon or a little less.

once the cake is baked, let it cool in the pan on a rack. if you'd like, you could just frost it in the pan. that is the easiest method. you can also flip the cake out and frost it (fancier). i covered the whole cake with frosting, then put some in a plastic bag with a hole cut out of a corner and made a diamond pattern. then i filled alternating diamonds with finely chopped toasted pecans and marmalade. the marmalade is easiest to use if you heat it up first, so it's soft. then just dab it in the diamonds. pretty! i also put some chopped pecans along the edges for extra-fancy.

this would actually be a great addition to your thanksgiving table for those who eschew pie. i like some pies, myself, but if my choices were this or pumpkin, i would choose this every time. it has a lot of nice spicy fall flavors and colors and who doesn't like cream cheese icing? no one, that's who.

no trip to visit my folks would be complete without an obligatory dash down memory lane - it seems i used to be less particular about both sharing food with animals and my sartorial choices. although that shirt is sort of amazing, in a giant-lapeled, hideous color scheme sort of way...

*ingredients*

(adapted from epicurious.com)

2 cups flour

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground allspice

~ 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

1/2 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

3/4 cup vegetable oil (you could probably swap out some of this with applesauce, if you want to be healthyface)

1/2 cup sugar

2/3 cup brown sugar (i don't pack it - you can if you want)

1/2 cup orange marmalade (i used this one)

1/2 cup orange juice

3 cups lightly packed grated carrots (thanks for grating them, mom!)

1 1/3 cups crunched-up or chopped toasted pecans

frosting:

3 8oz containers cream cheese, softened (i've never noticed a difference using that lower-fat neufchatel cheese, so i usually do that)

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) butter, softened

1 - 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, to taste

1 teaspoon vanilla

preheat the oven to 350. butter and flour a 13" x 9" pan. sift the dry ingredients (1st 8) together (or just put them in a bowl and whisk to get them mixed). in a separate bowl. mix the eggs, oil, sugars, marmalade, and orange juice. add this to the dry ingredients and stir/mix just until combined. then add the carrot and toasted pecans and mix a tiny bit until things are somewhat evenly scattered throughout.

pour into the pan and bake for 45-50+ minutes, until a knife or toothpick comes out clean or you can just tell it's done with your 6th sense of cakes. let it cool on a rack. then mix together the frosting ingredients, frost that puppy and eat it up! (singing happy birthday optional)

lime vanilla icebox cake

icebox cakes make the world go round in summer. now that portland has made some strides toward catching up with the rest of the country in the heat department (it was 90 degrees the other day!), no one really wants to go to the trouble of baking anything. it's just not worth it to heat your house up all day.

that's where icebox cakes come in. there are many varieties and levels of kitschiness one could go for with these. there is one that calls for layering nabisco wafers with whipped cream (or you can make the wafers yourself and make them into cakes or cupcakes and yum), others that use graham crackers or different kinds of wafer cookies.

this one uses ritz crackers, those buttery little delights that ... actually, i don't like ritz crackers that much. but they are good in cake-like things! who knew? and yes, as the picture above demonstrates, i think it is very important that the crackers you use for this have a marketing tie-in with glee on the packaging. glee and ritz! together again for the very first time!

anyway, the idea for this baby came from here, and i changed just a couple of things. first, i added some vanilla to the batter/milky layers. then i layered the crackers somewhat differently and added a yogurt layer over the top. next time i think i will maybe crunch up some of the remaining crackers and caramelize them and people can put them on top when they eat this, because i think the textural contrast would be nice. but this was very very good as made.

so this is the first layer. before you get to this step, you have to mix everything except the crackers together in a bowl. or whatever you want to mix it in. i used a bowl, but perhaps i lack the spark of imagination that would enable me to say, "i know everyone uses bowls for mixing things, but i am going to use.... an old boot." it's probably just as well though. mixing bowl it is!

so, seriously, that picture at the top contains all of the ingredients in this except for the yogurt. that's how crazy-easy it is. just glob out two cans of sweetened condensed milk, a pint of whipping cream (not whipped. just the cream one could whip, if so inclined), 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract or paste, a tablespoon of lime zest, and half a cup or so of lime juice (yeah, this used a lot of limes. but under no circumstances should you purchase one of those vaguely lime-shaped thingies that they cunningly sell right next to real limes. those suckers are nasty. juice real limes yourself! don't be so lazy - the rest of this is super easy. get one of these - they're great! or whatever brand. i don't care. just not those plastic shame-filled monstrosities.)

hmm. so. anyway. i guess i feel more strongly about lime juice than i realized. well.

you mix those things together and they thicken right before your eyes! it is a miracle! no, don't freak out. it is just lime juice plus science. something something acid milk dairy thicken proteins something. ta da!

put a largish (like a cup or so) dollop of that sweet limey ambrosia in your mouth in the bottom of a smallish pan. the one i used measured about 4 ritz crackers by 3 ritz crackers. really, it doesn't matter - the smaller the pan, the deeper the cake will be, the larger, the shallower. go with your instincts on this.

once i made one layer, i spread a little of the filling (like 1/2 a cup or maybe 2/3) over the inside part of the crackers. see the picture above? there were fairly large gaps between which the little round darlings didn't touch, and i wanted the cake to be more cohesive. then i did more layers like that - 12 cracker layer, then 6 cracker layer. finally i got to the end and i didn't have that much filling left so it looked weird:

that's why i decided to do a yogurt layer. i waited to do that until after the cake firmed up overnight in the fridge though. that's another big thing about this. you can apparently make it a couple of hours before you serve it, but i would definitely strongly suggest that you make it the day before. i mine like 24 hours before and it was great. i don't think 2 hours would be nearly enough to ensure the proper level of ingredient cohesion.

so you've layered it and put a little plastic wrap over it and let it hang out in the fridge overnight. then the next morning, mix some greek yogurt (2/3 - 3/4 of a cup or so) with a few tablespoons of sweetened condensed milk (to taste). you did buy some extra condensed milk didn't you? have you had that stuff in cold coffee? if you don't have more condensed milk around, you could probably use honey or a little agave nectar. or you could save a little milk from the cans that go in the filling and use that. or you could skip the whole yogurt thing and layer so that you don't have crackers showing at the top.

then sprinkle the whole thing with some more lime zest. that's just for pretty. then let it chill awhile more so that the yogurt sets up.

then eat it up! this is really one of those things that's more than the sum of its parts. it's tangy and sweet and rich and really just amazingly good. it's great for potlucks and parties! it's like the easiest key lime pie you never made!

you could also use other citrus fruits instead of limes, as long as they are acidic enough. i think this would be wonderful with grapefruit, for instance. also you could layer some fruit in there - lemon juice and blueberries, lime and blackberries or strawberries, tangelo and tayberries ... the possibilities are endless.

*ingredients*

2 cans sweetened condensed milk (plus a few tablespoons, if using yogurt for top)

1 pint whipping cream

1/2 cup lime (or whatever) juice

2 sleeves (or so) ritz crackers (or analogue - i'm sure there are generic ritz things that would be fine)

2 teaspoons vanilla

2-3 tablespoons lime zest

2/3 - 3/4 cup greek yogurt (optional)

mix the first 5 ingredients, plus 1 tablespoon zest. layer with the crackers. chill overnight. top with yogurt mixed with a little condensed milk, chill another few hours. sprinkle with more zest and enjoy.

pinketty pink dance party cake

I made this cake for a friend's dance-themed birthday party (mostly watching cheesy dance movies while eating delicious pizza and drinking margaritas). i am sad to say that it was something of a disappointment (to me - everyone else seemed to enjoy it. but of course they could easily have just been being nice). but i think it has great potential. that's why this is just a little weekend lagniappe rather than a real recipe - you can gaze upon its rough-hewn splendor and imagine how nice it will be once i mess with the technique more.

i got the recipe from a site that i normally really love, although i have also made another cake from there that didn't turn out well, so maybe i need to just give up on the cake aspect of it.

maybe some of it had to do with the freaky jumbo eggs i was using. although i did adjust for their size in the measurements, there is something truly creepy about every egg in the dozen having double yolks. that is probably why they are not usually called for in recipes. no one needs to see all those conjoined twin would-be chickens staring back at them from the mixing bowl. i don't know - maybe that threw the whole thing off.

the main problem i had with the cake was its texture (not very light) and its relative lack of strawberry flavor (despite being nominally a strawberry cake). i am going to try to fix this by beating the egg whites so they add more lifty structure and using fresh AND freeze-dried strawberries to up the berriness.

good things about the cake were 1) it is CAKE 2) rhubarb curd filling 3) cream cheese frosting.

i dyed the frosting for the top with beets and cocoa (thanks for the idea, beth!) and both worked well, if somewhat luridly in the case of the beets. the design is a little rough because i used a cone of parchment to pipe it on and only had 6 minutes in which to do it. so.

at least it went well with the birthday movie-watching - flashdance and breakin' (we did not, sadly, get around to watching breakin' 2: electric boogaloo, although i have had the pleasure of seeing it before anyway).