LITTLE THINGS

Orange-cinnamon buttermilk pancakes.

Adapted from Martha Stewart via Smitten Kitchen, July 2008.

Never again will I wonder what to do with leftover buttermilk. These light, sweet pancakes come together quickly, keep warm on a 175° baking sheet, are delicious with the syrup I picked up at Soergel's orchard/market a few weekends ago. A half batch is plenty for two people, but I stuck with 2 tbsp sugar and haven't yet bothered to whip the egg whites separately for extra fluff.

Pumpkin cupcakes with bourbon-caramel cream cheese icing.

Cake adapted from David Leite via Smitten Kitchen, Nov. 2008;

icing from Cupcake Bakeshop, Dec. 2005.

I'm pretty fascist about the moistness of baked goods, and this pumpkin cake is plush. Spicy. Not a frosted muffin. Also loyal to various cream cheese icings, but this one - a new try - is pretty good; I did have some still-cold flecks of unmixed cream cheese in the end, and had to rewarm/beat, which is why it looks more like a glaze here. Were I to redo, I'd pipe the frosting into a little nest and spoon some of the super boozy bourbon caramel (more of a butterscotch) inside.

Peanut butter brownies with bittersweet ganache.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Oct. 2007.

Blueberry scones. Adapted from Mom (on your right).

These are the insanely moist whipping cream scones my mom used to make (the classic is with craisins) and still makes, when I visit home, which is where I'll be for most of next week. Usually she bakes them off at five a.m. and leaves them warm in a bowl in the oven. This is why scones of the world disappoint.

Lemon-thyme cakes with blackberry buttercream.

Adapted from Roopa at Raspberry Eggplant, here and here.

Finally, I made this little army for the Pitt welcome (back) potluck back in August. I've posted this meringue buttercream a dozen times but it really is remarkable: silky, buttery but not saccharine, takes whatever flavoring -- in this case, a blackberry puree that does the work of food coloring and flavor both.

...

It's been a hard semester, hence a three-month blog silence. But I am here.

IT MEANS I LOVE YOU

Rich chocolate versus puckering citrus: August birthday face-off.

Sour cream chocolate cake, german chocolate filling, cinnamon whipped cream. Coconut, bittersweet ganache.
Adapted from various recipes in Sky High.

Jenny requested german chocolate, which I'd never made. So I toasted coconut and pecans, made dulce de leche by slow-baking sweetened condensed milk, substituted my favorite fudgy-moist chocolate cake for the recipe's cola cake (which still interests me but is reviewed as more fluffy and dry), and opted for a whipped topping in hopes of offsetting the germanic filling. The cake was dreamy, the filling still cloying for my taste, and the whipped cream started to look curdled halfway through icing -- this, and my hasty ganache prep caused my chocolate to seize. But it piped okay. For translation, see entry title.

Then Brett came through town on his birthday eve, so I did the following from 12-2 a.m. :

Lime curd tart, blackberry sauce. 

Adapted from Ina Garten and Smitten Kitchen, April 2010.

I really love the simplicity and impact of a tart. Ina's recipe produces a creamy, bright curd, and her technique of grinding the zest with the sugar prior to cooking prevents the gray-green weirdness that sometimes afflicts lime desserts. Revisions: added an egg to the crust -- which, wow, tasted like a sugar cookie thanks probably to the addition of vanilla, and I did have to frankenstein it together in the pan but it baked perfectly. Might cut sugar in the curd (I like it very tangy) and slow-cook the sauce to reduce/thicken a bit but otherwise, the flavors were there. As was Frank.

Thank you for your visit(s).

IT'S YOUR FACE

So there's a bit of baked-good-backlog.

Cardamom fennel mini cupcakes, mango buttercream, candied fennel.

Recipe by Roopa at Raspberry Eggplant, Oct. 2007.

I brought these to a garden party hosted by the owners of Dozen Bakeshop, for whom I currently work (selling, not baking). To the anonymous dining room voice who complimented their "fake vanilla flavor" while I was refilling in the next room: 1, you might attend to your corrupted palate, as there was a whopping quarter-teaspoon of vanilla in a batter that produced 46 cakes; 2, I use the good shit, not the watery imitation. So cool it.

 Incredible meyer lemon sticky rolls, prior to frosting with cream cheese glaze. Adapted from blog-favorite the kitchn.

 Sour cream chocolate cake, cream cheese buttercream (Italian), coconut. Adapted from various recipes within Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cake.

 Triple chocolate tart.

 Adapted from Gourmet, Sept. 2008.

This was bananas. The crust base is Newman's chocolate letter cookies, then a truffle-like bittersweet filling and a thin, shiny glaze. I added just a pinch of cayenne to the filling, subbed Frangelico for water in the glaze, topped with some Aguni salt I bought way back when at the South Bend farmers market, and paired with fresh almond-scented whipped cream and raspberries.

Baking in the summer months in an un-air-conditioned kitchen with sealed windows: never easy. Sometimes people misinterpret my working in a bakery as access to better facilities, but this modest laboratory is actually where the magic happens -- meet our kitchen:

Counter. Note the indispensable lamp. Canisters and framed chart of world revolutions thrifted in Fairfax and Wintergreen, Virginia, respectively.

Brave little stove. Cast iron skillet, Le Creuset dutch oven. Above fridge: food processor, many cupcake molds, and my beloved cake spaceship -- you think it's crazy to spend $30 on cake transportation, until you're trying to stabilize two dozen birthday cupcakes on the bus.

And finally, my baby, the red stand mixer. A most cherished gift. 

And I'm just realizing you can see me in it, weird.

So concludes the tour. It's not much, but it works.

IF THEY WERE ME AND I WAS YOU

Cardamom saffron cake, alphonso mango buttercream, candied fennel.
Recipe by Roopa at Raspberry Eggplant, Nov. 2007.

Plum frangipane tart.
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Feb. 2008.

Earl grey cake, kumquat marmalade (between layers), almond meringue buttercream.
Recipe by Roopa at Raspberry Eggplant, Jan. 2008.

Chocolate, toffee, bacon. Bourbon meringue buttercream.
Cake adapted from Chockylit at Cupcake Bakeshop, Oct. 2009; frosting modified from Roopa's plain swiss meringue buttercream.

Notes:
I guess I think of baking a birthday cake as fulfilling a particular wish. The bacon cupcakes were for a woman in the department. Loved the addition of bourbon to the swiss meringue. Split a dozen between bacon (the birthday wish) and vegetarian (only toffee); the cupcakes were a bit dry for my taste but novel enough.

I'd been wanting to revisit Roopa's earl grey cake since first making it for Raechel, and this was for my girl Caroline's 20th. Only after purchasing ingredients for a key lime ginger cake did I receive her text preferring the tea flavor profile, haha. No worries -- I love this cake above all others.

That said, the mango buttercream is the silkiest, easiest-with-which-to-work buttercream frosting I've ever made. Ever. I didn't actually have a slice of this one (lost my appetite after a string of decorating/travel-related stumbles, but I think despite 90+ degrees the Indian-inspired paisley turned out okay) but it tasted (and smelled) pretty good in process.

Met a handful of undergrads at Caroline's party who invited us to dinner later in the week. Since one is originally from Paris, I wanted to make frangipane, subbing summer red plums for poached pears. They made a fabulous dinner: feta-stuffed eggplant rolls, caramelized brussel sprouts, herb-marinated grilled lamb ribs. I overworked and burned the crust, but hypnotized everyone from noticing with glazed plum spirals.

I'm feeling the solstice. Suddenly, all this time to bake. Climate troubs: frosting requires constant chilling, layers benefit significantly from flash-freezing (see Deb's super helpful tips here) -- but I love seeing how bringing dessert lights up the room, or backyard. Candle notwithstanding.

INVENTORY

Meyer lemon tart with almond olive oil crust, blackberries. Adapted from Gourmet, May 2008.

Milk chocolate soufflé with nougat cream. Adapted from Bon Appétit, Feb. 2010.

Coconut macaroons, with & without milk chocolate ganache. Adapted from David Lebovitz, June 2005.

Final February baking projects: standby lemon tart, for impromptu Film potluck. Behold a neon curd known to induce marriage proposals.

This was my first soufflé. Successfully halved the recipe from the original 8 servings. Had some egg-incorporating anxiety (do I stop folding, to preserve airiness? or continue, to avoid eventual egg white chunks?), which resulted in stooped soufflés, but the flavor was pleasant if mild -- the full creaminess of the milk chocolate couldn't stand up to the heat -- and the nougat cream, surprisingly delicious. Like a Toblerone.

I had eight egg whites in the fridge for a week after yolking for this lemon poppyseed cake, which I ended up tossing after one sample slice. Total milquetoast; still looking for a bundt recipe worthy of my Heritage pan. Anyway: after comparison shopping macaroon recipes, I'm satisfied with this one. Used Whole Foods' very fine-grated unsweetened coconut, and just-moist hands to roll the chilled, pre-cooked "dough." Slightly crisp outside, dense and chewy inside.

And finally: I just started working at Dozen Cupcakes. Short term, this means I'll be pocketing a steady stream of expired baked gooderie and saying ganache more times a day than anyone should. Long term, I can now meet the food service requirement for admission to CIA. More school! Just kidding. Sort of.

CALL ME BRUCE BOGTROTTER

Chiffon cake soaked with rum and coffee simple syrup, quick fudge frosting. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Aug. 2009.

Sour cream chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese frosting & chocolate peanut butter ganache. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, August 2008.

Clementine almond cake. Adapted from Nigella c/o Smitten Kitchen, Jan. 2009.

Nothing keeps an old house warm like constantly preheating the oven.

Notes: Brought the chiffon as a social lubricant to my poetry workshop's weekend retreat in Bedford, PA. The rum/coffee syrup smelled delicious and kept the (very thin, by the way) layers moist, but the "quick" fudge frosting - it comes together in ten seconds in the food processor - is forgettable. Probably wouldn't make this again.

The chocolate peanut butter cake, however, is already a second-run. I haven't tasted this incarnation yet, but know from the last that the cake is box-mix-moist, the frosting tangy and heavy on peanut flavor, and the ganache is more chocolate (semisweet) than saccharine. A must-try if you know someone who appreciates this combination.

Clementines and almonds: it's a winter cake. Gluten-free, it's just whole clems (processed or chopped very fine, after two hours boiling), ground almonds (or almond meal/flour), eggs, sugar, a hit of baking powder, poof! Cake. I added vanilla and almond extracts and a very thin glaze (confectioners sugar and clem juice). Result: wet-moist, deep citrus flavor. Suited to breakfast. Definitely butter and line and re-butter a pan, as reviews caution that this is hard to extract. I'm not usually one for restriction-recipes (or baking by Nigella, following the Guinness cake disaster of 2008), but this is unusual and adaptable to whatever citrus you like (e.g. Meyer lemons, satsuma mandarins).

BUTTER AND SUGAR IN 2010

First bake of 2010: Butterscotch pecan tart, c/o Bon Appetit, Jan. 2010. I have long promised Steven a butter pecan cake, to follow from one of his favorite flavor profiles, and this was a sort of variation; he's professed it his #1 favorite new recipe so far. Skipped the scotch-spike and made regular, amazing, homemade whipped cream. Note: the original crust recipe is bullshit. Mine was dry, cracked in the oven, and smelled like burning. Dumped it and restarted with Deb's default sweet tart shell. Next time I'll add her warm butterscotch sauce for temperature/textural contrast.

Otherwise: the recipe blurb describes this as a cross between butterscotch pudding and pecan pie, and while I haven't made either, I'd file it under the latter. It's multi-step but not at all overwhelming; its worst aspect is all the waiting involved (chilling/freezing/parbaking the crust, cooling the butterscotch, room-temping/beating the egg whites, plus two hours cooling). Keep an eye on the pecans, as they brown in the oven rather spontaneously. The butterscotch is fucking intoxicating, especially with half a teaspoon of brandy added along with vanilla to the egg yolk mix. Next time I would rough chop only the pecans that line the shell, and keep the top layer whole for a better (less "rustic"?) presentation.

It's been about three years since I started baking at all: boxed mix and quick breads in the house on Edison. No longer a burner of break-and-bakes, I'm happy to say.

LOOK AT THE PICTURES

Nutmeg maple cream tart. Reduced maple syrup custard with fresh nutmeg. Adapted from NYT via Smitten Kitchen, Nov. 2007.

Brownie mosaic cheesecake. Cheesecake with chocolate crust, embedded fudge brownie cubes, and dark ganache. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Aug. 2007.

Chocolate cake with peanut butter cream cheese icing and semi-sweet peanut butter ganache. 8" triple layer. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Aug. 2008.

Apple pie with all-butter crust and homemade whipped cream. Adapted from the one and only Mom.

Pumpkin cupcake with maple cream cheese frosting. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Sept. 2008.

Quiche with shiitakes, shallots, gruyere and thyme. Adapted from Madame Quiche's Quiche au Fromage, Epicurious, Jan. 1999.

Pear-almond tart. Bosc pears poached in vanilla-ginger syrup, frangipane filling. Adapted from Smitten Kitchen, Feb. 2008.

On my wish-list: Sky High: Irresistible Triple-Layer Cakes, Martha Stewart's Cupcakes, those fancy white cupcake liners and brown mini-loaf liners for gifted banana breads. On deck: any excuse to make eclairs.