Cake #28 - Sticky Toffee Pudding

We had friends visit recently and out at dinner we ordered Sticky Toffee Pudding for dessert.  I thought this was a bold move, given that one of our guests is from England.  It seemed unlikely that a Phoenix restaurant - even a good one - would make sufficiently authentic sticky toffee pudding.  To tell the truth, I'm not sure I've ever had it before, but it was pretty yummy, and our British friend approved.  Her husband has made sticky toffee pudding before - from a New York Times recipe - and was successful, so I was inspired.

None of my cookbooks had a sticky toffee pudding recipe, so I took to the Internet and was intrigued by a Nigella Lawson recipe for Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding.  It uses melted butter, and is basically just combining the dry ingredients, combining the wet ingredients, mixing together with a wooden spoon, folding in the dates, and then - hang on, 'cause this is where it gets wild - you dot the batter in the pan with butter, cover with a cup of brown sugar, and the pour 2 cups of boiling water over the top before putting it all it the oven.  Forty-five minutes later you have cake with sticky toffee sauce bubbling around the edges.

I served it with whipped cream, but I think vanilla ice cream would be better - the temperature contrast would be nice.  The dates give the cake an earthy, hearty flavor - but you don't really notice them as chunks the way you might with raisins.

I can imagine that for someone who loves the toffee sauce part of the dish, this may not have quite enough toffee sauce.  But not only is this recipe easy (as promised) it's quick and basically one step.  I assembled it while I was making dinner and we had it ready for dessert.  There's not that much butter in it - so it's not crazy indulgent in terms of fat.  There's lots of sugar, however, so it's not exactly health food.

Nigella Lawson's recipe calls for self-rising flour - I didn't have any on hand, so I substituted regular all-purpose flour plus baking powder and salt, which is what's listed below.

I'm eager to make this again for my friends next time they're in town!

Easy Sticky Toffee Pudding

for the cake

½ cup dark brown sugar

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup whole milk

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons unsalted butter (melted)

1½ cups chopped dates

for the sauce

1 cup dark brown sugar

approx. 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (in little blobs)

2 cups boiling water

1.       Preheat the oven to 375ºF and butter a 6-cup baking dish.

2.       Combine the ½ cup of dark brown sugar with the flour, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine the milk, egg, vanilla and melted butter.  Then pour this mixture over the dry ingredients, stirring - just with a wooden spoon - to combine. Fold in the dates then scrape into the prepared baking dish. Don't worry if it doesn't look very full: it will by the time it cooks.

3.       Sprinkle the 1 cup of dark brown sugar over the batter in the baking dish and dot with the butter. Pour the boiling water over the ingredients in the baking dish (yes really!) and transfer to the oven. Set the timer for 45 minutes, though you might find the pudding needs 5 or 10 minutes more. The top of the pudding should be springy and spongy when it's cooked; underneath, the butter, brown sugar and boiling water will have turned into a rich, sticky sauce. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

From www.nigella.com

Cake #27 - Mandarin Orange and Vanilla Upside-Down Cake

This was one of two fruity upside-down cakes I made for dinner guests (along with cake #26 - Cranberry Upside-Down Cake).  Of the two I think it was easier, tastier, and a more dramatically gorgeous presentation.  Of course, I say easier, but I do also have a mandolin, which helped immensely.  You have to create mandarin orange slices, and the mandolin - set on 3/16" - made beautiful slices.  (I'd recommend getting one - there seem to be fairly inexpensive models that are easy to use, fairly easy to clean, and will make summer sangria a snap!)

You have to boil the slices for three minutes to take out the bitter taste of the pith, and you need extra slices, as some will fall apart during the boiling process.  I thought the pile of orange slices was so beautiful, though, and the kitchen smelled amazing.

I liked the combination of orange and vanilla - as it was a bit unexpected - and the vanilla bean seeds make lovely little specs over the orange slices.

Unlike the cranberry cake, this one is meant to come out of the pan while it is still hot, and it came clean from the pan quite easily.  

You'll want a serrated knife to cut slices of cake, as the caramelized oranges do require some effort to cut through.  We served the cake with vanilla ice cream, but it wasn't necessary.  I think this would be a beautiful brunch offering just by itself.

Mandarin Orange and Vanilla Upside-Down Cake

4-5 medium mandarins, preferably Satsuma (1½ pounds), thinly sliced, seeds removed

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature

1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, pod reserved for another use

1½ cups sugar

1 tablespoon fine grated mandarin zest plus 3 tablespoons fresh mandarin juice (from 1 mandarin)

1 1/3 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1½ teaspoons baking powder

½ teaspoon coarse salt

2 large eggs

½ cup whole milk

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Bring a large pot of water to a boil.  Add mandarin slices; boil 3 minutes.  Drain.  Arrange slices in a single layer on paper towels.

2.       Place ½ cup butter in a 9-by-2-inch round cake pan.  Mix half the vanilla seeds and ½ cup sugar; sprinkle over butter.  Place pan in oven until butter melts, about 7 minutes.  Remove from oven; carefully whisk in 2 tablespoons mandarin juice.

3.       In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat zest and remaining ½ cup butter, 1 cup sugar, and vanilla seeds until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.  With mixer running, add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Reduce mixer speed to low.  Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk and remaining 1 tablespoon juice.

4.       Arrange mandarin slices over sugar mixture in pan, starting in the center and spiraling outward, overlapping slices slightly.  (Use slices that are completely intact.)  Gently spoon batter on top of mandarins; spread evenly with an offset spatula.  Bake until cake is golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean, 45 to 50 minutes.  Transfer pan to wire rack to cool 10 minutes.  Run a knife around edge of cake to loosen, then invert onto a serving plate; let cool before serving.  (Cake can be stored at room temperature, covered, for 1 day.)

From Martha Stewart’s Cakes

Cake #26 - Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

I served this cake and the Mandarin Orange and Vanilla Upside-Down Cake (Cake #27, to follow) together, for a dinner party, and of the two I think the orange-vanilla was the winner.  So it's hard for me to say how I'd judge this cake if it weren't in direct comparison with another really spectacular looking and particularly yummy cake. 

I like the addition of cinnamon (surprising with cranberry) and the absence of citrus (so typically found with cranberries), but I think my grudge with this cake is that I'm not positive that it's worth the extra step of whipping the egg whites separately and then folding them in at the end.  I have a stand mixer (which I love, and would highly recommend to anyone who loves to bake) but whipping whites after creaming the butter and sugar means stopping mid-cake to wash the bowl and beater.  It's not a huge big deal, but it seems inconvenient. 

The cake did also stick to the pan, although I waited the 2 hours that the recipe recommended.  I ultimately had to jiggle it with a knife all the way around and then lever it out of the pan.  Some of the cranberries stuck to the pan, so I scooped them back onto the top of the cake.  It made for something less perfect and gorgeous than the picture in the cookbook, but I surprised myself by being pretty mellow about it. 

As I made two cakes this afternoon, I reflected on the idea that not only am I practicing making cakes, I'm practicing trying something new.  I used to be a basket case if I was serving something I'd never made before to guests.  Tonight, I explained the cake project (which does act as something of a disclaimer) but then I felt assured that we'd try the cakes, we might like them, we might not.  But the uncertainty of it doesn't upset me the way it once did. 

It's a powerful thing, getting used to not being sure.

Cranberry Upside-Down Cake

¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan
¾ cup all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
2¾ cups fresh or thawed frozen cranberries
½ cup plus 1 tablespoon pure maple syrup
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup plus 2 tablespoons coarse yellow cornmeal
¼ cup almond paste
¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 large eggs, separated, room temperature
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon almond extract
½ cup milk

 

1.       Butter a 9-inch round cake pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.  In a large skillet, heat 6 tablespoons butter over medium until sizzling.  Add cranberries; cook until shiny, about 2 minutes.  Add maple syrup and cinnamon.  Cook, stirring frequently, until cranberries soften but still hold their shape, 3 to 5 minutes.  Remove from heat. 

2.       With a slotted spoon, transfer cranberries to a baking sheet to cool slightly before arranging in prepared cake pan.  Return skillet to medium heat and cook until syrup boils and thickens, 3 to 4 minutes; do not overcook.  Immediately pour syrup over cranberries; let cook, about 10 minutes.

3.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with rack in center.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt.  Whisk in cornmeal with a fork.

4.       With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat remaining 6 tablespoons butter and the almond paste until well combined; about 30 seconds.  Gradually add ¾ cup sugar; beat until creamy, about 2 minutes.  Add egg yolks; beat until well combined.  Beat in vanilla and almond extracts.  Add flour mixture in 2 batches, alternating with the milk and beginning and ending with the flour; beat until just combined. 

5.       In a clean bowl, with an electric mixer on medium-low, whisk egg whites until foamy.  Slowly add remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.  Raise speed to high and beat until soft peaks form, about 5 minutes.  Whisk one third of the whites into batter; fold in remaining whites.    

6.       Carefully spread batter over cranberries.  Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 45 minutes.  Transfer to a wire rack to cool 2 hours before inverting onto a serving plate. 

 

From Martha Stewart’s Cakes

Cake #25 - Tangerine Cake

It's winter in Arizona and that means beautiful citrus fruit, and so this is one of many orange cakes in a row.  [This calls itself a tangerine cake, but I had oranges, so that's what I used.]  I made this to take to brunch and it was just a lovely, straight-forward, and delicious bundt cake.  It is a big cake - 6 eggs! - and so it's a nice one if you're going to a big potluck and need something that will serve a large group. 

Since I'd be serving it to kids, I omitted the liqueur and used extra juice.  And by the time I got to the glaze, I didn't have any more fresh juice, so I used a milk glaze (also from Martha Stewart Cakes) and it was so pretty - a beautiful, opaque glaze.  [I've learned that you want the glaze thicker than you think it should be, otherwise it all runs off the cake.  Also, it's worth sifting the powdered sugar before you start whisking - it makes a much smoother glaze.]  As the cake sat for a few hours between glazing and serving, the glaze got a little wrinkled, but it still tasted fine.

This cake calls for yogurt, and I think the addition of yogurt in cakes is what's responsible for a certain spongy quality.  I like it - the yogurt cakes are moist - but I can imagine it not being the dry crumb someone might be looking for.

I'm not done with oranges yet!! 

Tangerine Cake

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pan

3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups granulated sugar
6 large eggs
2 tablespoons finely grated tangerine zest plus ½ cup fresh tangerine juice (from 6 tangerines)* can substitute orange zest and juice
2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, such as Grand Marnier
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup plain 2% Greek yogurt

 

Glaze:
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons fresh tangerine juice (from 2 tangerines)
 

1.       Make the cake.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter a 12-cup Bundt pan; dust with flour, tapping out excess.  In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. 

2.       With an electric mixer on medium-high speed, beat butter and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, 3 to 5 minutes.  Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.  Beat in tangerine zest and juice, liqueur, and vanilla.  Reduce speed to low.  Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of yogurt and beating to combine. 

3.       Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula, and firmly tap pan on counter.  Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, 50 to 55 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 30 minutes.  Turn out cake onto rack to cool completely.  (Cake can be stored at room temperature, wrapped in plastic, up to 2 days.)

4.       Make the glaze: Whisk together confectioners’ sugar and tangerine juice until smooth.  Set cake on rack over a rimmed baking sheet.  Spoon glaze evenly over cake; let set before serving.  [Basic milk glaze is 1 cup confectioners’ sugar blended with 2 tablespoons milk.]

 

From Martha Stewart’s Cakes

Cake #24 - Orange Yogurt Cake

I caved in and bought the Martha Stewart's Cakes book on Monday.  And I love it.  It's got tons of recipes I'm gonna try and every cake has a picture.  It has a wide range of cake recipes (including cheesecakes, coffee cakes, single-layer cakes, cakes with fruit, bundt cakes, frozen cakes and layer cakes).  I'm in heaven. 

I was traveling over the weekend, so I didn't get a cake baked until tonight.  It's a small cake (8-inch pan, only 1 cup of flour and 1 egg) and with oil it combines without a mixer.  It uses orange zest and a little bit of fresh juice, so the kitchen smelled delicious during prep and baking. 

This cake was simple to make but Martha Stewart's recipe included serving the cake with sectioned oranges and dusting the top with powdered sugar.  I hate baked goods with powdered sugar and oranges in sugar alongside the cake seemed unnecessary.  So, the recipe as produced below is the way I made it - not the more gussied up version Martha has in the cookbook.

It was delicious all by itself - remarkably moist and studded with flecks of orange zest.  I might serve it with vanilla ice cream and Prosecco if I was trying to make it fancy.

Orange Yogurt Cake

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon grated orange zest (from 2 medium oranges)
1 tablespoon fresh orange juice
½ cup plain 2% Greek yogurt
¼ cup canola oil
1 large egg
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
 

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and line with parchment an 8-inch round cake pan.

2.       Into a large bowl, sift together flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  In a separate bowl (or in a two-cup measuring cup), whisk together yogurt, oil, grated orange zest and juice, egg and vanilla.  Stir yogurt mixture into flour mixture until just combined. 

3.       Transfer batter to prepared pan.  Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 25 minutes.  Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

 

Modified from Martha Stewart’s Cakes

Cake #23 - Cranberry Cake

In trying to decide what cake to make next, I go back to my cookbooks (many from the library) and look for something inspiring.  Then I keep that in mind as I go about my week, looking forward to what I'm going to bake on the weekend.  

If, however, I don't have something in mind that I'm waiting to try, it helps to have an inspiring ingredient.  A couple of weeks ago I picked up a bag of cranberries at the store, dropped them in the crisper drawer and then forgot about them.  As I was planning for this week's cake, I realized that a cranberry cake would be perfect.  Rather than search my cookbooks, I went right to the internet and settled on this straight-forward cranberry cake (no bells, whistles, citrus, almond paste, or other nutty additions).  The blog entry is funny, and the cake delicious.  So good, in fact, that I quickly distributed cake to my mom, my cranberry loving dear friend, and my co-workers.  (Otherwise, I would have happily eaten cranberry cake all week.  Cranberries, after all, are packed with antioxidants!)  It has a thin, sweet crust and is studded with bright berries throughout.  It would be delicious with coffee or tea, or for a bite of dessert after lunch.

I didn't use the kirsch (didn't have any on hand) and I used a 9" spring form pan (rather than a 10").  I didn't have any trouble with the top browning too quickly and I baked it for about an hour (maybe a minute or two longer.)  I rinsed the berries, pulled out the few soft ones, then dried them a bit and dusted them with flour to keep them from either floating or sinking during baking.  I assume that the eggs should be room temperature, as well as the milk - although there's so little in this recipe the milk temperature probably doesn't matter much.

This cake would be good for a beginner in that it has the right proportions of how to mix a cake - lots of time for eggs and sugar, and the most minimal mixing once the flour is added.  It's a good lesson that way.  I would even say that you can stir in the flour just until the batter is becoming consistent, leaving a tiny bit of loose flour as you move the thick batter into the pan, to avoid overmixing.  

I much prefer the look of a cake made in a spring form pan, to that baked in a 9x13 pan.  To me a 9x13 rectangle is not a cake, it's a casserole - I just don't associate that size and shape with cake.  So the choice to do a spring form cake was obvious.

I did buy two more bags of fresh cranberries at the store tonight - there were other promising looking cranberry cake recipes, so stay tuned if you love cranberries!

Cranberry Cake
makes 1 9x13 or 1 10" spring form cake

3 eggs
2 cups sugar
3/4 cup unsalted butter, slightly softened and cut into chunks
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon kirsch (optional)
1 teaspoon of salt
2 tablespoons of milk
2 cups flour
2 1/2 cups cranberries (1 bag)

1.       Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9x13 pan or a 10" spring form pan.

2.       Beat eggs and sugar together for 5-7 minutes; the eggs will increase in volume quite a bit, streaming into ribbons when you lift the beaters. They will also turn pale yellow.

3.       Add butter and extracts and beat for 2 minutes. Add the milk and salt and mix for another 30 seconds.

4.       Stir in flour and fold in cranberries. Pour into greased pan.

5.       Bake 45-50 minutes for a 9x13, or a little over an hour for the spring form. You may need to tent the cake with foil in the last 15 minutes or so to keep the top from browning. Cool completely on a wire rack before serving.

http://www.vanillagarlic.com/2009/10/expletive-cranberries-expletive.html

Cake #22 - Torta di Ricotta

This is a no-nonsense, easy to make, and delicious cake.  I've never had anything quite like it - but I liken the flavor to the cheese in a cheese danish.  But it's not really quite like that.  It's not as sweet or creamy, but it has a similar savory, breakfasty quality.  (I had several thin pieces for breakfast during the week.  I believe this cake is best in thin slices - almost like you eat a nice piece of cheese.)

I was inspired to try it because my husband and I had been to a local pizza place called Falora where we had a yummy pizza with eggplant, sweet peppers, arugula, and the most delicious ricotta I've ever eaten in my life. It was as if I'd never had ricotta before, it was that wonderful and different from what I have used for countless lasagnas and stuffed shells.  When I found this recipe, I figured I'd scare up some fancy ricotta for the cake.  But none of my various grocery stores had special ricotta, so I ended up with the usual, which tasted good in this recipe nonetheless.

The only modification I made was that my raisins were a little dried out, so I plumped them up by warming 1/2 cup of rum and soaking them for 30 minutes before incorporating them into the recipe.  I patted them dry and then dusted them with flour (to avoid having them all sink).

Torta di Ricotta

2 pounds ricotta cheese

1 cup sugar

4 eggs

1 tablespoon freshly grated lemon peel

1 cup unbleached flour

½ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 cup raisins

1.       Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Butter and flour a nine-inch cake pan.

2.       Using a food processor, whirl the ricotta, sugar, eggs and lemon peel until smooth, about 1 minute.  Transfer the ricotta mixture to a bowl and stir in the flour, salt, and baking powder until well blended.  Fold in the raisins. 

3.       Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 1 hour and 5 minutes, or until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean.  Cool the cake in the pan for 10 minutes and then turn out onto a serving plate – or serve directly from the pan when completely cool. 

From Moosewood Restaurant Book of Desserts by the Moosewood Collective