What makes a pancake a pancake? Is it how it is cooked? The ingredients? When you eat it? Does it matter? This delicious “pancake” may or may not meet the common definition of a pancake, but it will knock your socks off for its delicious strawberry filled flavor, the slightly crunchy top, and the soft, pillowy interior. As a former Bed & Breakfast owner, I have cooked a lot of breakfasts in my life but it’s been a while since I made a dish that got the reception this one did at our Easter Brunch. And since I told you I would share any recipe I thought worth your time, I could ...
Cakes
BRING ON THE HOLIDAYS! CRANBERRY CHOCOLATE TART
I'm taking a break but I couldn't leave you without a fabulous dessert for the Holidays. I posted this blog last year and will be making it again this year. Tart from cranberries, rich with chocolate and lovely to look at, it's a sure winner! It’s November 29th, the Sunday after Thanksgiving. My tree is up and decorated. The outdoor lights are on. My house smells like cinnamon and pine. For the first time in my life I bought my Christmas tree before Thanksgiving and decorated it on Thanksgiving Day. I went for a walk this evening. The glow of lights on many of the houses and ...
WHY YOU ARE GOING TO MAKE A FRUITCAKE THIS YEAR
I hear you. Fruitcake is awful. It's a hard rock of weirdly colored candied fruits which doesn't taste much like fruit. In addition, most commercial fruitcakes are sickeningly sweet. No one wants to make that! But what if it wasn't? What if fruitcake was a joyous celebration of dried fruits: pineapple, golden raisins, cranberries, along with pecans, candied ginger and delicate candied peel? What if the cake was moistened with apple brandy, heady with the taste of fall? Would you make it then? Gather your fruits and nuts in a bowl and toss them together. If you like a bit more ...
SO WHAT IS A JAPANESE STYLE STRAWBERRY CAKE?
A delicate sponge cake containing a layer of fresh strawberries and a gelatin stabilized whipped cream icing, made in the Japanese style. What is a Japanese Cake and how is it different from any other cake? If you have traveled to Asia and spent any time at all walking through markets and towns, chances are you have passed a bakery. The shelves hold beautiful confections, shiny with fruits glazes, filled with fruit flavored custards and mousse. They look familiar but somehow not. And that’s what they are. They are an Asian fusion of European style cakes using fruits and ...
FAIRY CAKES FOR MAISIE
Fairy Cakes are a British treat. Small cakes made of Victorian Sponge and topped with a simple icing and a candy or two, they are easy to make and hard to resist! I spent four days last week babysitting my three-year-old granddaughter and 6-month-old grandson. My sister asked me how it went, and this is what I said: Babysitting was very similar to having children. Good days and bad days, boredom and anxiety, fun and laughter, hugs and kisses and tremendous love. Not to mention those lovely moments sitting in a dark room holding a baby and watching him fall asleep. And of course, ...
ORANGE ALMOND TEA CAKE WITH CARDAMON
Autumn is upon us and it’s time for something different. Cakes! My glazed orange and almond cake with a hint of cardamon is perfect with a cup of coffee or tea, for breakfast (!) or lunch, snacking or dessert. Up to now we’ve been making a lot of pies. For the most part, pies are easy: pastry, filling, assemble, bake. Cakes require a little more care. Truthfully, they are less forgiving than a pie. But not that much! Let’s start simply. Get all your ingredients mixed and ready to go: flour, baking powder and salt whisked in a bowl, sugar measured, eggs beaten with almond and ...
BLUEBERRIES! BLUEBERRY BUCKLE
Get ready for it. I am doing blueberries this month. While I am not a huge fan of raw blueberries there is something about a blueberry cooked into a pie, buckle, cobbler, crisp, muffin, Danish pastry, jam, sauce, or whatever I can cook it into, that I just love. I went to the market yesterday and they had baskets of blueberries. Not the overlarge, relatively tasteless blueberries that have regrettably become common lately. But real blueberries: small, sweet, delicious. And now I have two quarts of blueberries to use up! I am starting simple and classic: ...
MEMORIES OF SPRING WITH STRAWBERRY SHORTCAKE
Memories of Spring and Strawberry Shortcake lead to a 2 layer Strawberry Shortcake made using the reverse creaming method for a cake that is soft and tightly crumbed. Food is inextricably intertwined with our selves. It is energy for our bodies, carrier and creator of our deepest emotions. A smell can send us back to places, times, and events long past. Isn’t it odd though how that memory road only goes one way? With no effort at all the smell of a food or dish will transport me back to the past and the memories so strongly bound to it. All too often, however, I can remember a ...
LEMONGRASS AND GINGER YOGURT CAKE
Here I am mismashing all the different flavors and baking influences of my life together again. This is really where “fusion” cooking comes from. Once you have lived somewhere the flavors become a part of your life as much as pieces of the culture become a part of your person. In this case, pound cake (American) met Yogurt Cake (French) and they asked Lemongrass and Ginger (Southeast Asian) to join the party! This is not an overly sweet cake, and the flavors are subtle. It makes a wonderful afternoon snack, pairs well with ice cream or, do what I do and, eat it for ...
HOW DO I MAKE THAT? A THREE LAYER “NAKED” CAKE
TRICKS AND TIPS FOR MAKING A THREE LAYER "NAKED" CAKE Pinterest Fail. We’ve all been there. Looked at something on Pinterest or Instagram and thought, “I could do that” but then it turns out harder than it looks. My most memorable fail? Mirror Glaze. That turned out to be much harder than it looked! Recently I took an online cooking class with Christina Tosi. Chef Tosi is widely credited with popularizing the Naked Cake, a cake with multiple layers and minimal icing. She says it’s because she isn’t a decorator, she is “just” a baker! In fact the icing is not all that minimal. ...
