Bread and Batter

Mission: Wedding Cake, Completed!

2011-08-07T19:13:00.000-07:00

Here are the final cake pictures. I am so happy with how this cake turned out and I feel a lot more confident in my cake skills now!

The 1/2 sheet cake:

Final decorations:

The cake!

Grooms cake

My lovely assistant for the day, Angie!

I like this picture because it definitely shows the chaos of the cake cutting time... thanks friends for all the help!

Mission: Wedding Cake, Days 2-5

2011-08-04T14:20:00.000-07:00

As of today, two days before the wedding, here's what I have done:

*All the frosting has been made (6 batches, or about 30 cups of swiss meringue lemon buttercream). I had to make each batch individually and prayed for the life of my mixer with each batch. The basic process for this frosting is to heat egg whites and sugar over a double boiler to 150F and then beat it up for about 15 minutes until it's cool and firm. Then you slowly add the butter (I did half shortening to keep it more temperature stable at this sunny outdoor wedding), and continue beating until it's smooth.

*I made a large batch of lemon curd that will be used in the filling and frosting of the cakes.

*The groom's cake is filled with strawberries and cream and covered with ganache. It's now in the fridge waiting to be decorated with tuxedo-dipped strawberries.

Tomorrow will be the big day of final production. I have some great friends who will be picking the raspberries and delivering them to me in the midst of the production! While they are busy picking, I will be leveling cake layers, prepping fillings, getting the frosting softened up and ready to use, and dipping the strawberries. Hoping for the best, and for nothing to go wrong that can't be fixed!

Mission: Wedding Cake, Day 1

2011-07-30T18:31:00.000-07:00

I realize it has been almost a year since I last posted, but I thought it might be a good time to start up again so I can keep you all in the loop of this week's project... a wedding cake for a good friend. The wedding is on August 6th, so I will be doing bits and pieces each day to hopefully keep my stress level as low as possible. In the end, the plan is to have made one round 3-tiered cake (14", 10" and 6"), one half-sheet cake, and a chocolate and strawberry grooms cake that will be a 10" square.

After many cake tests and tasting by various friends and the bride and groom, Mindi and Jon decided on a Lemon-Raspberry cake with a creamy lemon curd/fresh raspberry filling and swiss meringue lemon buttercream. Very fresh and summery flavors! At this point, I am hoping and praying that the Whatcom County raspberry season lasts long enough to get enough pretty berries for the decorations and enough tasty berries for the filling.

Decorations will be fairly simple... bead borders, small polka dots, and fresh raspberries and mint leaves. Day 1 consisted of making two batches of cake batter and baking off a 14" round, a 10" round, and a 6" round. Day 2 will be exactly the same as Day 1, to take care of the second layers of each tier. So I will spare you all from having to read another blog post exactly the same as the first, and you can just imagine Day 2. Here are the process pictures from Day 1, which include cutting out parchment circles, measuring ingredients, mixing batter, and baking cakes.

Perfect Lemon bars

2010-08-31T12:11:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, it's been a while since I last updated... but I do have a number of recipes lined up to blog about, so hopefully I'll get a couple out in the next week or so. I have been a little busier, in part due to my wonderful new nephew, and in part due to getting a job! I am currently working a few days a week at Barb's Pies and Pastries in Ferndale, WA. I mostly am developing some yeast breads for her... white and wheat sandwich bread as well as some artisan breads. It's been a great first step into the industry, and I look forward to the potential that this job has to grow and maybe even eventually look at bakery ownership.

So anyways, on to the lemon bars. I love lemon bars, but I really like them to be more creamy rather than chewy and overbaked. I have long searched for a recipe that could be a standby for me, and I believe I have found it in Ina Garten's lemon bar recipe. The amazing shortbread crust is topped with a creamy lemon custard that is a perfect balance of tart and sweet (I did reduce the sugar a bit from Ina's recipe, but only by 1/4 cup or so and it came out wonderfully).

I had bought a bag of lemons at Costco, which I am generally wary of because I like to be able to feel each lemon I buy and make sure it is heavy for its size, meaning it will give a good amount of juice. However, I decided to give in and try the Costco bag because it was so much cheaper than the grocery store, at least at this time of year. I've got to tell you that I was very pleasantly surprised with the amount of juice I got from these lemons! I would definitely buy them again, especially for making lemon desserts that require a lot of fresh lemon juice and zest.

To start, you make the crust using what is called the creaming method, meaning you start with room temperature butter and sugars, and mix them together for about 8 minutes using a paddle attachment. By the end the mixture should be light and fluffy. Then you add the dry ingredients until incorporated and press the dough into a 9"x13" glass pan.

Then the crust gets pre-baked so that it won't be soggy, but not so baked that it will become really brown in the final baking stage. Once it's lightly golden brown, pull it out of the oven and add a mixture of lemon juice, zest, sugar, eggs and flour. Then bake it until the filling is just set. Be very careful not to overbake them or they will be chewy.

Finally, let them cool and then dust with powdered sugar, and you have the perfect lemon bar! They slice very nicely, especially if you clean the knife after each slice, which I definitely don't always do, but you certainly can.

Here is the recipe...

Perfect Lemon Bars
Recipe adapted from Ina Garten
Yield: 24 bars

Crust:
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 c. sugar
2 c. flour
1/8 t. salt

Cream butter and sugar together at medium speed using a paddle attachment for about 8 minutes, until light and fluffy. Then add the flour and salt and mix until just combined. Press into a greased 9"x13" baking pan. It helps to have floured or slightly wet hands when pressing on the dough so it won't stick to you as much. Bake the crust at 350F for 15-20 minutes, until light golden brown. Remove from the oven but leave the oven on.

Filling:
7 eggs
2 3/4 c. sugar
2 Tbsp. lemon zest (4-6 lemons)
1 c. freshly squeezed lemon juice
1 c. flour

Whisk all ingredients together. Pour over pre-baked crust and bake for another 30-35 minutes, until filling is just set. Let cool to room temperature and dust with powdered sugar. Enjoy!

Fresh Raspberry Shortcakes

2010-07-27T13:51:00.000-07:00

First things first... between my last post and this one, I became an auntie and I absolutely love it! I cannot wait to bake lots of yummy things for this little one.

Just two days before Cliff was born, his mother (my sister) and I went raspberry picking... on her due date. It was a fun and dusty adventure, and it left us with about 40 pounds of raspberries. I froze a lot of them on sheet trays lined with waxed paper and then put them in quart-sized freezer bags once the individual berries were frozen. This keeps them from mushing into one big frozen blob, and will make them perfect for throwing in scones and muffins throughout the year. We did keep some of them fresh, of course, and one of the things I did with the fresh ones was to make some raspberry shortcakes. I decided to give the berries themselves a little something extra, so I added some citrusy flavors which worked really well.

Fresh Raspberry Shortcakes

Yield: 6 shortcakes

Shortcakes

2 c. all-purpose flour

3 Tbsp. sugar

1 t. baking powder

1 t. baking soda

1/2 t. salt

1/2 c. or 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes

6 fl. oz. heavy cream

Extra cream and raw sugar for topping

Berry mixture

6 c. fresh raspberries

1/4 c. sugar

Zest of 1 orange

Juice of 1 orange

1 Tbsp. limoncello (optional, but amazing)

Whipped cream

2 c. heavy cream

1/2 c. powdered sugar

Combine the berry mixture ingredients and let them hang out in the fridge for an hour or so, longer if you have the time. Make the shortcakes following the process below (basically, combine dry ingredients, work in butter, add cream, shape into a rectangle and cut into squares). Bake at 400F for 11-16 minutes, until golden brown and cooked through. When shortcakes have cooled, split them and place the bottom part in a bowl. Top with a good-sized scoop of raspberry mixture, some whipped cream, and then the top of the biscuit.

A shortcake is essentially a biscuit, and as such you will be using 'The Biscuit Method.' Basically, that means you sift the dry ingredients together, work in some cold butter (should be about the size of macadamia nuts... that's the example they give you when you go to pastry school in Hawaii anyways), add your liquid, fold a couple of times and cut into desired shapes.

It's helpful to cut your butter into pieces and then get those back into the fridge while you mix up your dry ingredients. Then when the dry ingredients are ready, just work in the butter quickly with your fingers. You don't want the butter to heat up too much, and you don't want to still have chunks of butter. The flour should look like it's had some fat rubbed into it, not just like flour with butter chunks throughout, kind of like this:

Then pour in the cold liquid and mix together quickly with a fork or bowl scraper, like this orange one that I have. Turn the dough onto a floured surface and gently fold it a couple of times, using enough flour so it doesn't stick to the counter. Then you can use a rolling pin or just press it into a rectangle with your fingers, about 3/4" thick. Cut the rectangle into 6 squares, like so.

Transfer to a sprayed or parchment-lined sheet pan. For a nice finish, brush a little cream on the top of each shortcake and sprinkle on some raw sugar.

Bake the shortcakes in a 400 degree oven. This helps them rise because it helps the butter turn into steam right away. Then all the little pockets of butter become the flakiness that is so amazing in a good biscuit.

Let cool completely before slicing in half lengthwise. Fill with berries and whipped cream and top with the other half!

Lemon-Raspberry Bliss Cake

2010-07-16T14:50:00.000-07:00

Alright, so I know I've been a bit slow in getting another blog post out, even though I've had a number of requests to get things in gear. Thanks for the encouragement, everybody! So here we go... I made this cake for my sister's baby shower and it was definitely the favorite out of the desserts I made for the evening (runners-up were the blueberry cream cheese tart, apricot and cherry frangipane tart and puppy chow). The cake itself is made up of 2 - 8" layers of lemon cake that has a dense crumb vaguely similar to a pound cake. Even the cake haters at the party enjoyed this fruity cake, which was great. It's always nice to win people over!

So you start by making the cake layers. To do this, you will need two 8" cake pans (9" would work too). It's important to make sure you choose pans that have sides that go straight up. I bought some 9" pans a while ago and didn't realize that they were slightly slanted, and I get frustrated with them every time I try to make a layer cake because I have to fill in the angled gap with filling to make it look semi-normal. So do yourself a favor and use nice straight cake pans. I used this recipe for the cake layers:

Lemon Cake
2 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

8 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 large egg whites

2 Tbsp. fresh grated lemon zest

1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice

1 1/3 cups buttermilk

Begin by preheating the oven to 325F. Prepare your cake pans by spraying with cooking spray and placing a parchment circle in the bottom of each pan, and then spraying the parchment. If you don't have parchment circles, you should be okay with a nonstick cake pan and spray.

In a medium bowl, sift and/or whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Using a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl and hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. A quick culinary school tip here- there are 2 levels of creaming; the first is to cream to a smooth paste, and the second is until light and fluffy. Smooth paste is common for cookie doughs, and light and fluffy is generally what you will see for a cake batter. It will take about 6-8 minutes on medium speed on your mixer to get it light and fluffy enough. This is an essential step to trap air in the fat which will help with your leavening later and make for a lighter cake.

Once your butter and sugar are sufficiently light and fluffy, add the eggs and egg whites one at a time (I just put them all in one container and pour in one yolk at a time with whatever white jumps in with it). Mix until completely combined, scraping down the sides occasionally to make sure it's well-mixed. Then add the lemon zest and juice and mix that in.

The final step is to mix in the flour mixture alternately with the buttermilk. This makes for a more evenly-mixed batter than if you were to add all the flour or buttermilk at once. So just add about 1/3 of the flour mixture and 1/3 of the buttermilk mixture and mix until combined, repeating until you've added it all!

Scoop cake batter into prepared pans and bake for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Let the cakes stand in the pans for about 10 minutes, and then turn them out onto a wire rack or sheet of parchment. Let cool completely, and then wrap in 2 layers of plastic wrap and freeze for at least an hour, or until you need them (they can be made a week or so ahead if you like).

Now it's time to make the raspberry curd. Well, actually technically I made the raspberry curd first because it does have to refrigerate for a while. It can be made up to a week ahead as well. I used frozen raspberries for this because we needed to use them up out of our freezer to make room for this year's berries. You can certainly use fresh if you have them! Also, we used the leftover raspberry curd as a filling for crepes, and they were amazing! I'm sure you can come up with some other fun uses for them too.

Raspberry Curd

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

2 cups raspberries, fresh or frozen

5 large egg yolks, lightly beaten

3/4 cup sugar

Pinch of salt

2 Tbsp. cornstarch mixed with 1/3 c. water

2 to 3 teaspoons fresh lemon juice

Begin by melting the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Don't let it burn! Then add the raspberries, egg yolks, sugar and salt and cook, mashing and stirring frequently. You will need to cook it for about 15 minutes, until it thickens. It wasn't thickening enough for me, which is why I added the cornstarch slurry, which wasn't in the original recipe. Once the berry mixture is boiling, add the slurry of cornstarch (Note: I didn't measure this part, but just made a slurry with some cornstarch and whisked in a little water at a time until it looks like heavy cream). Boil everything for 2 minutes once you've added the cornstarch to help it make a strong bond. Then turn off heat and add the lemon juice.

Strain through a fine-mesh strainer over your storage container to remove the seeds. Put plastic wrap directly on top of the curd to keep a skin from forming, and put it in the refrigerator. Chill overnight.

I promise, now the hardest parts are done. All you have left to do is make the whipped cream. Part of it will get mixed in with the raspberry curd for the filling, and the rest will be used as a light whipped cream frosting. I really prefer it to buttercream, as it keeps the cake lighter and more fresh-tasting. When I made this for the baby shower, I stabilized the whipped cream with gelatin, but I didn't really like the effect the gelatin had. It made the whipped cream kind of rough, and so it was hard to get it to look nice on the outside of the cake. Next time I will leave out the gelatin and just be sure to whip the cream to stiff enough peaks to stay put on the cake, and I'd recommend you do the same.

Whip together until stiff peaks form:

4 c. heavy cream

1 c. powdered sugar

1 Tbsp. lemon zest

If you have some on hand, I think it would be really nice to add a tiny bit of limoncello (maybe 1 tsp. or so).

For the filling, put 1 cup of the raspberry curd in a bowl. Fold 1 cup of whipped cream into the curd in 1/3s. The first third you can use your whisk and be a little aggressive with it. After that, just use a spatula and a folding motion going under the center and up until it's combined.

Now it's time to build the cake! Okay, maybe this is another kind of hard part... Start by making sure your thawed cake layers are flat. To do this, use a long serrated knife to carefully slice a thin layer off the top. Look at it from all sides to make sure it's nice and even.

Place the first cake layer on your cake plate and cover it with fresh raspberries. Then use a piping bag to place your filling on top of the berries. If you don't have a piping bag, you can make one out of a ziploc bag. Otherwise, it would probably work better to spread the filling on first and then put the berries on top so that you're not trying to spread it over the berries. You might also try mixing the berries into the filling and then spreading it all on there.

Place the other cake layer on top and you're ready to frost! Start with the top of the cake, and spread on enough whipped cream to get a nice even layer. Then frost the sides using a flat spatula. I use my serrated bread knife to smooth out the top, which makes a simple ridge design on the top of the cake. You can use an icing comb to make ridges around it as well if you like. But, since I ended up covering most of this up anyways, you would be fine without all that.

Since the frosting looked so rough because of the gelatin, I decided to cover the top with fresh raspberries. I just washed them and stood them straight up all around the top of the cake in some semblance of order. Then I thought it needed something more, so I heated up some of our homemade raspberry jam and glazed the top with it.

I used a pastry brush to brush/sprinkle it on so it kind of pooled around the raspberries and dripped over the side.

I think it looks pretty that way, and a bit rustic as well. Don't be intimidated to take on this recipe, because it does come out really nice. You can play around with it, or even bake the cake in a 9x13 pan and then frost it with the raspberry filling and top it with raspberries. But this is definitely a nice summery cake that you will love!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Wonder Cake

2010-06-28T14:58:00.000-07:00

Oh. My. Word. Let me just tell you that this cake is amazing... intensely rich, chocolatey, dense cake layers covered in light and creamy peanut butter frosting and then smothered in smooth, glossy chocolate/peanut butter ganache. As I think I've said before, I don't usually attempt things that need to look perfect, because I'd rather have the flavors be spot on and not necessarily the presentation. But this cake is both- the flavors are incredible and it's approachably fancy in appearance. Even if the frosting isn't perfect on the top, the ganache will easily cover it up and looks neat as it drips over the edges. I used an icing comb (which you can get at a hardware store for around $1.00- I believe it might be used for cement?) to make ridges along the sides, and I think it all came together very nicely.

I saw this recipe on Smitten Kitchen's site, which is where I find a good amount of my favorite recipes. I changed it up a bit by making a 2-layer cake instead of a 3-layer one. This was originally because I thought the layers looked like they would be too thin to do 3 because I was using 9" cake pans instead of 8" ones. I have now gotten a couple more 8" cake pans that I like because they have straight sides. My 9" pans unfortunately are slightly angled, which makes it difficult to make straight layer cakes with them. Here are the 8" pans that I have and like, which I bought off of Amazon.com.

I absolutely love this chocolate cake recipe. The sour cream makes it moist and dense, and someone even compared it to cheesecake. I have a few different ideas going with this cake as a base, including a dulce de leche filling and salted caramel buttercream. Interested, anyone?

Then the frosting is out of this world. The combination of cream cheese and peanut butter creates a slight tanginess that keeps it from being overly sweet, and complements the cake very nicely. Make sure you beat it for a while until it's nice and fluffy. The ingredients should be room temperature. My favorite way to get cream cheese to room temp without letting it sit on the counter forever is to put the sealed foil package in a bowl of warm water for about 5 minutes. It works like a dream!

The ganache that goes on top is fairly straightforward. You melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and light corn syrup in the top of a double boiler and then whisk in half-and-half until it's smooth at the end. Now this is not the way I learned to make ganache, which is to place the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup in a stand mixer bowl, heat the cream to nearly a boil and then pour it over the chocolate and mix it for 10 minutes until everything is melted and glossy. I think I will try it this way next time, as it's easier for the chocolate to burn on the stovetop than it is for the cream to burn. If I try it, I'll let you know how that goes.

Since making this cake, I made a triple-layer red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting and local strawberries between each layer. I had a little bit of trouble with it trying to imitate the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and so I'm wondering if anyone has tips on making 3-layer cakes more stable? One thought I had for next time is to put down the first two layers and then let those set up in the refrigerator before adding the top layer, and then letting that one set before frosting the outside. Feel free to comment if you have any suggestions, but for now I guess I will stick with 2-layer cakes.

Here comes the recipe...

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Wonder Cake

Yield: 1 - 8" triple-layer cake or 9" 2-layer cake

Recipe adapted from Smitten Kitchen

2 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, preferably Dutch process

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup neutral vegetable oil (ie. canola)

1 cup sour cream

1 1/2 cups water

2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottoms and sides of three 8-inch round cake pans or two 9-inch round ones. Line the bottom of each pan with a round of parchment and spray the parchment as well.

2. Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine them well. Add the oil and sour cream and whisk to blend. Gradually beat in the water. Blend in the vinegar and vanilla. Whisk in the eggs and beat until well blended. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and be sure the batter is well mixed. Divide among the 3 prepared cake pans.

3. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a cake tester or wooden toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Let cool in the pans for about 20 minutes. Invert onto wire racks, carefully peel off the paper liners, and let cool completely. Freeze the layers, wrapped in plastic wrap, for at least 30 minutes before attempting to frost.

4. To frost the cake, place one layer, flat side up, on a cake stand or large serving plate. Spread 2/3 cup of the Peanut Butter Frosting evenly over the top. Repeat with the next layer. Place the last layer on top and frost the top and sides of the cake with the remaining frosting. (Note: Making a crumb coat of frosting–a thin layer that binds the dark crumbs to the cake so they don’t show up in the final outer frosting layer–is a great idea for this cake, or any with a dark cake and lighter-colored frosting. Once you “mask” your cake, let it chill for 15 to 30 minutes until firm, then use the remainder of the frosting to create a smooth final coating. Once the cake is fully frosted, it helps to chill it again and let it firm up. The cooler and more set the peanut butter frosting is, the better drip effect you’ll get from the Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze.)

5. To decorate with the Chocolate–Peanut Butter Glaze, put the cake plate on a large baking sheet to catch any drips. Simply pour the glaze over the top of the cake, and using an offset spatula, spread it evenly over the top just to the edges so that it runs down the sides of the cake in long drips. Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 30 minutes to allow the glaze and frosting to set completely. Remove about 1 hour before serving.

Peanut Butter Frosting

Makes about 5 cups

10 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature

5 cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted

2/3 cup smooth peanut butter, preferably a commercial brand (because oil doesn’t separate out)

1. In a large bowl with an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter until light and fluffy. Gradually add the confectioners’ sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing thoroughly after each addition and scraping down the sides of the bowl often. Continue to beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 to 4 minutes.

2. Add the peanut butter and beat until thoroughly blended.

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Glaze

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

8 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter

2 tablespoons light corn syrup

1/2 cup half-and-half

1. In the top of a double boiler or in a bowl set over simmering water, combine the chocolate, peanut butter, and corn syrup. Cook, whisking often, until the chocolate is melted and the mixture is smooth.

2. Remove from the heat and whisk in the half-and-half, beating until smooth. Use while still warm.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp...with a citrusy flair

2010-06-21T12:26:00.000-07:00

Our local Whatcom county strawberries are finally here, and I couldn't wait to start working on some recipes to use them! Conveniently, my parents were taking a group of people from church out for an evening dessert cruise. As I was put in charge of desserts, it gave me a great excuse to bake! For the evening, I decided to do one chocolatey dessert (post to come), one fruity dessert, and some fresh local strawberries with a simple mock devonshire cream (sour cream and brown sugar). For the fruity dessert, I decided I would make a nice strawberry-rhubarb crisp to show off some of the local produce that is just fantastic this time of year.

This recipe has a lot of fruit. Indeed, it will fill your 9"x13" pan nearly to the brim just with the fruit, and then the topping will fill it the rest of the way up. But remember, the fruit will cook down a bit in the oven and you'll have a nice substantial crisp. I also decided to add some orange-iness to the recipe, because I thought it would go really well with the bright flavor of the rhubarb and sweetness of the berries. To do this, I added some orange zest as well as fresh orange juice. Lemon zest would be a great addition here as well. The citrus keeps the dessert from being overly sweet and one-dimensional, and really brightens the other flavors in the pan. There is also some zest added to the topping to keep the flavors consistent throughout.

A key to any crisp is to make sure you cook it for a long time. Even if you're tempted to take it out as soon as the topping turns golden-brown, don't do it! Wait until the fruit is bubbling up all around the outside of the topping, and possibly even spouting up out of a couple of places in the middle. This will make sure that the crisp sets enough so it's not just fruity oatmeal soup. Put it on the middle rack of the oven and let it go for about an hour, maybe even more. One of my friends once said that it's always good to keep a crisp in the oven longer because it will only make it 'crisp'-ier. It's true, at least to a point.

So go ahead and try this out when you're in the mood for a sweet, tart, crunchy, fruity dessert and you won't be disappointed. When paired with some Tillamook vanilla bean ice cream, you just can't go wrong!

Here's the recipe:

Strawberry-Rhubarb Citrus Crisp
Yield: 10-12 servings

Fruit layer:
7 c. rhubarb, sliced 1/4" thick
7 c. strawberries, quartered
1 c. sugar
4 1/2 Tbsp. cornstarch
Zest of 1 medium orange
Juice of 1/2 medium orange

Mix fruit layer ingredients together in a large bowl and pour into a greased 9"x13" glass pan.

Topping:

1 1/2 c. flour

1 1/2 c. brown sugar

1 1/2 c. old-fashioned oats

1/2 t. cinnamon

1/4 t. salt

1/4 t. orange zest

6 oz. (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted

Mix together everything except for the butter. Then pour in melted butter and stir with a fork until evenly mixed. The mixture should be crumbly. Crumble it on top of the fruit mixture, trying to cover as much of the exposed fruit as possible. Bake at 350˚F for about an hour, or until the fruit is bubbling up around the edges of the crisp. Remove from oven and let cool for a couple of hours. It's best to serve the crisp while it's still warm, but not so hot that it doesn't have time to set up. This dessert is wonderful served with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!

2010-06-14T16:15:00.000-07:00

Blueberry-Nectarine Cream Cheese Tart

This dessert just screams summer to me. It is a variation on a long-time family recipe for a raspberry cream cheese tart given to my mom by a friend. Every year as soon as the local raspberries come out, I try to make this dessert as many times as I can before they run out. I have recently tried some variations on the plain raspberry, including strawberry-kiwi, strawberry-mango, and this blueberry-nectarine tart that I made for a family dinner the other night.

It begins with a fantastically simple shortbread crust, which is baked on its own. Then, you beat together a cream cheese layer, top it with fruit and then with a fruity glaze. Once it has chilled down for a few hours, it's ready to cut and serve with homemade whipped cream, if you're into that (and who isn’t?). In the end you have a fruity, creamy, refreshing dessert that is an instant favorite.

This can be made either in one 9”x13” pan, as I did here, or in two tart pans. There are a couple of advantages to using tart pans: 1) The desserts will look a lot prettier with the scalloped edge on most tart pans, and 2) Tart pans have removable bottoms so you won’t ruin the first piece when trying to get it out of the pan. Here's a great option for some tart pans if you don't have any:

So here’s the recipe!

Blueberry-Nectarine Cream Cheese Tart

Yield: 12 servings

Crust:

1 c. butter, softened

2 c. all-purpose flour

½ c. powdered sugar

Cream the ingredients together in a bowl using a spatula until well-mixed. It helps to mix the powdered sugar and butter together first, and then add the flour so the gluten doesn’t get overdeveloped, leading to a tough dough. Once everything is mixed well, press into the bottom of either a 9”x13” pan or two tart pans. Bake at 350ºF for 15 minutes. The crust will be very light, with nearly undetectable browning around the edges. Just watch for it to lose a certain glossiness and for the crust to have puffed up just slightly. Let cool all the way before spreading on the next layer! I sometimes make the crust the night before so I’m not tempted to try and spread the cream cheese onto a still-warm crust. I’ve done it before, and the crust starts pulling up and mixing with the cream cheese, which is just not very appetizing!

Cream cheese layer:

2 – 8 oz. packages of cream cheese

½ c. powdered sugar

Beat together until smooth and spread on prepared and cooled crust.

On top of the cream cheese layer, evenly distribute about 2 ½ c. fresh fruit and/or berries.

Glaze:

½ c. nectarines, crushed

1 c. water

1 ½ c. sugar

Bring the above ingredients to a low boil in a saucepan. While the fruit mixture is coming up to temperature, mix together the following in a small bowl:

2/3 c. cold water

4 ½ Tbsp. cornstarch

When fruit mixture is at a low boil, add the cornstarch mixture to the pot (you may need to stir it up again as cornstarch likes to settle to the bottom of the bowl). As the mixture comes back up to a boil, it will become thick and turn clear. Once this happens, turn off the heat and add:

1 Tbsp. lemon juice

Carefully pour the glaze over the fruit, making sure all the fruit and is covered. Place uncovered in the fridge until well-chilled, about 4 hours. Once chilled, it can be covered with plastic wrap tightly, so the plastic wrap doesn’t touch the glaze. Cut and serve with whipped cream.

Welcome!

2010-06-14T12:53:00.000-07:00

Hello! My name is Emily and I’ve thought for a while about starting a food blog, and have finally decided to do it! I have loved baking from a young age (I have pictures of me kneading bread dough and making chocolate chip cookies at the age of 4). Even though I have had this lifelong passion for food, I have only recently decided to look at it as a career option. So, about a year ago, I moved from my hometown in NW Washington to the beautiful island of Oahu to attend a Patisserie program at Kapi’olani Community College in Honolulu, HI. I learned so much there, from basic techniques in cooking and baking to the business side of things such as purchasing and cost control.

Through these experiences, I also learned more about my culinary point of view. I now know that I really enjoy making more rustic baked goods, such as yeast breads, scones, muffins, etc. rather than intricately decorated cakes and pastries. So in this blog I will be primarily trying recipes that fit in that category. I love to take a few simple ingredients (ie. Bread flour, yeast, salt and water) and create something that is memorable and comforting. That’s part of the magic of baking for me, I think. I hope you enjoy taking this journey with me as I explore old family recipes as well as new ones. Bon appétit!