Easy Lemon Curd

You’re getting kind of a half-assed post this week.

This was supposed to be about an intensely delicious-sounding lemon coffee cake with lemon curd and lemon crumble.

Sadly, in execution, the whole affair was a flop. It was heavy, the crumble didn’t brown properly and tasted (at least I thought) like raw flour.

I’m going to continue tinkering with the recipe. Because really, if I can get it to work, this combo could change the world.

What couldn’t wait was the insanely easy recipe for lemon curd included in the recipe. I’ve spent my share of time with lemon curd and while not difficult from a technical standpoint, it does take time, patience and some wrist muscles.

This recipe? In the microwave. I was skeptical at first. At our house, the microwave generally only gets used to heat those little bags of brown rice from Trader Joes. I never actually cook anything in it. But this, I had to try.

The result was gorgeous. Shiny, lemony and not a lump to be found. I’m a little nervous about having a lemon curd recipe so easily at my fingertips. In my book, lemon curd is nearly as dangerous as Nutella.

Quick Lemon Curd

Southern Living

Ingredients

6 lemons
1/2 C butter, softened
2 C granulated sugar
4 eggs

Directions

Wash, dry and zest the lemons (you should get about 2 TBS zest).
Cut and squeeze lemons to equal 1 C juice.
Beat butter and sugar at medium speed with an electric mixer until well blended.
Gradually add lemon juice to butter mixture, beating at low speed. Stir-in zest. Mixture may look curdled. That’s okay.
Transfer to a medium microwave-safe bowl.
Microwave at high for 5 minutes, stirring at 1-minute intervals.
Microwave 1-2 more minutes, stirring at 30 second intervals until mixture thickens, coats the back of a spoon and starts to mound slightly when stirred.
Place heavy-duty plastic wrap directly on warm curd (to prevent a skin) and chill 4 hours, or until firm.
Store in an airtight container in fridge for up to 2 weeks.
Beat-in eggs one-at-a-time until just blended.

Any excuse

While gathering inspiration for ways to rid my house of Nutella, I came across an absolutely lovely blog called The Cake Merchant. Oboist by profession, baker by passion, this author’s gorgeous photography and creative verve for desserts quickly pulled me in.

Of course, out of all the fancy and colorful creations she highlighted, the brown sugar and cinnamon shortbread caught my eye first. As you know, I’m always looking for excuses to make shortbread and sable cookies. And, reading the ingredients for a brown sugar and cinnamon variety had be wondering, “why did I think of that?”

Simple and elegant, what sets these cookies apart is a sprinkling of turbinado sugar that has been doused in cinnamon.

Like cinnamon toast, only a smidge more refined.

While the smell of cinnamon rising from the kitchen on a May morning felt a little bit anachronistic, these would be a happy treat on a cool fall afternoon with a cup of tea.

Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Shortbread

adapted from The Cake Merchant

Ingredients

1/4 C turbinado sugar
1 TBS ground cinnamon
1 C (2 sticks) unsalted temp, at room temp but still cool to the touch
1/2 C packed golden or light brown sugar
2 tsp cinnamon
2 1/4 C all purpose flour
1/4 tsp kosher salt

Directions

In a small bowl, combine turbinado sugar and first tablespoon of cinnamon. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift in flour then whisk-in salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
Using a standing or electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Reduce speed to low, and add-in flour, mixing until just combined.
Turn dough out onto a floured work surface and work slightly until dough comes together.
Divide dough in half and roll each half into a log (I like to use the cardboard round from paper-towels, split length-wise to help hold shape). Wrap tightly in plastic and either refrigerate for an hour or freeze.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Slice logs into 1/3-1/2 inch rounds (depending on desired thickness). Please on cookie sheet and sprinkle with turbinado and cinnamon mixture. Press down just slightly so as not to change the shape of the dough, but help the sugar stay in place (you could also brush the cookies with an egg-wash first, then sprinkle the sugar if you didn’t want to press the sugar into the dough).
Bake for 18-20 minutes if using from fridge, add-one 3 minutes or so if from frozen. The cookies should be golden brown on top but not around the edges.
Cool on wire racks. These will freeze well if tightly wrapped.

That which should never enter my house rides again

I blame Costco. After a near five year reprieve from membership at the warehouse mecca, TD and found ourselves wandering its (too busy for a Friday night) aisles. Wandering the aisles at Costco is never a good idea. I can’t remember what we went in for but am fairly certain the case of beer, apple chips, baby naans and two huge containers of Nutella were not on the original list.

There are only two things that I don’t trust myself to casually keep on hand. The first is Cheez-Its.The second, as I’ve mentioned in previous posts, is Nutella. Late on the night of the Costco trip I could hear the chocolate-hazelnut spread calling to me from the garage in little Italian voices accompanied by an accordian. I swear.

Something needed to be done with the Nutella…before I was done with it.

Cue the cupcakes. I started with a great basic vanilla and buttermilk cupcake recipe from Sunset Magazine. The recipe is simple and the resulting cupcakes have enough integrity (structurally speaking) to take on an inch or two of frosting.

Starting with my go-to buttercream recipe, I added a generous blob of Nutella. And then I added some more for good measure.

After a quick roll in chocolate jimmies, I had, what I thought was a pretty good misdirection for the serious error in judgement that was the purchase of Nutella. As a bonus, the cupcake recipe makes exactly 12 little cakes. So, I didn’t even have an excuse to try one since my carrying container holds one dozen and my own sense of social propriety didn’t want to explain what happened to the missing one.

Malted Vanilla Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream Frosting

cake adapted from Sunset Magazine

For the Cake

Ingredients

6 TBS unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 C plus 2 TBS sugar
2 large eggs
1 TSP vanilla
2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 C malted milk powder
2/3 C buttermilk at room temp.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line pan with 12 cupcake wrappers.
Sift flour, baking powder, malted milk powder and salt into a medium bowl, set aside.
In a bowl, with a mixer on medium speed, beat butter and all the sugar until well blended.
Add eggs and vanilla and beat on high speed until well blended.
With mixer on low speed, beat about a third of the flour mixture into butter mixture, then about a third of the buttermilk. Repeat to beat in remaining flour mixture and buttermilk, alternating in thirds. When all the flour is incorporated, beat mixture on medium speed just until well blended.
Fill paper-lined or buttered muffin cups (1/3-cup capacity) about three-fourths full with batter (about 1/4 cup in each).
Bake in a 350° oven until tops spring back when lightly touched in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool on racks 5 minutes; remove from pans. Cool completely.

For the frosting

Ingredients

5 large egg whites
1 C plus 2 TBS sugar (superfine)
pinch of salt
12 ounces (3 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into tablespoons
1 tsp cold espresso (optional)
3/4 C Nutella

Directions

In the heat-proof bowl of a stand-mixer, combine egg-whites, sugar and salt. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly by hand until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved. The temp on an instant-read thermometer should read between 150-160 F.
Attach the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low speed, and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, beat until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool (you can tell by touching the side of the bowl). Process will take about 10 minutes.
With mixer on medium-speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at-a-time, mixing well between each addition. At some point the frosting will start to look curdled. Don’t worry, just keep on going.
Switch to the paddle attachment. Add-in espresso and Nutella mixing on low until everything is combined.
Generously frost cupcakes.

Perfect for your Pik-a-nic Basquete

See what I did there? No? You will.

My mom came out to visit (and escape the interminable Montana winter) in late March. We had lots of adventures and general shenanigans. As someone who gets up even earlier than I do (an impossible feat according to TD), she spent some quality time perusing my little cookbook collection.

One of the recipes she pulled was for a gateau Basque out of Dorie Greenspan’s Around My French Table. Sadly, this was during our “oven transition” and so my mom had to wait until her return to the Big Sky to try out this cookie-cake-pie recipe.

“You’ve got to make this” she said some weeks later.

“Sure mom, okay” was my reply and then, like most negligent children, I immediately forgot.

“Did you try out the sour cherry tart?” was her question the next time we spoke.

“Err…uhm…just waiting for the new oven to be installed,” my excuse.

And so it came to pass that after a batch of French macarons and some chocolate chip cookies for TD, gateau Basque was the third item baked in the oven.

Have I ever mentioned that while probably the nicest lady on the planet, my mom is also the most evil? This is a good example. Under the pretext of encouraging baking experimentation, she bullied me into bringing this…this…temptation into my house. Don’t let its simplicity fool you like it did me. I got all the way to photographing this disk of sin without tasting its rich–soft–toothsome–tartness. People find this hard to believe, but I generally am not all that interested in eating the things I make. Baking and cooking for me is about short-term gratification in the creation and experimentation categories.

But in this case? I was like Eve to the apple (or whatever you’d like to argue the parable referred to). One bite. And then another. And, before I knew it, I’d eaten the entire wedge and found myself eyeing the remaining six (TD ate one too). While significantly more sophisticated and elegant, there is also something about the gateau Basque that reminds me of the Hostess pies my brother and I coveted as children. Which I think got me thinking this would be a perfect picnic dessert. Transport it uncut and then serve up the wedges to be eaten by hand.

Original sin and evil parents aside, according to Dorie, this is the pastry in the Pays Basque region of France (and probably Spain). There is even a museum dedicated to it (do I hear research junket?). As if this lovely pastry isn’t enough to create drool-worthy geography, you can visit the region virtually through my talented friend Ann Mah.

While it is traditionally made with sour cherry jam (I found mine at Trader Joes) or pastry cream, I think it would be fantastic with everything from lemon curd to Nutella (which would certainly elevate this seductress from Old Testament to Dante’s Inferno).

A design note. The top of the tart is traditionally etched with two interlocking scroll, or “S” designs. Since Dorie said she likes a cross-hatch pattern, I tried that. Sadly I did not make the pattern deep enough and it baked out. I guess this means I’ll have to try again. Darn.

Gateau Basque

Dorie Greenspan, Around My French Table

Ingredients

2 C all purpose flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
10 TBS (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter at room temp.
1/4 C light brown sugar
1/4 C sugar
1 large egg, at room temp.
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
3/4-1 C thick cherry jam (or cream anglais or lemon curd or….ohhh…Nutella)
1 egg beaten w/ splash of water for glazing

Directions

Whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt, set aside.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle (or hand mixer), beat the butter and sugars together on medium for about 3 minutes.
Add the egg, beat for another 2 minutes scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed. The mixture may look curdled and that’s okay.
Reduce mixer to low, add-in vanilla. Then add-in dry ingredients in 2-3 additions mixing in between until just combined.
Place a large sheet of plastic wrap, wax paper or parchment on your work surface. Put half of the dough (it will be sticky) in the middle and shape into a disk (get it as round and flat as possible…maybe…4-5 inches). Repeat with second half of dough.
Refrigerate for at least 3 hours (overnight is always good).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Generously butter an 8X2 round cake pan.
Remove rounds of dough from fridge and let them rest for a couple of minutes. Then, roll each out into an 8 inch rounds (to avoid adding flour, I like to layer the dough between sheets of parchment and then roll). If the dough breaks or cracks, not to worry, just piece it back together like you would pie dough.
Fit one round into the bottom of the dough. If it rides up the sides a little, this is good and will help to seal the top layer.
Spoon 3/4 C of your preferred filling onto dough. Start at the center and spread until you have about a 1-inch margin.
Moisten the bare ring of dough (around the jam) with water.
Add the second piece of dough, pressing around the edges to seal it. Dorie says that no matter how tightly you press the dough, a little of the filling is bound to escape during baking. This will give your gateau some character.
Brush the top of the dough with egg wash. Using the tines of a fork or a sharp pairing knife etch a cross-hatch pattern into the top (in the one pictured above I did not press deeply enough and the patten baked-out).
Bake for 40-45 minutes or until the top is golden brown. Transfer to a cooling rack, let cool for 5 minutes.
Carefully run a blunt (dinner) knife around the edge of the cake. Turn the cake over onto the cooling rack and then quickly flip it right-side-up so that it can cool to room temp.
I think this is best enjoyed within the first day or two. While the taste isn’t compromised, the pastry looses some of its crispness the next day.

Alfa who?

Guess what we’re making?

[note–the pot above is utilized only as the bottom of the jerry-rigged double boiler and for making dulce de leche where its contents do not interact with the food–I promise I’m not poisoning people with teflon].

It’s been a while since I had fun with dulce de leche. And, I was thinking about my friend Melissa who moved to Argentina. Another friend of mine was just there and it got me wondering why haven’t I been? Why not just hop on a plane? There are multiple daily flights out of LAX on LANS. I could be there before sundown tomorrow.

And then reality set in. There is that thing I spend most of my time doing called work. And there is that dishwasher that needs to be replaced. And those Kitchen Gods who are insistent on being fed. So, I settled on missing Melissa and making alfajores.

As if the dulce de leche filling wasn’t enough to motivate me to give these a whirl, I’ve long been intriugued with the idea of swapping out traditional flour with cornstarch. I’ve done some experimenting with shortbread recipes, to mixed results. So, this was an excuse to experiment.

Unlike my shortbread attempts, this was a success. Just barely sweet, the cookies were tender and crisp. I managed to coax exactly two dozen little round cookies out of the dough.

Alfajores are often rolled in ground coconut as a finishing touch. As coincidence would have it, the other recipe I made the day I made these also included coconut as a main ingredient. Not wanting to over coconut the recipients of my treats, I left off the coconut here.

Alfajores

from Chow.com

Ingredients

1 cup cornstarch
3/4 cup all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon fine salt
8 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 stick), at room temperature
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon pisco or brandy
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup dulce de leche at room temperature. For recipes goes here and here
Powdered sugar, for dusting

Directions

Place the cornstarch, measured flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and whisk briefly to combine; set aside.
Place the butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on medium speed, stopping the mixer to scrape down the sides of the bowl once with a rubber spatula, until the mixture is light in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the egg yolks, pisco or brandy, and vanilla and mix until incorporated, about 30 seconds. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides of the bowl. On low speed, gradually add the reserved flour mixture and mix until just incorporated with no visible white pockets, about 30 seconds.
Turn the dough out onto a piece of plastic wrap, shape it into a smooth disk, and wrap it tightly. Place in the refrigerator until firm, at least 1 hour.
Meanwhile, heat the oven to 350°F and arrange a rack in the middle. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Remove the dough from the refrigerator, unwrap it, and place it on a lightly floured work surface or, between two sheets of parckment. Lightly flour the top of the dough. Roll to 1/4-inch thickness (the dough will crack but can be easily patched back together). Stamp out 24 rounds using a plain or fluted 2-inch round cutter, rerolling the dough as necessary until all of it is gone.
Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets, 12 per sheet and at least 1/2 inch apart. Bake 1 sheet at a time until the cookies are firm and pale golden on the bottom, about 12 to 14 minutes. (The cookies will remain pale on top.) Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Flip half of the cookies upside down and gently spread about 2 teaspoons of the dulce de leche on each. Place a second cookie on top and gently press to create a sandwich. Dust generously with powdered sugar before serving.

and getting caught in the rain…

I went straight for it with our new range. No foreplay, didn’t buy it dinner first. No banter about whether it was into the feel of the ocean, or the taste of champagne.

Not only did I pick an incredibly fickle recipe for the oven’s maiden voyage, I also added an additional layer of difficulty by trying a new twist I had no idea would work.

Replace some of the almond meal with ground freeze-dried pineapple in my favorite French macaron recipe? Why not?

Lucky for me, the oven did great. All of the shells formed feet and not a single one cracked.

I think this is the start of a beautiful relationship.

Even if the oven hadn’t performed up to snuff, I’m pretty sure I could have filled hockey pucks with this magical cream cheese, coconut and ground pineapple filling to similar success.

Pineapple and Coconut Macarons

Shells adapted slightly from Cannelle et Vanille, filling of my own creation

For the shells

Ingredients

130 grams egg whites
3 grams egg white powder
80 grams sugar
180 grams almond flour
240 grams powdered sugar
2 grams salt
20 grams freeze-dried pineapple chunks, finely ground
2 drops yellow food coloring if desired

Directions

Make sure that the egg whites have been separated from the egg yolks at least the night before. If the weather is cool and you are brave, leave them out, covered in plactic wrap, overnight.
In the bowl of a food processor, combine almond flour, confectioner’s sugar, salt and ground pineapple. Process for 30-60 seconds until thoroughly combined. Sift into a large bowl. Discard bits that don’t go through sieve.
Whip the egg whites with the egg white powder until very fluffy, almost fully whipped. Start adding the sugar slowly while whipping. Add the food coloring and continue whipping to stiff peaks.
Add the dry ingredients to the meringue and fold with a spatula until a shiny mass forms. To test, pipe a small amount on your sheetpan. If it keeps a little bit of a top when piped, then you have to mix it a bit further, if it spreads really fast, you have gone too far and your macarons will turn out flat.
When you have the right consistency, place the mass in a pastry bag with a number 5 tip (to be honest, I just snip the tip of the bag to about a 1/8-1/4 inch and pipe without the tip) and pipe small rounds onto sheetpans lined with parchment or silpat. Let them dry at room temperature for at least 45 minutes to an hour. The tops should be dry when you touch them.
Preheat oven to 300F degrees. Bake for 8 minutes and rotate sheetpan and bake for another 5 minutes.
Let the macarons cool on the sheet pan.

For the filling

Ingredients

8 ounces cream cheese (I like to use a lower fat version to keep the filling from being too heavy)
2 C confectioner’s sugar
1/2 C ground coconut flakes
3 TBS ground freeze-dried pineapple (don’t worry about this adding a strange texture, the pineapple will rehydrate nicely)
1/2 tsp vanilla

Directions

Using a hand-mixer (I find the capacity of my standing mixer is too large), whip cream cheese.
Slowly add-in confectioner’s sugar until fully combined into the cream cheese.
Add-in coconut and pineapple, mixing to combine. Add-in vanilla.
Mix filling on high for a couple of minute to incorporate a little air into the confection.
Fill macarons as desired.

Kind-er Bars

TD is a big fan of Kind bars. I’m not a big fan of how much they cost. The ingredients are so simple I reckoned someone had to have figured out how to “hack” them.

I was right. The Yummy Life did a whole expose on these nutty little treats.

Which I then adapted for my own purposes.

They took about 20 minutes to make from start to finish. And at about a quarter of the price of the original, I’ve added these to my regular baking rotation.

Coconut Almond Kind-er Bars

adapted from The Yummy Life

Ingredients

2 C whole roasted* unsalted almonds
2 C unsweetened coconut flakes, toasted
1 C puffed millet, rice (or other puffed whole grain; or crispy brown rice cereal)
1 TBS flaxseed meal (I found mine at our local natural foods store, Bob’s Red Mill brand)
1/2 C honey*
1/3 C brown rice syrup (may substitute light corn syrup..I did…it worked fine)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

Grease large bowl and 9X13 pan
Mix nuts and flaxseed together in the bowl.
Combine honey and syrup in a small saucepan with a candy thermometer.
On medium heat, mix syrup constantly until it reaches about 260 degrees.
Remove from heat and carefully stir-in vanilla and salt.
Add syrup mixture to nuts and quickly mix ingredients.
Dump into the 9X13 pan and spread mixture evenly using fingers.
Using the bottom of a cup or glass, press the mixture into the pan so that it is level.
Allow to cool completely before cutting.
I wrapped each individually in plastic wrap.

Mythological Munchies

A long, long time ago a friend introduced TD and me to the caipirinha. Exotic, refreshing and addicting, TD and I were easy fans. While this delightful concoction of cachaca (think rum), muddled sugar and lime may be the national cocktail of Brazil, at the time, caipirinhas had yet to make it to the U.S. with any popularity.

At least that was our excuse for never quite remembering its name.

Instead, we opted for something more familiar that sounded similar: chupacabra. For those readers not from the southwest or any area bordering Mexico, a chupacabra is a scrubby but feared mythical creature. I grew up understanding it as a vampiric coyote type critter but the literal translation says it’s more like a goat. Anyhow, their purported presence are particularly parasitic on cattle ranches where they allegedly take their sustenance by draining the bovine of their blood. There was even an X-Files about them. So, they must be legit–right?

That’s how the caipirinha became the chupacabra in our household. While we were bastardizing the name of the national treasure, we also lost the true cocktail in translation and began adding mint. Yes, I realize, we basically ended up with a mojito made with cachaca. For a few years, this was our libabtion of choice to serve at dinner parties and barbeques. We even served them at the Easter dinner in right after we got engaged. But, that’s another story.

Thinking about chupacabras make me happy (the drink, not the vampire goats…though those yelling goat videos are hysterical). Thinking about cake makes me happy. You know where this is going.

I took my favorite Ina Garten yogurt loaf. Swapped out the lemon for lime. Then added in a minty simple syrup and a cachaca glaze. The tastes were subtle but delightful; a new twist on an old favorite.

Chupacabra Loaf

Mint Syrup

Ingredients

Small bunch of fresh mint, washed
1 C granulated sugar
1 1/3 C water

Directions

In a small saucepan, mix together water and sugar until sugar dissolves.
Add-in mint and bring mixture to boil. As soon as it begins boiling, remove from heat and allow to steep for at least 30 minutes.
Strain and store in an air-tight container in the fridge.

Lime Loaf

Ingredients

1 1/2 C all-purpose flour
2 tsps baking powder
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 C plain whole-milk yogurt (sometimes I use Greek, sometimes European)
1 C sugar
3 extra-large eggs
2 TBS lime zest
juice from the 2 limes you zested
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/2 C vegetable oil
1/2 C mint simple syrup

For the glaze:

1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 TBS cachaca or white rum

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8 1/2 by 4 1/4 by 2 1/2-inch loaf pan. Line the bottom with parchment paper. Grease, flour and line pan with parchment.
Sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt into 1 bowl. In another bowl, whisk together the yogurt, 1 cup sugar, the eggs, lime zest, lime juice and vanilla. Slowly whisk the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. With a rubber spatula, fold the vegetable oil into the batter, making sure it’s all incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a cake tester placed in the center of the loaf comes out clean.
When the cake is done, allow it to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Carefully place on a baking rack over a sheet pan. While the cake is still warm, pierce cake all over with a bamboo skewer than pour the mint syrup over the cake and allow it to soak in. Cool.
For the glaze, combine the confectioners’ sugar and your choice of spirit to desired consistency and pour over the cake.

Spring and rhubarb are in the air

It was around…oh…January when I started thinking about things to make with rhubarb. Despite the fact that winter never really showed up in Southern California, I was already dreaming of the smell of fressia on the air and the delicate spoils of early spring.

Then, in late March, “catastrophe” hit: the oven died. This wasn’t entirely unexpected. In fact, I’ve been waiting patiently for what seems like years for the stock appliances in our kitchen to gracefully go to the Best Buy in the sky. We tried to revive it, really, we did. But the appliance dude diagnosed an issue that would cost almost half of a new oven. The choice was easy: buy new.

But of course, that would take research…and another two weeks passed, leaving me, the baker, without my instrument.

So I took to the stove with some fresh rhubarb and sugar. It’s like I always say, “when life gives you a broken oven, make a cocktail.” In some languages, this saying also translates into “sometimes it’s okay to drink your dinner.” Language and culture are funny that way.

And, that’s how the “Oh Rhubarb” came to be. Pimms #1 was the most English spirit I could conjure up. The result is sort of a rhubarb Pimm’s punch. Don’t let the seemingly low alcohol content of this libation fool you, at 25% proof, the Pimms will sneak up on you.

Oh Rhubarb!

For Rhubarb Syrup

Ingredients

10 ounces fresh rhubarb, washed and roughly chopped
1 C sugar
1 1/4 C water

Directions

Using a heavy-bottomed sauce pan, stir together sugar and water until sugar dissolves. Add rhubarb and turn heat to high.
Allow to come to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.
Simmer mixture until the rhubarb falls apart (about 20 minutes).
Strain the liquid from the rhubarb.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

For the Cocktail (makes 1 cocktail, multiple by 6 or 8 for a punch)

Ingredients

1 1/2 ounces Pimms #1
1 ounce rhubarb syrup (more to taste)
4-6 ounces dry sparkling wine
Orange and cucumber wedges to garnish

Directions

Using a cocktail shaker filled with ice, combine Pimm’s and rhubarb syrup. The syrup will be heavier than the Pimm’s so this helps the two stick together.
Pour into a high-ball glass filled with ice.
Top with sparking wine, give it a mix.
Garnish with an orange wedge or two and a tall wedge of cucumber.

Dee-lich-chus Cake

I think I’ve talked about our adventures in cake-tasting and the beautiful but epic fail of a wedding cake that came out of them. Thinking of that 100 degree day in San Diego combined with the smell of buttercream across many bakeries still make me cringe a little.

Let’s say the average wedding cake tasting consists of seven samples. If my memory holds true, we visited four bakeries that faithful summer day. A little air arithmetic, carry the one and it comes to about 28 different taste tests.

And after biting into each morsel, TD would say, “that’s dee-lich-chus cake.”

About a dozen samples in, my curiosity (and annoyance) got the better of me and I asked what the hell he was talking about.

The details were a bit fractured (probably all that sugar) but what I gathered from his story is that there was a wedding, an elderly woman, some loose dentures and a cake that was decidedly not “dee-lich-chus.”

In my witness, every times he’s eaten cake since, he says the same thing: “that’s dee-lich-chus.”

It only took nearly ten years to wonder, if “dee-lich-chus” cake was a flavor, what would it be?

I decided a cake of this caliber would start with a buttermilk base. In to which roasted strawberries would be gently folded.

And accessorized with clouds of pillowy pink strawberry and balsamic buttercream. Stay with me here. Adding balsamic to strawberry is like adding coffee to chocolate. You don’t actually taste the extra ingredient, it just really enhances everything.

And so was born dee-lich-chus cake.

Roasted Strawberry and Buttermilk Cake with Strawberry Balsamic Buttercream

cake adapted from Joy of Cooking, frosting adapted from The Foodies Kitchen

for the cake

Ingredients

4 C fresh strawberries
2 1/3 C cake flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking sode
1/4 tsp kosher salt
3 large eggs at room temp.
6 ounces (10 TBS or 1 stick plus 2 TBS) butter
1 1/3 C sugar (I use superfine)
1 C buttermilk, at room temp.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Gently wash and cut strawberries into quarters. Place berries on a cooling rack, seeds-side-down over a sheet pan. Bake until strawberries are partially dried, about 45 minutes. Let cool, the chop (they’ll be sticky). Divide into 3/4 and 1/4 portions. Set aside 1/4 for the frosting.
Grease (use your use butter wrapper) two 9-inch cake pans and set aside.
Sift together the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set Aside. In a small bowl (I also like to use a 2 C pyrex liquid measuring cup), whisk together eggs and vanilla.
Using a mixer (standing or hand) on medium speed, beat the butter until creamy. Beat-in the sugar slowly over the course of 3-minutes. Beat- in egg-and-vanilla mixture one egg-at-a-time.
Reduce speed on mixer to low and mix-in flour and buttermilk in three parts, beginning and ending with the flour.
Gently fold-in strawberries by hand. Distribute batter into pans and bake in middle rack of oven for 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes up clean.
Once out of the oven, allow cakes to cool on rack for 10 minutes. Carefully un-mold and allow to cool completely.

for the frosting

Ingredients

remaining chopped roasted strawberries from cake recipe
5 large egg whites
1 C plus 2 TBS sugar (superfine)
pinch of salt
16 ounces (1 pound, 4 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temp, cut into tablespoons
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 TBS balsamic vinegar

Directions

Add balsamic vinegar to reserved strawberries, puree mixture and set-aside.
In the heat-proof bowl of a stand-mixer, combine egg-whites, sugar and salt. Set over a pan of simmering water and whisk constantly by hand until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar has dissolved. The temp on an instant-read thermometer should read between 150-160 F.
Attached the bowl to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment. Starting on low speed, and gradually increasing to medium-high speed, beat until the mixture is fluffy and glossy and completely cool (you can tell by touching the side of the bowl). Process will take about 10 minutes.
With mixer on medium-speed, add the butter a few tablespoons at-a-time, mixing well between each addition. At some point the frosting will start to look curdled. Don’t worry, just keep on going.
Switch to the paddle attachment. Add-in vanilla and strawberry puree and incorporate with paddle on low. Scrape-down sides and mix until frosting is completely smooth.
Frost cake as desired. Enjoy and try not to think about how much butter is in the frosting.