Apple cake with maple glaze

As I sat here to write about this apple cake I automatically thought of the devil’s food loaf I posted a while ago, even though both cakes have nothing in common except for the fact that they’re both delicious. The same way I thought of Annie Bell when I wanted a chocolatey cake, I reached for Lisa Yockelson’s cookbook while thinking of a Bundt cake – she has great recipes that always turn delicious, even though I have to adapt them a bit for I don’t own a 15-cup capacity pan – or an 18-cup capacity pan, for that matter. :D

Math was never my strongest suit when I was at school but luckily I picked up enough of it to get me through life without much trouble (at least so far). ;) Today I bring you a wonderful apple cake adapted for an 8-cup capacity ring or Bundt cake – I hope you enjoy it.

Apple cake with maple glaze
slightly adapted from the delicious Baking Style: Art Craft Recipes

Cake:
2 cups (280g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
pinch of ground ginger
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (44g) light brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
2/3 cup (160ml) canola oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and coarsely grated

Glaze:
1/3 cup (80ml) maple syrup
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, chopped
pinch of salt
½ tablespoon brandy or Calvados (optional)
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter and flour an 8-cup capacity ring or Bundt pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg and ginger. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, beat eggs and sugars for 2 minutes or until thickened. With the mixer on medium speed, gradually add the oil in a thin, steady stream, then beat for 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla and the apples. On low speed, add the sifted ingredients in two additions, scraping the sides of the bowl after each addition.

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake the cake for about 50 minutes or until risen and golden and a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 15 minutes – in the meantime, make the glaze: place maple syrup, butter and salt in a small saucepan. Set over low heat and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Simmer for 1 minute, remove it from the heat and stir in the brandy or Calvados, if using. Simmer for another minute, then remove from the heat. Stir in the vanilla.

Carefully unmold the cake onto a rack and brush it generously with half the glaze, wait 10 minutes, then brush it with the remaining glaze. Cool completely.

Serves 8-10

Maple cake - simple and delicious

When I started blogging, a good eight years ago, there were several ingredients I saw in my foreign cookbooks that I could not find here in Brazil, and some were too expensive – so I kept some recipes in the back of my head for a long time, just waiting for an opportunity to try them someday.

Things have changed and now many ingredients have become available here, and some of the prices have dropped a bit, too. The two times I visited NYC I brought home huge bottles of maple syrup for it was very expensive here and not easy to find, but lately I’ve seen it everywhere for a more affordable price – I even brought home a small bottle since the ones from NY are long gone.

This cake is delicious and it was a great way of using my precious maple syrup – I wasn’t too keen on the icing, though, for I thought it was too sweet. I would definitely make this cake again, but I’d serve it with a dusting of icing sugar and nothing more.

Maple cake
from the delicious Martha Stewart's Cakes: Our First-Ever Book of Bundts, Loaves, Layers, Coffee Cakes, and more

Cake:
1 cup (2 sticks/226g) unsalted butter, room temperature
2 ½ cups (350g) all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (180ml) maple syrup
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup (180ml) sour cream*

Icing:
1/3 cup (80ml) pure maple syrup, plus more if needed
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2 ½ cups (350g) confectioners' sugar, plus more if needed

Make the cake: preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Butter a 23cm (9in) round cake, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter it as well.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
With an electric mixer on medium speed, beat butter, maple syrup, and granulated sugar until pale and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition; mix in vanilla.
Reduce mixer speed to low. Add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with 2 batches of sour cream; beat until just combined. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool 25 minutes. Turn out cake onto rack to cool completely.

Icing: combine maple syrup and butter in a bowl. Sift in confectioners’ sugar, and whisk until combined. Adjust consistency with more syrup or sugar, if necessary. Spread maple icing over top of cake. Let set, at least 15 minutes, before serving.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 8-10

Chocolate, coconut and banana cake

I love trying new things and I am sure I am not alone: when movies are concerned, for instance, writers and actors become directors, directors work as actors or make cameo appearances, and so forth. Change is good; variety is the spice of life.

While some are very successful working in different areas – I think Antonio Banderas should focus on directing more after I watched Crazy in Alabama, and let us not forget that Quentin Tarantino was a writer before working behind the cameras – I can’t say the same about others: I started watching Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut the other day, but the movie was so awful I changed the channel after fifteen minutes of it. Poor Joseph, go back to acting, will you? :)

As I said, change is good – maybe except for JGL? ;) – not only in the movies but also in the kitchen: this moist and delicious cake, very chocolaty, is made without eggs and yet the result was really, really good, as the banana not only acts as the egg replacer but also adds a wonderful flavor to the cake.

I have no intention of giving up on eggs – I just love them too much – and that was not even the reason why I baked this cake: I just got hypnotized by the beautiful photo I had to make it, especially because the recipe comes from a cookbook that the more I cook from, the more I love it.

Chocolate, coconut and banana cake
cake slightly adapted from the marvelous A Modern Way to Eat: Over 200 Satisfying, Everyday Vegetarian Recipes (That Will Make You Feel Amazing), glaze from the wonderful Annie Bell's Baking Bible

Cake:
¾ cup (105g) all purpose flour
1 ½ cups (150g) almond meal
1 cup (95g) unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
pinch of salt
125g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
150ml maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
150ml coconut milk
50ml whole milk, room temperature
1 large ripe banana, mashed

Glaze:
100g dark chocolate – I used one with 53% cocoa solids
25g unsalted butter, room temperature
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature

Cake: preheat your oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 20x7cm (8x3in) round cake pan with a removable bottom, line the bottom with a circle of baking paper and butter the paper as well.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, almond meal, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients and slowly pour in the melted butter, maple syrup, vanilla, coconut milk, milk and banana. Mix well.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 35–40 minutes, until it feels firm to the touch and a skewer comes out clean. Don't worry if the cake has cracked on the top, as this will all get covered by the chocolate glaze.
Remove the cake from the oven and cool completely in the pan over a wire rack. Carefully unmold, peel off the paper and transfer to a serving plate.

Glaze: place chocolate and butter in a small heatproof bowl and set over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring until melted. Remove from the heat and whisk in the milk. Set aside for 5 minutes, then spread over the cooled cake.

Serves 8

Maple banana cake with caramel drizzle + an amazing movie trailer

Weeks ago the trailer for Foxcatcher was released and my interest in the movie skyrocketed – I’d read about it and seen a couple of photos (in which both Mark Ruffalo and Steve Carell look unrecognizable) and the trailer just made me even more curious (oh, the joy of a perfectly put together movie trailer!).

I find it remarkable when an actor chooses a project that is completely different from everything he’d done up until then, which is what Carell is doing in Foxcatcher – for the little I’ve seen and read his performance will be one to watch next year. That reminds me of other actors who emerged from comedies and delivered great performances in dramas such as Jim Carrey in The Truman Show, Jamie Foxx in Collateral (before that movie I don’t think anyone would have thought the guy could win an Oscar) and, to me, the most fantastic one, Marlon Wayans in Requiem for a Dream (Darren Aronofsky did the impossible here, let’s be honest). I cannot wait to see Carell playing such a dark character, and it’s too bad the movie release has been postponed to 2014 (apparently no one wants to compete against Gravity and 12 Years a Slave in the award season).

***
I like having a handful of ingredients in my freezer for cooking and baking, like berries, peas, spinach and nuts, and two things I always have stashed there are egg whites and overripe bananas. A while ago the egg white amount was considerably low, but there were quite a lot of frozen bananas around, and they were transformed into this moist, delicious cake (the caramel drizzle makes it extra special, don’t skip it). The cake does taste fantastic with the addition of maple syrup, but I have made this recipe replacing the syrup with a mild flavored honey and it worked like a charm, too.

Maple banana cake with caramel drizzle
slightly adapted from the always gorgeous Delicious Autralia

Cake:
3 large eggs
125g unsalted butter, melted, cooled
1 cup (175g) light brown sugar, packed
¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 overripe bananas, mashed
¼ cup sour cream*
225g all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon table salt
icing sugar, for dusting

Caramel drizzle:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/3 cup (60g) light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons heavy cream

Cake: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Grease an 8-cup capacity Bundt cake pan and dust with flour.
Beat eggs, butter, brown sugar, maple syrup and vanilla in an electric mixer for 5 minutes or until thick. Beat banana and sour cream into the batter. Sift in flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt then mix until combined. Spread into the pan and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes, then carefully unmold onto a wire rack. Cool completely.
Make the caramel drizzle: place butter and sugar in a small saucepan over low heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. When it boils, whisk in the cream – carefully because the mixture will bubble – until incorporated then remove from heat.
Dust the cake with the icing sugar and drizzle with the caramel.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 8-10

Oatmeal maple cookies + a book I never finished reading

I was reading a friend’s blog post about books when I suddenly felt a pang of guilt - I felt guilty because I love to read but haven’t read anything in months because of a book that I started reading but never finished.

It all began last year after I watched the first trailer for “The Great Gatsby” – I deciced to read the book before the movie got released. And then I tried reading it. Many, many times. I even took the book with me to the hairdresser since it’s one of the most boring places in the whole world. But I never got hooked. I know it’s a classic and I know it’s F. Scott Fitzgerald and I should have read it in college but I couldn’t go through with it. Could that be a case of bad timing? Maybe I should try going back to it in the future.
In the meantime, I think I’ll watch the movie, that might inspire me. And I’ll also start reading another book – I will have to be strong enough to put my cookbooks aside, especially my current favorites like "Piece of Cake", which these great cookies come from.

Wish me luck. :)

Oatmeal maple cookies
from the oh, so delicious Piece of Cake: Home Baking Made Simple

Cookies:
225g all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
250g rolled oats
225g dried cranberries
175g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
115g granulated sugar
175g light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract

Glaze:
175g confectioners’ sugar
¼ cup (60ml) pure maple syrup
¼ cup (60ml) heavy cream
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Add the oats and dried cranberries and mix thoroughly. Set aside.
In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, maple syrup, and sugars on medium speed until creamy and well combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until evenly incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. On low speed, add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear. Finish mixing with a rubber spatula.
Using 2 leveled tablespoons of dough per cookie, roll into balls and place 5cm (2in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown, especially around the edges. Cool on the sheets over a wire rack for 5 minutes, then carefully transfer to rack and cool completely.

Glaze: sift the confectioners’ sugar into a small bowl. Add the remaining ingredients and stir until smooth. Spoon glazer over cookies and let set for 30 minutes.

Makes 40

Maple-iced fruity Advent bread

Trying the lime and coconut flavor combo both in cookie and cake form was not the end of my testing around: the apricot, cranberry and golden raisin trio worked out so beautifully in oatmeal cookie form that I thought it would be wonderful to use it again, this time in a yeasted treat: this delicious bread, with a hint of cardamom, comes from one of the best cookbooks I’ve ever bought – and let’s just say that means a lot! – and my husband, after trying a slice of bread, could not believe how tender it was – I did not keep track but I’m pretty sure he said that more than five times. :D

Maple-iced fruity Advent bread
slightly adapted from the beautiful, beautiful Scandilicious Baking

Bread:
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
1/3 cup (75g) unsalted butter
2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
¾ cup + 2 tablespoons (125g) whole wheat flour
1/3 cup + ½ tablespoon (72g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon freshly ground cardamom
¼ teaspoon table salt
2 ¾ teaspoons dried yeast
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup (60ml) Marsala wine
150g mixed dried fruit (I used 50g each of golden raisins, chopped apricots and dried cranberries)
1 egg, beaten with a fork, to glaze

Icing:
½ cup (70g) icing sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Bread: scald the milk by heating it in a small pan with the butter until it is almost boiling and then leave to cool while you assemble the other ingredients. Scalding the milk makes the finished bread softer.
Place the flours, sugar, cardamom, salt and yeast in the large bowl of an electric mixer (place salt in one side of the bowl and yeast in another, so they’re not close). Add the egg and vanilla, then the warm milk mixture (make sure it’s not hot) and, using the dough hook, mix on medium speed until a soft and sticky dough forms. Mix for 5-6 minutes or until elastic. Transfer to a lightly buttered large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Leave to rise in a warm place for 45-60 minutes or so until doubled in size and springy to the touch.
While the dough is rising, pour the Marsala over the dried fruit in a small bowl. Leave to soak for 30-40 minutes, turning the fruit occasionally so they’re all soaked in the wine. Drain the fruit right before adding it to the dough, discarding the wine.
Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface, than add the fruit and knead a couple of times to incorporate and evenly distribute. Divide dough in half and shape each half into a rough loaf shape. Place them about 10cm (4in) apart onto a large baking sheet lined with foiled. Cover with a clean kitchen towel and leave to prove in a warm place for a further 45-60 minutes of so, until the dough no longer springs back: you can test it by gently poking it with your little finger – the indentation should stay put – in the meantime, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F. Brush the loaves with the beaten egg, then bake for 30-35 minutes until the loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when tapped on the base. Cool on the sheet for about 20 minutes, then carefully peel off the foil and transfer to a wire rack. Cool completely.
When the bread is cool, sift the icing sugar into a small bowl and whisk in the maple syrup until thick but still drizzable – add water if necessary. Drizzle over the cooled loaves and set aside for 15 minutes to dry.

Makes 2 loaves

Maple sour cream cake

If TV shows are hard for me to keep up with, can you imagine cookbook releases? :D Every time I take a look at the new cookbooks on Amazon I feel so far behind – and I’m not even talking about books that were released long ago but I still want anyway.

For instance, there is a new Food52 cookbook and I haven’t purchased the first one yet – life isn’t easy for a cookbook junkie like me, I’ll say. ;)

This is a delicious and very easy cake from Food52 – the website. Now I can’t wait to try the clementine pound cake, too.

Maple sour cream cake
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious Food52

1 ½ cups (210g) all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup (120ml) maple syrup
¾ cup sour cream*
¼ cup (50g) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
finely grated zest of ½ large lemon
½ cup (120ml) canola oil

Position rack in center of oven and preheat to 180°C/350°F. Generously butter a 21x11x6cm (8½×4½×2½in) metal loaf pan – I used a 22x12cm (9x5in) pan.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. In a small bowl, whisk together maple syrup, sour cream, eggs, sugar, vanilla, and lemon zest. Add to the dry ingredients and whisk to incorporate. Fold in oil gradually until the batter absorbs it.
Pour batter into prepared pan. Place pan on a baking sheet and bake until risen and golden and a tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Cool cake in pan on rack 5 minutes, then carefully unmold onto rack. Turn cake upright on rack and cool completely.

* homemade sour cream: to make 1 cup of sour cream, mix 1 cup (240ml) heavy cream with 2-3 teaspoons lemon juice in a bowl. Whisk until it starts to thicken. Cover with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for 1 hour or until thicker (I usually leave mine on the counter overnight – except on very warm nights – and it turns out thick and silky in the following morning; refrigerate for a creamier texture)

Serves 6-8

Maple pecan chiffon cake with brown butter icing

Much the same way I bought Alissa Huntsman's latest cookbook because of her beautiful previous one, I could not wait to get my hands on Julie Richardson's new cookbook since I adore her "Rustic Fruit Desserts" so much - a book full of cake recipes? You know I like that a lot. :D
I first thought of making an angel food cake - because of the insane amount of egg whites in my freezer - but when I saw this chiffon cake I had to make it: after all, it's not everyday I'll find a cake as freckled as myself. :D

The icing is super rich and delicious - the brown butter tastes like caramel here - but if you are not in the mood for all that sugar and butter the cake tastes delicious on its own, too.

Maple pecan chiffon cake with brown butter icing
from the absolutely beautiful Vintage Cakes: Timeless Recipes for Cupcakes, Flips, Rolls, Layer, Angel, Bundt, Chiffon, and Icebox Cakes for Today's Sweet Tooth

Cake:
2 ¼ cups (270g) cake flour (homemade: measure 270g of all purpose flour, remove 4 tablespoons and complete with corn starch)
2 teaspoons baking powder
½ teaspoon table salt
¾ cup (132g) brown sugar, packed
6 egg yolks, room temperature
½ cup (120ml) canola oil
½ cup (120ml) pure maple syrup
¼ cup (60ml) water
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
8 egg whites, room temperature
½ teaspoon cream of tartar
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
½ cup (55g) toasted pecans, cooled and finely chopped

Icing:
450g (1 pound) confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup (120ml) heavy cream
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 165°C/325°F. Have ready an ungreased 25cm (10in) tube pan with a removable bottom, bottom lined with a circle of baking paper (this is the pan I used).
In a large bowl, sift together the cake flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the brown sugar and whisk to combine.
In a small bowl, whisk together the yolks, oil, maple syrup, water, and vanilla. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture and briskly stir with a rubber spatula until just smooth. Do not overmix.
In the clean bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Add the cream of tartar and whip on high speed until soft peaks form. Turn the mixer down to medium speed and gradually add the granulated sugar in a steady stream. Kick the mixer up to high speed and whip until the whites just hold firm (not stiff!) glossy peaks.
Fold a third of the whites into the batter using as few strokes as possible. Add the remaining whites, folding only until evenly incorporated. Lightly fold in the pecans during the last few strokes. Gently pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the top springs back when touched or a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few crumbs attached, 50 to 55 minutes.
Remove the cake from the oven and let it cool upside down by inverting the cake pan onto its legs. To remove the cooled cake from the pan, slide a long thin knife or spatula along the sides to loosen and knock the pan sharply on a hard surface until the cake drops out. Remove all the crumbs of the cake sides and top before icing it.

Icing: put the confectioners' sugar in a medium mixing bowl and set aside. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Using a pan with a light-colored bottom will help you keep track of the color. Let the color of the butter darken from lemony to golden brown (swirl the pan occasionally to ensure even heating). Once the butter is dark brown and you begin to smell a nutty aroma, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the butter over the confectioners’ sugar and add the cream, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until smooth. As the butter cools, the icing will become firmer. If using the icing as a glaze, use it immediately. If you plan to use the icing as a frosting, allow it to cool to a good spreading consistency (I refrigerated it for 15 minutes).
Frost the top and sides with the icing. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Serves 10-12

Baked apple and maple doughnuts

One of the many things I loved about NY was the food: I ate wonderful things in several places, and brought home some great ingredients, too; I had many, many addresses on my list and unfortunately couldn’t go to all of them, and one of those places was the Doughnut Plant – my plan was to try their crème brûlée doughnut, but that will have to be done on my next trip to NY.
While that doesn’t happen, I made doughnuts at home – a very nice baked version I found in the glorious Gourmet Traveller.

Baked apple and maple doughnuts
from the beautiful Australian Gourmet Traveller

Dough:
5 1/3 cups (745g) all purpose flour
2/3 cup + 1 tablespoon (145g) granulated sugar
2 ¼ teaspoons (7g) dried yeast
1 cup (240ml) lukewarm whole milk + a bit extra for brushing
1/3 cup (80ml) buttermilk*
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, melted

Apple-maple filling:
2 Granny Smith apples, cored and coarsely chopped
½ cup (120ml) maple syrup
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
¼ cup (60ml) water
juice of 1 orange
juice of 1 lemon
2 cinnamon quills

For assembling:
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar combined with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine flour, sugar and yeast in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a dough hook and mix to combine. In another bowl, whisk together milk, buttermilk, eggs and butter. With motor running, add milk mixture and mix on medium speed until dough is smooth and elastic (4-5 minutes). Form into a ball, place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and stand in a warm place until double in size (1-1½ hours).
Meanwhile, for apple-maple filling, combine all ingredients in a medium saucepan and stir over medium-high heat until sugar dissolves. Bring to the boil, then cook over medium heat until apple is tender and liquid is syrupy (about 10 minutes), then cool completely.
Line two large baking sheets with foil.
Knock down dough, turn onto a lightly floured work surface and roll to 5mm thick. Using an 8cm-diameter cutter, cut 24rounds from dough (re-roll scraps if necessary). Place half the rounds 5cm (2in) apart on the prepared baking sheets and place a heaped teaspoon of apple-maple filling in centre of each (try to remove the excess syrup from each portion of filling before placing it onto the dough). Brush edges with milk, cover with the remaining dough rounds and press to seal edges well. Trim edges by cutting with a 7cm-diameter cutter. Cover with a tea towel and stand in a warm place until risen (1-1½ hours).
Preheat oven to 190°C/375°F. Brush doughnuts with milk then bake until bottoms are just golden (8-10 minutes). While the doughnuts are still hot, dip them in the melted butter, toss in the cinnamon sugar and serve with maple syrup and any leftover apple/syrup mixture.

* homemade buttermilk: to make 1 cup buttermilk place 1 tablespoon lemon juice in a 240ml-capacity measuring cup and complete with whole milk (room temperature). Wait 10 minutes for it to thicken slightly, then use the whole mixture in your recipe

Makes 12 – I halved the recipe above, used 8cm and 7cm cutters and still got 12 doughnuts

Pear, apple, brown sugar and maple syrup cake

People who like to cook and bake – myself included – get mad at recipes that do not work – I think it’s only natural to feel that way about something that involves time, ingredients ($$) and expectations. I get really angry sometimes, to the point of cursing like a character in a mafia movie. :D

But if the recipe works and the food tastes good, I’m OK with a couple of details that might be different from the recipe – the fruit on top of this cake, for instance, should have sunk into the batter while it baked in the oven, according to Nigel Slater; that did not happen, but it doesn’t matter – I actually think the cake looks nicer this way.

Pear, apple, brown sugar and maple syrup cake
slightly adapted from the absolutely beautiful Tender Volume II

Fruit mixture:
2 ripe pears
1 Granny Smith apple
1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter
¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
3 tablespoons maple syrup

Cake:
100g unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (50g) superfine sugar
1/3 cup (58g) light brown sugar, packed
1 cup + 1 tablespoon (150g) all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ cup (50g) almond flour (ground almonds)
3 large eggs
2 tablespoons whole milk, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Butter a 20cm (8in) round baking pan, line the base with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Peel, core and dice the pears and the apples – the pieces should be around 1cm each. Transfer the fruit to a large frying pan, add the butter and cinnamon and cook over a moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until tender, 5-8 minutes. Pour in the maple syrup, let the mixture bubble up briefly, then remove from the heat and set aside to cool slightly.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F. In the large bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until pale and thick. In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder and salt, then add the almond flour. In a small bowl, whisk lightly with a fork the eggs, milk and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture, alternating with the eggs mixture, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients.
Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth the top. Spoon the fruit mixture over the batter and bake for 40 minutes or until golden, risen and lightly firm and a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool in the pan over a wire rack.

Serves 8-10

Brown sugar and chocolate chip pound cake with maple glaze

Every once in a while I go through my recipe stash – Joao kindly calls it my “mess” – and find ripped pages/prints I did not remember existed – like this recipe from when I was a Bon Appétit subscriber, ages ago.

It’s a good cake – I expected it to be a bit more tender, but one of my official Guinea pigs said it was great; however, it was the icing that won me over: I left the espresso out and the maple flavor was all over the place. Yum!

Brown sugar and chocolate chip pound cake with maple glaze
from Bon Appetit

Cake:
1 12-ounce (336g) package semisweet chocolate chips – I used 70% cocoa solids
3 cups (420g) all purpose flour, divided
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon salt
1 cup (226g/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups (262g) light brown sugar, packed
2 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk

Glaze:
1 cup (140g) powdered sugar, sifted
2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
2 tablespoons (or more) whipping cream

Preheat oven to 160°C/325°F. Butter a 12-cup Bundt pan. Spray pan generously with nonstick spray. Dust pan lightly with flour*. Mix chocolate chips and 2 tablespoons of the flour in a medium bowl. Sift remaining flour with baking soda, baking powder, and salt into another medium bowl. Using electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar in large bowl until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Beat in vanilla extract. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in flour mixture in 3 additions alternately with buttermilk in 2 additions, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Fold in chocolate chip mixture. Transfer batter to prepared pan, spreading evenly.
Bake cake until tester inserted near center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan, about 1 hour. Cool cake in pan on rack 30 minutes. Invert cake onto rack and cool completely.

Make the glaze: combine powdered sugar, maple syrup and 2 tablespoons cream in a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, adding more cream by ½ teaspoonfuls if glaze is too thick to drizzle. Spoon glaze decoratively over top of cake; let stand at room temperature until glaze is firm, about 1 hour (can be made 1 day ahead. Cover with cake dome and let stand at room temperature).

* I halved the recipe above and used a regular 6 cup-capacity ring pan, buttered and floured (I did not use cooking spray)

Serves 12

Maple brûlée tartlets

My love for mini food can sometimes go well and sometimes not so much – I saw a beautiful maple brûlée tart on DH mag #51 and immediately ran to the kitchen to bake it, but decided to make tartlets instead. The problem is that the pastry shrunk so much there was almost no room for the filling. :S
To solve the situation, I baked the remaining filling in a water bath and ended up with a delicious maple crème brûlée – if I were you, I’d ignore the tartlets and go straight to the ramekin version. :)

Maple brûlée tartlets
from Donna Hay magazine

Vanilla pastry:
1 2/3 cups + 1 ½ tablespoons (250g) all purpose flour
1 tablespoon caster sugar
¼ teaspoon baking powder
180g unsalted butter, cold and chopped
1/3 cup (80ml) iced water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
1 cup (240ml) whole milk
1 cup (240ml) pouring cream
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
½ cup + 1 tablespoon (112g) caster sugar
¼ cup (60ml) maple syrup
caster sugar, for sprinkling

Make the pastry: place the flour, sugar and baking powder in the bowl of a food processor and process to combine. Add the butter and process until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. While the motor is running, gradually add the water and vanilla (mix them together before pouring in the processor). Process just until mixture comes together. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface to 3mm thick. Line a lightly buttered 28cm pie pan with the pastry. Prick with a fork and freeze for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F; line the bottom of the pastry with foil, cover with baking weights or beans and bake for 10-15 minutes. Remove the weights/beans and the foil and bake for another 10 minutes or until lightly golden.
Place the milk and cream in a small saucepan over low heat just until boiling. Place the eggs, extra yolks, sugar and maple in a bowl and whisk to combine. Gradually whisk in the milk mixture. Allow to cool. Preheat the oven to 160°C/320°F. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and bake for 15-20 minutes or until just set. Allow to cool in the pan.
Sprinkle the tart with sugar just before serving and caramelize with a small kitchen blow torch until a golden crust forms.

Serves 8 – I halved the recipe above and got 10 tartlets (9cm each)

Macadamia maple sticky bars

I have received several emails – especially from my Brazilian readers – with great suggestions for the blog, such as subscription via email, a print button for the recipes... As much as I liked them all, it took me a long time to actually add all those widgets here – you know, I’m not much of a techie. :)

Now they’re all finally up – I hope you enjoy them! And let me know if something is not working properly, please.

Speaking of time, I made these bars in almost none, and could even get some rest on the couch, watching TV – “Jaws”, to be more precise – while the base chilled in the refrigerator.

Macadamia maple sticky bars
slightly adapted from here

Base:
1 ¼ cups (175g) all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ cup (35g) coarsely chopped toasted macadamia nuts
½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup (44g) light brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup

Topping:
6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (140g) coarsely chopped toasted macadamia nuts
¼ teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons packed light-brown sugar
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup
¼ cup + 1 ½ teaspoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Butter a 20cm (8in) square baking pan; line with foil, allowing a 5cm (2in) overhang on 2 sides. Butter lining (not overhang); set aside.
Start by making the base: whisk flour, salt and macadamia nuts in a bowl.
Put butter and brown sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium speed until pale and fluffy. Mix in flour mixture and maple syrup. Press dough evenly into bottom of prepared pan. Refrigerate 30 minutes. In the meantime, preheat oven to 180°C/350°F.
Bake until set in center and pale golden, 22 to 25 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool slightly.

Now, the topping: put butter and macadamia nuts into a small saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until butter is very foamy and nuts are fragrant, 2 to 3 minutes. Add salt, brown sugar, maple syrup, granulated sugar, corn syrup and cream. Boil, stirring constantly, 2 minutes. Spread over crust. Let cool completely. Run a knife around non-parchment sides; lift out of dish by overhang. Cut into sixteen 5cm (2in) squares – I refrigerated the whole square before cutting it into bars so the caramel would be firmer.
Bars can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 3 days.

Makes 16

Banana pancakes

I love holidays – who doesn’t? :)

Lazy days like today call for a special breakfast, like these banana pancakes – they are delicious with fresh fruit, especially strawberries. A wonderful way to start the day. :)

Banana pancakes
from Simple Essentials Fruit

2 cups + 2 tablespoons (300g) all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup (116g) brown sugar, packed
1 cup (240ml) buttermilk
2 eggs
4 ripe bananas, mashed
1 ½ tablespoons (21g) unsalted butter
½ cup maple syrup or honey, to serve

Place the flour, baking powder, sugar, buttermilk, eggs and bananas in a large bowl and mix to combine. heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat. Add a little of the butter and pour 1/3 cup (80ml) of the mixture into the pan and cook, in batches, until bubbles appear on the surface. Turn the pancakes and cook for 1 minute or until golden. Repeat with the remaining mixture.
Serve in stacks layered drizzled with the maple syrup or honey.

Serves 4 – I halved the recipe, used ¼ cup (60ml) of batter per pancake and got 12