Caramel cake and my bookshelf is back

I have told you before about my love for simple cakes: they’re good on their own, with a cup of tea in the winter or a glass of cold milk in warm days, and with the help of some poached fruit and vanilla ice cream or whipped cream they can be transformed into delicious desserts.

This is a very simple cake – just as I like it – but the caramel glaze turns it into something even more delicious: it might not look stunning but it does taste great. You’ll be tempted to lick the spoon after pouring the glaze over the cake, but wait a couple of minutes – trust me on this. :D

Oh, and my bookshelf has been reinstated by Blogger – they said they’d analyze my case in two business days but it took them sixteen. Pretty close, huh? #not

Caramel cake
from the delicious Gourmet Today: More than 1000 All-New Recipes for the Contemporary Kitchen

Cake:
2 cups + 2 tablespoons sifted cake flour (or 210g all purpose flour + 40g corn starch)
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon table salt
½ cup (113g/1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup (200g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 cup (240ml) well-shaken buttermilk*

Caramel glaze:
1 cup (240ml) heavy cream
½ cup (88g) packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cake: preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F with rack in middle. Butter a 20cm (8in) square cake pan and line with a square of parchment paper, then butter parchment.
Sift together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
Beat butter and sugar in a large bowl with an electric mixer at medium speed until pale and fluffy, then beat in vanilla. Add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. At low speed, beat in buttermilk until just combined (mixture may look curdled). Add flour mixture in 3 batches, mixing until each addition is just incorporated.
Spread batter evenly in cake pan, then rap pan on counter several times to eliminate air bubbles (I forgot to do that). Bake until golden and a wooden pick inserted in center of cake comes out clean, 35-40 minutes. Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes, then run a knife around edge of pan. Invert onto rack and discard parchment, then cool completely.

Glaze: bring cream, brown sugar, corn syrup, and a pinch of salt to a boil in a large heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring until sugar has dissolved. Boil until glaze registers 98 to 100°C (210 to 212°F) on thermometer, 12 to 14 minutes, then stir in vanilla.
Put rack with cake in a shallow baking pan and pour hot glaze over top of cake, allowing it to run down sides. Cool until glaze is set, about 30 minutes.

* 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

Serves 8-10 – I made the exact cake recipe above using a round 20cm (8in) cake pan with tall sides; it was my second time making this cake and the first time there was a lot of glaze left, so I halved the recipe above and the mixture took almost no time at all to get to the temperature described on the recipe

Iced little lemon drops and the reasons behind each recipe

Those of us who cook and bake have different reasons for choosing this or that recipe, right? I believe that wanting to eat is the most basic reason, but that is followed by the ingredients available, the seasons, the weather, if we’ve having company or if we’re eating alone... Do you agree?

I add to that list a certain technique I want to learn or improve, recipes with curious names, and peculiar or unusual methods, the latter being the reason why I made these cookies (plus the beautiful and fragrant lemons I had around). Here, part of the unfinished dough is set aside only to become the icing later on – I thought that was really interesting and had to try it myself. It worked perfectly and the cookies turned out delicious, very delicate in size – which is something I love – and very lemony, on the verge of puckering lips – which is something I love even more. :)

Iced little lemon drops
from the delicious Simply Sensational Cookies

finely grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
¾ cup (1 ½ sticks/170g) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups (280g) icing sugar, divided use
generous ¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 ½ cups (210g) all-purpose flour
pinch of salt

Preheat to 180°C/350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with baking paper.
Put the lemon zest in the bowl of an electric mixer, then reserve the juice separately in a cup. To the zest add the butter, 3 tablespoons of the reserved lemon juice and 1 cup (140g) of the icing sugar. Beat on low, then medium speed, until lightened in color and fluffy, about 1 ½ minutes – mixture might look curdled at first, but keep on beating it. Measure out 2 tablespoons of the beaten butter mixture and reserve in a small deep bowl; it will be used to make the icing.
On low speed, thoroughly beat the baking soda into the butter mixture left in the large bowl. Then beat in the flour and salt just until evenly incorporated. If dough is very soft, let it stand for 5 minutes.
Drop dough by heaping measuring teaspoons, spacing about 5cm (2in) apart on baking sheets; keep the cookies small.
Bake on middle rack one pan at a time for about 10 minutes, until cookies are tinged with brown at the edges and just firm when pressed in the center top. Transfer pan to wire rack. Let cool.
Stir 1 ½ tablespoons of the reserved lemon juice and the remaining 1 cup of icing sugar into the reserved 2 tablespoons butter mixture until very well blended. If necessary, then the icing with a little more lemon juice stirring well, until it is fluid but no runny. Stir in a little more icing sugar if the icing is too runny to hold some shape. Spread the icing on top of the cookies then place them on a wire rack until the icing sets, 30-40 minutes.

Makes about 30 – I made the exact recipe above, used 1 ½ leveled teaspoons of dough per cookie and got 70 tiny cookies

Ricotta and spinach manicotti and cooking = power

Not until recently I started thinking of cooking as something both empowering and liberating and that comes to my mind when I think of certain passages of my childhood.

In the period between my mom’s death and my father marrying again my paternal grandmother lived with us and she did all the cooking at home. She was an amazing cook – still is at 88 – but she rarely made the dishes I liked – I know it might sound bitter and very “oh, my granny liked my brother more than me”, but it’s true: she would cook anything my brother wanted without hesitation, but never paid much attention to what I liked to eat – the perks of being the older child, I suppose.

One of the dishes she made very often was savory crepes filled with beef mince and covered with tomato sauce. See, I didn’t like beef as a kid, but I still had to eat the damn crepes. My brother, however, didn’t like tomato sauce but he didn’t have to eat the beef filled crepes – instead, he asked for his crepes to be filled with French fries (!), and granny wouldn’t say a word about it. And that is just one of the situations from those days.

Now, as a grown up, I cook what I want when I want it. My savory crepes are filled with ricotta and spinach and I don’t have to beg anyone else for it.

Ricotta and spinach manicotti
slightly adapted from the beautiful and delicious Homemade with Love: Simple Scratch Cooking from In Jennie's Kitchen

Crepes:
1 ½ cups (360ml) whole milk
1 large egg
½ teaspoon table salt
1 cup (140g) all purpose flour
canola oil, as needed to lightly grease the pan

Filling:
2 teaspoons extra virgin olive oil
1 fat garlic clove, finely chopped
200g spinach, stems removed
salt and freshly ground black pepper
pinch of freshly ground nutmeg
450g (1 pound) ricotta cheese – I used homemade, recipe here, using 5 cups of milk
handful of fresh parsley leaves, chopped
¼ cup finely grated Parmesan cheese

Assembling:
1 ½ cups tomato sauce, recipe here
¼ cup grated Parmesan cheese

Make the crepes: place the milk, egg, salt and flour to the bowl of a blender. Blitz until smooth, then leave at room temperature for 1 hour (or at least 30 minutes).
Heat a nonstick 20cm (8in) skillet over medium-low heat. Brush pan lightly with oil, if needed. Pour in enough batter to coat bottom of skillet then swirl it around to cover the bottom of the skillet. Cook 30-45 seconds, flip and cook for 15 more seconds or until golden. Transfer to a flat dish then repeat with remaining batter.

Filling: heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, then the spinach, and cook until wilted. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Cool slightly, then chop and transfer to a colander and squeeze to remove the excess liquid. Transfer to a medium bowl, add the remaining filling ingredients and mix to incorporate. Check the seasoning.

Preheat oven to 200°C/400°F. Spread ½ cup of tomato sauce into the bottom of a 22x32cm (9x13in) casserole dish.
Lay each crepe on a flat surface and spoon an even amount of filling in a long strip down the edge of each one. Roll crepes closed, and place seam-side down into the casserole dish.
Evenly pour remaining sauce over filled crepes. Sprinkle with the parmesan cheese and bake 20 minutes, until golden and bubbly. Serve immediately.

Makes about 10 crepes – I got 9; the first two crepes I made got torn in the middle, so I got to serve 7 in total

Passion fruit drizzle cake, zombies + some improvising

Weeks ago, my sister and I were determined to go to the movies, but the options were very limited: some of the movies weren’t interesting, and some of them we’d already seen. That way, we ended up watching “World War Z” and, several screams later, to my surprise, I kind of liked it, zombies and Brad Pitt and all – I guess I should thank Marc Forster for that, since he directed two favorites of mine. :)

Around that same weekend, I was determined to make Valentina’s beautiful coconut and passion fruit loaf, but despite having some great passion fruits home I didn’t have any coconut. Or coconut milk, for that matter. See, I told you I completely suck at making grocery lists. :S Therefore, Tina’s loaf would have to wait a bit longer and Tana Ramsay’s lemon loaf was made instead – with a passion fruit drizzle replacing the lemon. Oh, so good.

Passion fruit drizzle cake
slightly adapted from Tana Ramsey’s lemon drizzle cake

Cake:
225g unsalted butter, softened
225g granulated sugar
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g self-raising flour*
finely grated zest of 1 lemon

Passion fruit drizzle:
1/3 cup (80ml) passion fruit juice
85g granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Lightly butter a 22.5x12.5cm (9x5in) loaf pan, line it with baking paper and butter the paper as well.
Cake: in the large bowl of an electric, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, and scrape the sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in the vanilla. Sift in the flour, then add the lemon zest and mix until well combined. Spoon into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 45-50 minutes or until risen and golden and a thin skewer inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Place the cake onto a wire rack and make the drizzle: in a small bowl, mix together the passion fruit juice and the sugar. Prick the warm cake all over with a skewer, then pour over the drizzle.
Cool completely in the pan. Carefully unmold and peel off the paper.

* I replaced the self raising flour for 225g all purpose flour + 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder + pinch of table salt

Serves 6-8

Grown up Oreos

My visit to Bouchon Bakery last year was one to remember and every now and then I think of the delicious treats I had there. However, I never got to taste Thomas Keller’s version of the Oreo cookie – me being me I ended up ordering lemon and raspberry sweets.

Days ago I set out to make Keller’s Oreo cookies, a recipe from "Bouchon Bakery", but wasn’t in the mood for rolling out cookie dough – I get lazy sometimes, you know. :) I thought that the slice and bake chocolate cookies I’d seen on Gourmet Traveller’s website would make great substitutes – and indeed, they did.

My Oreos don’t look as pretty as the cookies served at Bouchon Bakery, but I can guarantee that they tasted really good. :)

Grown up Oreos
from two gorgeous sources: Gourmet Traveller and Bouchon Bakery

Cookies:
260g all purpose flour
160g icing sugar, sifted
50g cocoa powder, sifted
pinch of salt
225g unsalted butter, cold and cut into 2cm pieces
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Filling:
125g white chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon (14g) unsalted butter, room temperature
½ cup (120ml) heavy cream

Cookies: process flour, icing sugar, cocoa and salt in a food processor to combine, then add butter and pulse until mixture is sand-textured. Add yolk and vanilla and process until mixture comes together (here I added another egg yolk because the mixture wasn’t coming together at all). Turn out onto a work surface and gently knead to come together. Divide the dough into two equal parts. Place each on a piece of parchment paper; shape dough into logs. Fold parchment over dough; using a ruler, roll and press into a 3.5 cm (1.4in) log – like Martha does here. Wrap in parchment. Chill in the refrigerator until very firm, about 2 hours.
Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F; line two large baking sheets with baking paper. Unwrap one log at a time (keep the other in the fridge). Cut into 5mm thick rounds; space 2.5cm (1in) apart onto prepared sheets. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies edges are firm (10-12 minutes). Cool slightly on trays, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Make the filling: in a small bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together. In the meantime, bring cream to a simmer in a small saucepan. Pour it over the chocolate and butter mixture and whisk to combine. Cool to room temperature, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 4 hour or up to 1 day. Right before assembling the cookies, beat the filling with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. Transfer to a piping bag with a small tip.

Assembling the cookies: arrange half of the cookies on a work surface, bottom side up, and pipe the filling onto each. Sandwich with the remaining cookies, pressing to spread the filling to the edges – I used a small cookie scoop instead of a pastry bag and placed rounded mounds of filling on the center of each cookie, topping with another cookie and pressing down gently to squish the filling.

Makes about 30 sandwich cookies