Plum Sponge

I'm down to the last handful of fresh prune plums *sob*. At least the Concord grapes will be along soon to console me (fickle, I am).This is a beautiful dessert, and much easier to make than it appears, and I can't think of a nicer way to use the last of what were the nicest box of plums I've ever purchased.

The components are rather straightforward-spongecake, whipped cream, and poached plums. The recipe can be halved easily if you find it too large (you will have extra cake and plums but that isn't a problem around here). Assemble the cake several hours ahead so the cake can soften.

For the Plums:
2 lbs. fresh prune plums pitted and halved
Juice of a lemon
1/2 cup granulated sugar

Combine all and let macerate for 1 hour. Transfer to a small saucepan and bring to a boil. reduce to a simmer and cook until plums are softened-about 15 minutes. Remove plums with a slotted spoon, strain liquid and return to pan. Reduce until you have a thickened syrup. Cool. Pour over plums.

For the Sponge:
6 eggs, separated at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2/3 cup water
2 cups plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Grease and flour a jelly roll pan or 1 large rimmed baking sheet. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Beat eggs, sugar, and water together until light and thick. Slowly beat in flour and baking powder. Beat egg whites until stiff. Carefully fold into flour mixture. Pour into prepared pan(s). Bake 8-10 minutes for small sheet, about 15 for large. Remove from oven and carefully loosen sides of cake with a sharp knife. Invert onto a rack and cool. You can also treat it like a jelly roll and invert it onto a towel dusted with icing sugar if you prefer to roll it for presentation (which would also be really impressive).

When cake and filling are cool, cut into two or three layers (or roll as for a jelly roll)and brush each with a bit of the plum syrup and some apricot jam (optional, but why wouldn't you want apricot jam with your plums? The combination is a knock out). Layer on some plums, top with the second layer, and repeat with third if using. Let the cake sit in the fridge for an hour to set. Meanwhile, make a whipped cream sweetened with icing sugar (the cornstarch in the icing sugar helps it to stabilise). Frost the cake, and decorate as desired (I used bits of plum jelly candy). By the second day, the cake will soften into something resembling a trifle, which I would absolutely add custard to because hey, why wouldn't you add custard if you already have a trifle. But no jelly-this isn't a school dinner.

Tiramisu For Lazy Cheapskates

Mascarpone cheese is so expensive where I live, this would have been a really extravagant dessert. The recipe I had gave an option of using a cream cheese and whipped cream filling, which is what I did-still no bargain, but it won't consume a week's food budget either. I really liked that this was made with a simple sponge cake baked in a 9x13 pan and then cut in half-no fiddling around making ladyfingers, or layers. The twelve minutes in the oven was the most time consuming part of the recipe. We're nearing the end of Spring term, and extra time is something I just don't have.

From, Dolce Memories, a rediscovery of Italian Desserts by, Irene Ritter

Cake:
6 whole eggs, separated
2/3 cup icing sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup cake flour

Filling:
1 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
12 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 3/4 cup icing sugar
2 1/2 tablespoons Marsala
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Coffee soak:
1 cup brewed espresso or strong coffee at room temp
2 teaspoons granulated sugar

Garnish:
1 8 ounce bar of bittersweet chocolate (I shaved 2 ounces of baking chocolate instead)
9 Whole Strawberries

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x13 pan. Beat yolks until thick-set aside. Whip egg whites and 2/3 cup sugar until stiff peaks form. Fold in egg yolks and vanilla with a rubber spatula. Fold in cake flour until well blended. Pour and spread evenly in pan.

Bake 12 minutes, or until cake tests done. Cool 5 minutes in pan on rack, the remove to a rack and cool completely. When cold, cut in half to make 2 layers (do not split the layer in half, but rather cut it down the centre to make two 7 inch or so layers. Got it?

Prepare filling:

beat cream until soft peaks form-set aside. Beat cream cheese and icing sugar just until stiff-don't over beat (the recipe says it will curdle). Beat in the whipped cream, vanilla, and Marsala. Chill.

Syrup:

Stir the sugar into the coffee until dissolved.

Assemble in an 8 inch pan. Lay down a sponge half. Spoon on half the coffee. Top with half the cream filling. Then the second sponge, remaining coffee, and filling. Smooth the top and cover with the grated chocolate. Cover with cling film and chill. Can be made ahead and stored up to two days. Garnish with a fresh strawberry.

Eaton Mess

Eaton Mess with blackberries, plum, and nectarines. Tastes better than it looks.


Less a recipe, than a "how-to."

Crush about 6-8 large meringues, leaving a few larger chunks. Fold into about 2 cups sweetened whipped cream. Top with fruit that has been lightly poached in a sugar syrup. Drizzle with extra sauce from fruit. Serve immediately.

You can adjust the amounts of everything to your tastes. Now, about those meringues. There are many, many recipes for meringues on the internet-they all suck. All of them. Here's mine-it doesn't suck.

3/4 cup egg whites at room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar, divided
2 1/2 teaspoons vinegar, divided

Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Place the racks of the oven in the upper and lower thirds.

Beat the egg whites until they begin to form the first soft peaks. Slowly, beat in the first cup of sugar (no more than 3 tablespoons at a time) incorporating well after each addition. Add 1 teaspoon of the white vinegar and beat well. Continue adding the second cup of sugar until you have about half remaining-then, add the remaining vinegar. Add the rest of the sugar slowly, and beat until you have very stiff, glossy whites that hold a peak.

Pipe onto the parchment. Bake 20 minutes, then rotate the pans front to back, and up and down. Bake another 20 minutes. At this point, turn off the oven and leave the meringues in for at least three hours to dry out (overnight is even better). If it is at all humid where you live, leave them in the turned off oven until you are ready to serve.

Trifle on a Plate

I was tempted to call it a, deconstructed trifle, but knowing my audience you'd start sending me mail asking what the hell the dessert had to do with Derrida. So yeah, fuck it, I made trifle on a plate.

I made a few...OK several batches of ice cream last week, and damned if I was going to toss out egg whites. Sure, I could freeze them-along with all the other containers of frozen egg whites in my freezer (the downside of making large quantities of pasta and ice cream) but angel food cake is really so easy (almost) any idiot can can bake one and I've been rather idiotic of late. I also had really perfect peaches and blueberries to work with, and didn't feel like baking a pie. yeah, I know, I must be sick again.

I can't say there is any particular secret to making a good angel food cake, except that you should take your time adding ingredients. By adding the sugar slowly to the egg whites, and the sifting the dry ingredients over and folding a few tablespoons at a time, it prevents deflating the delicate whites. This is a good rule of thumb for most cakes that rely on eggs (yolks or whites) to rise. Slow down. If you can't, bake brownies-everyone likes brownies and you can dump it all in a single bowl.

I used the "De-Lux" (I hear that as, "deeee-lux") angel food cake recipe in the 1950 Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, because I know it works. Employing icing sugar in place of the granulated in the dry ingredients is genius. It makes for a really light, sweet cake. We've all had tough, heavy angel food cake. If I wanted that, I could buy one at the supermarket.

I've baked this cake before, HERE. This time, I used coconut extract in place of the vanilla.

The custard is pretty straightforward:

2 egg yolks
2 tablespoons cornstarch (cornflour)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups milk
1 teaspoon coconut extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a small saucepan, combine eggs, cornstarch, salt, sugar. Whisk in milk. Heat over medium heat and bring slowly to a boil, whisking constantly to prevent it scorching. Boil 1 minute. Remove from heat, stir in extracts. Remove to a bowl, cover with cling film pressed on the surface, poke a few small holes with a sharp knife to vent. Chill until ready to assemble trifle.

The Fruit:

Toss ripe peaches and blueberries with the juice of 1/2 a lemon. Add sugar to taste. Let sit at least 30 minutes to release juices.

The whipped cream:

Beat chilled whipped cream in a chilled bowl with chilled beaters (or whisk). Add icing sugar to taste and a small bit of either vanilla or coconut extract.

Assemble:

Slice angel food cake carefully with a serrated knife to prevent squishing (yeah, that's a technical term, don't believe me go ask Harold McGee). You'll need two thin-ish slices for each serving. On one slice, dollop some custard. Top with some fruit and another bit of custard. Arrange second slice atop first. Add a bit more custard, more fruit, and the whipped cream (stop channeling my mother and use a reasonable amount of whipped cream. A teaspoon is not a reasonable amount of whipped cream. Maybe a bit more...closer...yeah, just dump it over the cake. That's better). Drizzle some of the juice from the fruit over it all so you can make your dessert all elegant-n-stuff.

Strawberry Coconut Key Lime Pie

I made this pie to use up key limes and strawberries, both of which I had in substantial amounts. I wasn't really sure what I'd end up with, but the pie turned out lovely. I made mine on the tart side, though citrus-hating son didn't have any difficulty ploughing through it, and rated it an 8 on a scale of 10 (I had no idea he had been rating my baking, but apparently that's what he's been up to, complete with records).

I could see this as small tarts as well, perhaps for a summer party.

For the crust:

1 1/3 cups sweetened coconut flakes
2 tablespoons melted butter

Combine and press into a 9 inch pie plate. Bake at 325 degrees F. until nicely browned-about 25 minutes. Cool before filling.

For the Strawberry/Key Lime Filling:

1/2 quart strawberries, crushed and forced through a sieve to total 1 1/4 cups juice
1/4 cup Key lime juice
1 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch

Bring strawberry and lime juice to a boil. Slowly whisk in the sugar and cornstarch. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil cooking over medium heat. Boil 1 minute longer. Remove to a bowl, cover with wax paper directly on surface to prevent a skin forming. Cool, then chill completely before using to fill cold pie shell.

For the Whipped Cream:

1 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup icing sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons coconut extract

Beat cream until nearly stiff. beat in icing sugar. Beat in extract. Use to top pie.

Frozen Rhubarb and Custard

-you know, ice cream, except it is a custard. Stop looking at me that way, you know what I mean.

So hey, this is how I deal with stress, and surplus rhubarb.

You Will Need:

4-5 large stalks rhubarb, diced
1/4 cup vanilla sugar (regular is OK if you don't have it)

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 large egg yolks
1 tablespoon good quality vanilla extract (the cheap stuff is OK for baking, but if you can swing decent extract, or have a vanilla bean to infuse the cream, use it)

Preheat oven to 275 degrees F. Toss rhubarb and sugar together with a couple tablespoons of water (no more) and place in a baking pan. Bake until rhubarb is soft-about 20 minutes. Cool. Either force through a sieve by hand with a wooden spoon and plenty of patience, or use a food mill. Don't blend or put through a food processor-that will ruin it. Chill until needed.

For the ice cream:

heat cream and milk until steaming. meanwhile, whisk together egg yolks and sugar until light. Slowly whisk in the hot milk in a very thin stream, then return it to the pan and cook until it reaches 170 degrees F. Strain into a bowl, stir in vanilla and chill in an ice bath. When cool, set in fridge at least an hour.

In a metal tray in the freezer (an 8x8 works well and won't use too much space) place the custard and chill 30 minutes. With a fork, break up any hardening around the edges and return to freezer. Do this every 30 minutes until it is nearly set. Stir in the rhubarb puree, and freeze again until done. At this point you can mash it smooth with a fork, or quickly blitz it in a chilled metal bowl with a hand mixer (chill the beaters as well). Transfer to a freezer container and let firm before serving.

Charred Carrot Soup

This soup comes from the 1987 edition of The Best of Food and Wine. It was quite a bit of work, but certainly a different sort of soup than I typically make. I used a food mill rather than a food processor and I put the soup through a fine sieve after. I suppose that might have made it seem like more work (and grating carrots on a box grater) but I am unwilling to give up counter space to a food processor i will use only occasionally. I rarely used mine, and when it broke, I was happy enough to live without it. My point is, the recipe is "doable" without modern appliances.

You Will Need:

1/2 tablespoon vegetable oil
5-6 medium carrots (about 3 cups) peeled and shredded
2 shallots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1/2 teaspoon thyme
1 small Idaho potato (a floury-type potato) peeled and chopped
3 1/2 cups rich vegetable (or chicken) stock
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt (adjust according to the saltiness of your stock)
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon chopped parsley for garnish

Preheat a 12 inch cast iron skillet over high heat for 5 minutes. Add the oil, then the carrots. Stir to coat. Cook the carrots, stirring frequently until they are partially charred-about 15 minutes. Reduce heat to moderate and add the shallots and garlic. Cook until the shallots are softened-about 2 minutes. Add the potato and stock and bring to a simmer. Cook until carrots and potato are very soft-about 15 minutes.

In a food processor (or a food mill) puree until smooth, then force through a fine mesh sieve (yes, that will be time consuming, so plan accordingly). Return soup to a saucepan and add the cream. Add the red wine vinegar, extra salt, and pepper as desired. Stir in the butter, and serve the soup hot, garnished with parsley.

Pastel de Natas y Crema-Cream Cake With Caramel-Gourmet Magazine April 1972

I return to the stack of ancient Gourmet magazines for this interesting cake. I browned the caramel under my oven broiler as directed-the results were less than perfect. Burnt in some spots, undercooked in others, the topping while still edible, isn't as nice as it could have been. A kitchen blowtorch might have been an odd item in 1972, but I do recommend using one if possible. Otherwise, keep rotating the pan under the broiler and hope for the best. I do wonder if the inexpensive beet sugar I used contributed to the problems-it doesn't seem impossible.
(See? I dressed it up with whipped cream. Is there anything high-fat dairy can't do?)



But hey, I made a cake midweek-so shut up and grab a seat. The cake layers and filling are still delicious, and I covered the over-browned (read, "burnt") spots with sweetened whipped cream, which might throw the complaining types. Come on, I made cake-midweek, they aren't going to complain.
(A detail of the burnt caramelised sugar)



As this is a recipe of the vintage sort, I'll go ahead and post it as written. I have no doubt this would be a stunning dessert in the hands of someone...well, anyone other than myself.

Hey everybody, look at the cake!

Butter two 8 inch round cake tins, 2 inches deep and line the bottoms with wax paper. Butter the paper. In the bowl of an electric mixer beat 6 egg yolks with 1/2 cup of sugar until the mixture ribbons when the beater is lifted. In another bowl, beat 6 egg whites with a pinch of salt until they are stiff and beat in 1 1/2 teaspoons grated orange rind, and 1 1/2 tablespoons orange juice. Add one Fourth of the whites to the yolk mixture folding them gently but thoroughly. Pour the yolk mixture over the remaining whites and sift 1/2 cup of flour over. Fold the mixture together gently until there are no traces of white. Pour batter into pans, spread evenly with a spatula and bake in a moderate 350 degree F. oven for 25 minutes (mine took 20). Loosen layers from sides of pans and turn out onto wire racks to cool. Sprinkle the top of one layer with 1/4 cup sugar, transfer it to a baking sheet, and put it under the broiler until it is carmelised. If the edges of the cake brown too quickly, cover them with a ring of foil. While the caramel is still hot, mark off portions with a knife dipped in hot water.

In a mixing bowl, combine 2 egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour). Beat the mixture until it ribbons. Scald 1 cup of milk with 2 strips of orange peel and pour it gently into the egg mixture, stirring constantly. Transfer the custard to a heavy saucepan and cook it over low heat stirring constantly with a wooden spatula. Cook until it coats the spatula (around 170 degrees F.) but do not let the mixture come to a simmer. Remove from heat and stir in 2 teaspoons gelatin softened in 3 tablespoons water. Add 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract and stir until the gelatin is completely dissolved. Pour through a sieve into a bowl and chill until almost set.

In a bowl, whip 1 cup heavy cream until it is stiff. Fold in 1/4 cup confectioner's sugar (icing sugar) and 1-2 tablespoons of rum. Fold the custard into the cream and chill until it is almost set. Spread the mixture on the plain cake layer, cover it with the carmelised layer, and chill the cake.

Pear/Anisette Ice Cream

Another experiment that everyone liked.

You Will Need:

3 large overripe pears
1 tablespoon lemon juice
a few drops of water if needed

1 cup heavy cream
1 cup 2% milk
1 tablespoon fennel/anise seeds

3 large egg yolks
1/2 cup granulated sugar

In a large pot, place the pears, cut in fourths with the lemon juice and a few drops of water if the pears seems dry. Cover, bring to a simmer and cook until pears are quite soft-about ten minutes. Remove to a food mill and force through. Set aside to cool.

In a saucepan, bring milk, cream and fennel seeds to a scald, slowly over low-ish heat. Meanwhile whisk the egg yolks and sugar together in a heat-proof bowl. Strain the seeds from the milk and slowly whisk into the eggs and sugar. Return to pan and heat to 175 degrees F. whisking to prevent eggs cooking on bottom of pan. Strain through a fine sieve to catch any cooked egg. Stir in pears. Set in an ice bath until cool. Freeze either in a tray or an ice cream maker. Makes about 1 pint.

Coffee and Orange Ice Cream (Mocca og Appelsinis) Gourmet April 1973

The original recipe called for three cups of heavy cream and uncooked egg yolks. That gave me pause. Still, I liked the idea, and wondered how it would work with a few changes. I'm pleased to report that it was indeed delicious, and much, much safer to consume. I'll post the original recipe followed by how I made mine. I served it with an orange sauce, and some bittersweet chocolate-and then I posed it like some sort of foodie douchebag (spell check does not know the expression, "douchebag") for the photograph. Oooh, look, I made a fancy dessert out of cheap chocolate and store-brand instant coffee.

Yeah, I don't know what's with my mood of late either. I think it must be the menopause. *Shrugs*

Recipe as it appeared in gourmet magazine, April 1973:

In a large bowl beat 4 egg yolks until they are light and lemon colored. Gradually beat in 2/3 cup sugar, beating until mixture is almost white. Fold in 3 tablespoons instant espresso, dissolved in 2 tablespoons heated orange flavored liquer, and 2 tablespoons orange rind. In a large bowl of an electric mixer, beat 3 cups heavy cream until it holds soft peaks. Fold the yolk mixture into the whipped cream. Cover the bowl with foil, and freeze for 1 1/2 hours. Wash the beaters and chill them in the freezer. Beat the partially frozen cream at high speed for 30 seconds, or until it is smooth. Pour into a 1 3/4 quart decorative metal mold rinsed in cold water. Cover with foil and freeze for at least 12 hours. Five minutes before serving, unmold it onto a platter.

OK, here's my take with less potential for food borne illness:

In a heat-proof bowl, combine 3 egg yolks with 1/2 cup cinnamon sugar. In a saucepan, combine 1 cup whole milk, 1 cup heavy cream, 2 teaspoons instant coffee, and the grated zest of 4 oranges. Heat until steaming. Whisk into egg/sugar mixture slowly in a stream. return mixture to pan, cook until it registers 175 degrees F. on a thermometer. Remove from heat, strain through a fine sieve into a heatproof bowl, and chill in an icewater bath until cool. Transfer to a freezer tray for 1 hour. Meanwhile, whip 1 cup of heavy cream keep chilled.

When ice cream is frozen but not solid, beat with a mixer in a bowl until smooth. Fold in the whipped cream. Transfer to mould, and freeze until firm (mine took about 4 hours). Unmould, decorate, and serve.

For the orange sauce:

1 cup orange juice
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

Combine orange juice and brown sugar in a saucepan and cook, until reduced by half. Remove from heat, stir in cream, and cool. Store in fridge. Makes about 1/2 pint.

Orange Marmalade Bread Pudding

Since I now have buckets of marmalade in my fridge, I found a useful way to get rid of stale bread and cream approaching the use-by date-bread pudding. I never hear complaints about bread pudding.

Some people butter the bread before making a bread pudding. You don't need to do that. You can, but I don't bother. You can be all fancy and spread the marmalade on each slice of bread before fitting it into the pan as well-guess what I did? I must have looked at ten different recipes on the web, and every single one of them did the buttering the bread thing. I know there are only so many things you can do with a bread pudding, but I'm going to go out on a limb and break with tradition-not because of some need to be different, or because I feel this recipe is somehow superior to all others by the omission of butter...but because I am too bloody tired to stand and butter slices of bread. I've been canning and attempting to teach fractions to a six year old all day. I. Can't. Butter. Bread. So there.

The bread I had was a sourdough raisin/cinnamon swirl loaf. Danny was getting kind of bored with cinnamon toast every morning for a week, so I showed the kid some mercy, and used the last of it for this pudding. He's a toast and tea for breakfast kind of guy, with the occasional break for porridge-but even the most devoted cinnamon toast eaters get tired of the same slice morning after morning. It was sort of a large loaf. Anyway, you could certainly make this with whatever bread you have sitting on the counter going stale (except maybe rye-I don't think that would be very nice, unless it was a Limpa rye).


You Will Need:

Enough thickly cut cubes of stale bread to fill a 9x11 casserole dish (or whatever you have-just leave room for it to expand).

Marmalade (about 1 cup)
4 large eggs
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup whole milk
(See why I say you don't need to butter the bread?)

Sugar for sprinkling the top because the marmalade doesn't already have an unbelievable amount of sugar in it.

Fit the bread in the dish. Pour the marmalade over it. In a bowl, whisk the eggs, milk, cream together until smooth. Pour over the bread. Cover, and let it sit in the fridge at least 30 minutes, but as long as a couple hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Sprinkle with a bit of sugar. Bake pudding about 1 hour or until done.

Extra Cookies? Make A Fridge Cake

Whip some cream.
Sweeten it.
Spread between cookies.
Let chill overnight.

I've made this with gingersnaps as well. Any plain biscuit type cookie will do. Be generous with the whipped cream-it really helps soften the cookies.

This makes a nice project for small children.

Good Tart, Terrible Pastry

It would have been terrible even if I didn't over-bake it. I had a feeling, as I read the recipe and then brought the dough together that it wouldn't work. The subsequent rolling and baking directions were impossible with this dough. I wouldn't usually make a point of complaining, except the crust recipe came from Bon Appetit. Don't they test recipes? I'm not a novice when it comes to pastry, and I'm certain that the recipe was faulty, not my handling of it (except for the burning, but I still set the timer for ten minutes less than their recommended time. If I'd followed their directions, it would have been charred). OK rant over. Use whatever blind baked tart recipe you prefer, but I'm not posting this one.

I should have simply layered the filling and topping into ramekins and served them with a piece of shortbread. In fact, the filling and topping are so good, they really don't need any pastry as accompaniment.

For The Pastry Cream Filling:

2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 tablespoon flour (I used Wondra)
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
3 large egg yolks, lightly beaten in a medium bowl.
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a sauce pan, combine sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour. Slowly, whisk in the milk and cream. Over medium heat, whisking constantly, bring to a boil. Cook one minute longer. Remove from heat. Whisk about 2 ladles full of custard into the eggs, very slowly. Slowly, add it back to the custard and return to heat. Whisking constantly, bring it back to a boil and cool an minute longer after that. Remove from heat. Beat in butter and vanilla. Pour into a bowl, cover with cling film and poke a few holes in the top. Cool slightly, then chill.

For The Rhubarb/Strawberry Topping:

3 large stalks rhubarb, cut up
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup strawberry jam (I had freezer jam which is uncooked, and very fresh tasting. It worked perfectly)
1/8 cup water

Mix together in a sauce pan over medium heat until rhubarb breaks down and sauce thickens. Remove from heat and chill thoroughly.

Assemble in a baked and completely cooled tart. Chill several hours before serving.

Maple Pots de Creme With Maple Butterscotch Sauce

This was the first thing I've really eaten in a couple days. Oh I know, I should have transitioned with something like runny porridge, or clear soup but Oh.My.God.This is delicious beyond words. I really expected I'd manage a bite or two at most-not polish off a whole serving. Must be the healing power of maple syrup. Well no, I'm not healed...but I sure am happy! The sauce alone would be an incredible pig-out food.

The genius responsible for this magical maple pots de happy is Eggs on Sunday. I suggest you go over there right now. Go on, I'll still be here when you click back. Good old reliable Goody is always sitting here waiting for someone to stop by and....oh hey, you're back. Was I right? Is that like a magical place or what? God, how am I going to sit here writing about that sauce without...yeah, hang on, I need more.

Sauce recipe, HERE.
*drum your fingers on the desk for a minute while I feed my face some more maple sauce*

Yeah, OK. That's better. Thanks for waiting.

You really don't need to unmould these. I only did the one for the photograph because I was feeling overly-confident after turning out a perfect potatoes Anna. Sure, it came out of the ramekin OK-but you could just drizzle the sauce on top and serve it simple.

*You know, I'm not really a "look for the silver lining" kind of person (because I'm a fucking pessimist. Duh.) but I suppose the bright side of being chronically ill is that when I can actually eat...the calories don't count. Dudes! The calories don't count.

*OK, the casual visitor to the blog might think this is horrible, but really-I have a pretty good sense of humour about it. And really, not that I was looking for reasons to go on living-but if I were, maple pots de creme would be a rather compelling draw.

Coconut Cream Trifile "Pie"

I had quite a bit of poundcake leftover from Friday. I froze half, and I put the rest to use in this.

Danny had been reading a story that mentioned coconut cream pie. he asked if we could make one. I absently told him to go look for a recipe, and he immediately turned to the pie section of my 1950 edition of the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook.

"OK", I thought, "why not?"

Danny wanted chocolate whipped cream which turned out rather well (I used a few tablespoons of powdered cocoa rather than melting and cooling squares of chocolate). I put everything together earlier in the day and by this evening we had a really delicious dessert. Truthfully, it will be even better tomorrow when the poundcake has really absorbed the custard, but then it won't cut into attractive slices for a photograph on the cooking blog.

I cheated and toasted the coconut in a small frying pan on the stove. You really need to watch it when doing coconut that way, but it did save the hassle of heating the oven-and the house smelled so wonderful.

You Will Need:

Stale poundcake, cut into slices to fit the bottom of a pie plate
Custard (recipe follows)
3/4 cup coconut plus 1/4 cup for toasting as a topping
Whipped cream with optional cocoa and powdered sugar

For the custard:

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 1/2 tbsp. cornstarch
1 tbsp. AP flour
3 cups whole milk
3 egg yolks, slightly beaten
1 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup coconut

In a saucepan mix the sugar, salt, cornstarch, and flour. Slowly add the milk, whisking constantly. Bring to a boil over medium heat. When mixture boils, cook one minute longer, then remove from heat. Add about 1 cup of the mixture slowly to the eggs and whisk quickly. Slowly add another 1/2 cup and mix well. Return egg mixture to pot and return to heat. Whisking constantly, return to a boil over medium heat and then cook one minute longer or until mixture is thickened. Remove from heat, stir in butter and vanilla and fold in coconut. Remove to a clean bowl and cool. When slightly cooled, chill before using.

To Assemble:

Pour cooled custard over slices of poundcake in pie plate. Top generously with whipped cream, flavoured and sweetened to your taste, and then toss top with a scattering of toasted coconut. Chill several hours before serving.

Icebox Cake

These chocolate wafer cookies are so good, they may never make it to the icebox...you may wish to bake a second batch, just in case. The dough is very soft, so I will caution you to chill it very well, and handle it as little as possible. I use a flexible cutting board for rolling them out, and then lift them off with the help of a sharp, thin knife. I am able to roll them without any additional dusting with flour, which really helps keep them from being tough. I have extremely cold, arthritic hands-if you have hands of a normal temperature, you may wish to use a rolling pin cover, flour, and other things designed to help keep dough from getting warmed and overworked. At the very least, try to work fast.

The cookies don't spread, so place them close on baking sheets. You should be able to get them baked in two batches. Cool on racks (where they will continue to crisp) and store in airtight containers (I use an old coffee tin).

I wish I could give credit for this recipe (as it is well-deserved!) but I've long-since lost the source. It is a wonderful recipe, but I can't take the credit for it.

For The Chocolate Wafer Cookies:

1 1/2 cups AP flour
1/4 cup powdered cocoa (I used Hershey's Special Dark (not a paid endorsement) but any dark cocoa will do)
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cup unsalted butter
1 cup +2 tbsp. granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tablespoon water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Sift the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Set aside. In another bowl, beat the butter until light, add sugar slowly and then the egg, water and vanilla. Beat until it has turned a lighter colour and texture. Add dry ingredients and mix well.

Shape into a flattened disk, wrap in clingfilm and chill several hours (really, it needs to be quite cold and firm).

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment or silpats (or in a worst-case scenario (gasp) you can butter the pan (that was sarcasm, which i shouldn't need to point out).

Roll that sucker out, handling it as little as possible and cut into rounds with a biscuit cutter (or a round cutter, or really, whatever shape you like. I'm not dictatorial that way). You must roll them very thin-1/8 inch thickness. Sometimes it is easier to give them a bit of an extra press after you've cut them. Do as you wish-but make certain they are thin.

Bake the cookies 17-18 minutes. You won't be able to tell if the edges are browning, so you really need to keep an eye on the puffiness of the tops and whether you smell burning. I know, that's helpful.

Remove the cookies to a rack and cool completely before assembling cake.

For the whipped cream:

No really, you don't need a recipe. Beat the ice-cold heavy cream in a cold bowl, when it forms peaks, add the confectioner's/icing sugar and vanilla extract to taste. Difficult, huh?

Grab yourself some cookies and spread whipped cream between the, Place the stack on a plate sideways, and frost the outside with whipped cream. Invert a bowl over the plate and chill in the icebox overnight. Next day, you have cake.

Next day, you have cake...and it is a million times better than store-bought whipped cream and chocolate wafer cookies. Really, it is. Once you master the cookie recipe, you'll find all sorts of uses for the wafers from cheesecake crusts to ice cream sandwiches.

Using Up Extra Whipped Cream

OK, there was only so much straight whipped cream I could eat. Believe me, I wanted to devour that whole bowl by myself, but I couldn't manage more than a couple spoonfuls. Looking around in the fridge, I decided to put half a head of cabbage to use and make coleslaw.

The leftover, sweetened whipped cream worked beautifully in place of mayonnaise-better actually. Mixed with some salt, cider vinegar, and black pepper, it takes on a really nice texture, without the gloppiness of mayo. I'm pleased it was put to good use, and even more pleased that I have found a nice alternative to eggs and oil.

I still would have preferred to eat the whipped cream alone-maybe next year.

Julia Child's Orange Bavarian Torte

Old, referring to me, not the cake. The cake is quite fresh, thank you very much.

It looks difficult, but it really wasn't. I followed the directions (I'm part Austrian-we're good at following directions) and the result was this beautiful torte. It is exactly what I wanted. You should get the cake you want on your birthday, even if you have to bake it yourself.

Leave yourself 2-3 days to do this, and be resigned to the fact that you will have a substantial amount of filling and whipped cream leftover. The filling may be frozen, and as for the whipped cream, I'm sure you can find some use for it such as dipping a spoon into a bowl of it each time you pass the kitchen. Or in coffee. Or dipping a spoon into a bowl of it each time you pass the kitchen. You get the idea. Whipped cream never really gets a chance to be wasted around here.

I used Moro Blood Oranges in mine because it was what I had, and what I wanted. The orange flavour is different-less sweet, more intense, and the colour comes up a somewhat Pepto Bismal pink. Just be warned. It does look lighter once the cake layers are baked, but still-don't expect a lovely orange colour.

The genoise recipe she recommends comes from Mastering the Art of French Cooking. That is the one I used. The rest of the recipe, and directions are from, Julia Child and More Company, 1979.

The recipe runs several pages, and is given in such detail that I do not feel I could "adapt" it for a cooking blog and therefore encourage you to purchase the books (easily bought used at ABE for a small sum). There are step-by-step photographs as well. You need a basic understanding of how to beat egg whites, make a custard without scrambling the eggs and so forth, but it is by no means out of the skill level of a home cook. It was written for the home cook. I guess what I'm getting at is this-don't be intimidated by the multi-page, multi-step recipe. There's a reason for the meticulous directions, and as you can see, the end result is just perfect.

Pots de Creme au Moka

From Gourmet, February 1973
(Yep, still working through the stack of vintage magazines)

You Will Need:

1 cup whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate (I used half bittersweet) shaved
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder (I cut this to one)
5 egg yolks plus 1 whole egg
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Prepare ramekins and have foil ready to cover the tops of each. Have a roasting pan or large baking dish to set them in ready as well. Begin boiling enough water to fill pan halfway up the sides of ramekins.

In a heavy pot, heat the milk, cream and chocolate over medium heat until it comes to a boil. Stir occasionally. Continue stirring until chocolate melts. Remove from heat and stir in espresso powder.

In a medium, heatproof bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until frothy. Beat in the mocha mixture in a very slow stream taking care not to cook the eggs.

Pour into ramekins and cover with foil. Set in roasting pan and carefully fill with enough hot water to come halfway up the sides of the ramekins. Bake 30 minutes or until set. Cool completely, then chill. Serve with sweetened whipped cream and (if you have it) pulverised brittle.

Depression Era Baking

This is one of my vintage booklets I managed to save after the tornado by drying it out on my wooden drying rack. I'm so glad I went to the effort-now it can hang around for another 70+ years.


Look at this photo from the back cover. I totally want to bake that one next-it is so beautiful.

I really like one paragraph recipes.

I split and filled the layers with spiced pear jam, but you could easily skip it.
Of course I frosted this by setting the cake on a rack over a baking sheet-what sort of an idiot do you take me for? As I always tell Danny, "Cleaning a pan is easier than cleaning a counter." Words to live by.



The recipe for the cake comes from a booklet published by Calumet baking powder in 1934. I get the sense, looking at recipes from that time that eggs were quite expensive as most recipes will note how many were required, and sometimes offer more economical substitutions. Butter and cream were apparently cheap and abundant.

I had some cream that needed to be used, and since the previous owner had marked this recipe in the booklet, I decided to give it a try. I'm glad I did. I spent five whole minutes making this cake, and then fifty minutes in the oven. Straightforward, clear instructions and standard pan sizes go a long way towards influencing me to try something new. I skipped the chocolate frosting in favour of a cooked penuche style ( oh, let's be honest-I wanted the leftover frosting to chill and eat like fudge. I like penuche fudge.) that I dressed up with some holiday jimmies. Lookin' pretty damn festive around here, eh? Indeed it is.

I'll save myself typing out the cake recipe as it is legible in the photo and instead give you the frosting details. I split my cake in half, and filled it with spiced pear jam I canned last Fall. Oh, that's good stuff. Anyway, you could certainly skip filling it and really, even frosting seems unneeded. Danny helped me polish off the scraps from trimming and leveling the cake, and we were both pretty pleased with it, "as is."

The penuche frosting recipe comes from the little red book...no, not that little red book-I mean the Betty Crocker Picture Cookbook, 1950. Chairman Betty suggests you sing "Raise The Red Flag" as you stir because it almost sounds like "Oh Tannenbaum" .

You Will Need:

2 2/3 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup milk
2/3 cup butter
1/3 teaspoon salt

Stir constantly over low heat to a boil, then boil rapidly to 220 degrees F. Remove from heat and beat until it is lukewarm and reaches a spreading consistency. Pour extra into a buttered pan and chill, then cut into squares as candy. For god's sake, don't throw it out.